Evaluating policy configurations for urban e-mobility transitions – A qualitative comparative analysis of urban e-mobility policies in 15 European and 15 US cities

Governing the transition towards fully Electric vehicles (EV’s) has been a major challenge for policymakers in Europe. Research on EV adoption predominantly has been focusing on single policy measures on one particular policy level (e.g., the na-tional or the local level). However, latest research shows that adoption of EV’s may be realised in various ways, using different policy mixes at different levels (Held and Gerrits 2019). This configurational perspective holds that policy measures interact with contexts on various levels and rejects the idea that one fixed set of measures will always lead to the transition to EV. That is, EV policies that work in one local context, naturally won´t support EV uptake in a different one (e.g., in the case of Sweden: Egnér and Trosvik 2018). This understanding mirrors the systemic and in-terdependent nature of governing transitions in transport systems (Mattioli et al. 2020). For policymakers though, the challenge to implement policy measures that successfully promote EV uptake remains a wicked one. Prior research by Held and Gerrits (2019) has identified multiple pathways in 15 European cities. Two things have changed since then. ... mehrFirstly, European governments have invested more heav-ily in promoting the adoption of EV. This may lead to different outcomes compared to the original research. Secondly, the transition appears to take off in the United States of America, too. Given the different circumstances compared to Europe, one would expect to find different solution pathways in the USA. Accordingly, we will answer the following research question: Which policy configurations promote the transition towards electric vehicles in Europe and the United States of America?
Our research approach is based on an earlier publication by Held and Gerrits (2019). In contrast to the original research approach, we apply an improved research model and use thoroughly updated empirical data. Essentially, we trace the causal complexity of transitions. That is, it accepts that there is continuous interaction between conditions in conjunction with different contexts (Gerrits and Verweij 2018). Such a perspective puts emphasis on the conjunctural or configurational understanding of causality in sociotechnological transitions (see e.g.,: Geels 2022). Consequently, a case is understood as a configuration of different conditions that is linked to an outcome.
We use Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) for the analysis of the data. Here, cities are considered as cases, that display a mix of policy measures on both the national (effect of fiscal incentives) and the local (non-financial incentives, strategy of infrastructure extension, sanctions on conventional car usage) level. A sample of 15 European cities and 15 cities from the US is used for systematically comparing policy configurations leading to a successful promotion of EV adoption.
Findings confirm that various, place-specific configurations of policy measures are more likely to support the transition. Instead of focusing on fine-tuned single poli-cies, such as financial incentives, policy approaches need to treat EV adoption in a holistic and dynamic way by properly linking incentives with deincentives. Thus, our results indicate the importance of complex causation when governing the EV transi-tion in the urban. For policymakers there is an important lesson: policy measures are interacting with place-specific conditions.