Electrification of the Powertrain in Automotive Applications: “Technology Push” or “Market Pull”?

Full battery electric vehicles are yet to achieve significant worldwide success on the market. This analysis shows that the required technologies have already been developed, but not for a use in the mass market, where low cost is mandatory to be successful. Central roles for this success will be played by governments, industries, and research and standardization institutions. A great effort in both national and international synchronization and coordination activities, together with a clear regulatory push, will be mandatory. Enabling technologies for the plug-in hybrid and full electric vehicles will also come from the “3Cs”: Costs, Comfort, and Climatic dependency. There is definitely not a single impulse that will be sufficient to enable the market for electric vehicles.

[1]  Jillian Anable,et al.  Energy policy , 1974 .

[2]  Steven C. Wheelwright,et al.  Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation , 1992 .

[3]  C. E. Thomas,et al.  Fuel cell and battery electric vehicles compared , 2009 .

[4]  Vincent Frigant,et al.  French mega-suppliers’ trajectories during the modular era: some evidences on Faurecia, Valeo and Plastic Omnium , 2011 .

[5]  M. Porter.  Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1985 .

[6]  Bernd Müller,et al.  Fuel cell electric vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure: status 2012 , 2012 .

[7]  Joseph J. Romm,et al.  The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate , 2004 .

[8]  Clayton M. Christensen.  The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail , 2013 .

[9]  H. Munro,et al.  Measuring commitment to new manufacturing technology: integrating technological push and marketing pull concepts , 1988 .

[10]  Ulf Bossel,et al.  Does a Hydrogen Economy Make Sense? , 2006, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[11]  Michael E. Raynor,et al.  The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth , 2003 .

[12]  Alexander Brem,et al.  Integration of market pull and technology push in the corporate front end and innovation management—Insights from the German software industry , 2009 .

[13]  Henry Lee,et al.  Will Electric Cars Transform the U.S. Market? , 2011 .

[14]  Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs,et al.  Environmental assessment of German electricity generation from coal-fired power plants with amine-based carbon capture , 2009 .

[15]  Torsten J. Gerpott,et al.  Strategisches Technologie- und Innovationsmanagement , 2005 .

[16]  Mehrdad Ehsani,et al.  Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Architecture and Motor Drives , 2007, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[17]  C. Rammer,et al.  Determinants of Eco-innovations by Type of Environmental Impact: The Role of Regulatory Push/Pull, Technology Push and Market Pull , 2011 .