Car Fleet Electrification

The research group on car fleet electrification is closely related to the Tampere research group for Cultural and Political Sociology (TCuPS), which is a multidisciplinary research group within the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tampere University. Within the group, questions of power and politics are approached from a cultural, constructionist and neoinstitutionalist perspective. As to car fleet electrification, we are interested in the change processes that electrification of vehicles triggers in different domains, such as markets, technology, politics, and aesthetics. If successful, an innovation in one domain leads into a changed standard, which has repercussions or spillover effects in other domains, which are constantly entwined with one another. For example, the wider EV uptake has increased due to state support, for instance subsidies, in many countries, which requires updating of the charging infrastructure and will change the face of fuel stations.

Research in the group examines questions such as, how different stakeholders theorize on and prepare for the electrification of road transport: how do agents such as consumers, car manufacturers, charging business actors; public policy actors, and international governmental organizations respond to the interrelated changes? This broad research program has been started by a project that studies how experts in the field perceive the current situation and the future. To address that question, the research team consisting of Pertti Alasuutari, Ulla Saari, and Ahsan Qureshi has conducted expert interviews with researchers who have in their work tackled or are interested in questions related to the electrification of road transport. Currently, there are plans to broaden the scope of research in accordance with the broad program mentioned above.

Ongoing projects:

→ Synchronization of national policies (2014-)