Marc Dijk

A framework for understanding product market innovation paths – emergence of hybrid vehicles as an example

In the last few years, the automobile market witnessed a surprising rise in sales of a new type of engine: hybrid-electric engines. This is surprising, since the sector is typically averse to radical technological change of engines. The internal combustion engine has been around for more than 100 years after all. Economists have explained the dominance of internal combustion (IC) technology mostly from processes of learning and scale economies, which lead to lock-in of an established technology. Those theories have however, difficulties in explaining more radical technological transformations, which typically interrelate with changes in the social and regulatory context. In this article, we offer a framework for analysing the emergence of radical product innovation paths from a co-evolutionary perspective. The framework is applied for the case of emergence of electric and hybrid-electric engines on the automobile market after 1990.

Sustainability assessment as problem structuring: three typical ways

Sustainability assessment (SA) is an increasingly popular term referring to a broad range of approaches to align decision-making with the principles of sustainability. Nevertheless, in public and private sectors sustainability results are still disappointing, and this paper reflects on this problem and proposes a way forward. We argue that, because sustainability issues are generally wicked problems (i.e. a ‘complex of interconnected factors in a pluralistic context’), effective assessments need to be reflexive about the definition of the issue and about the criteria for sustainable solutions. Based on a distinction of policy problems, we characterize SA as a form of problem structuring, and we distinguish three typical ways of problem structuring, corresponding to three different ways of integrating reflexivity in the assessment. We illustrate these routes in three examples. We discuss the way reflexivity is integrated in each example by discussing the mix of methods, SA process and epistemological balance. Rather than merely calling for more stakeholder participation, our aim is to call for more reflexivity integrated into the SA approach, and we conclude by proposing a process map for reflexive sustainability assessment to support this.

Understanding the mobility-transformative qualities of urban park and ride polices in the UK and the Netherlands

Park and Ride (P+R) has emerged as a key element of the sustainable mobility packages of many urban areas in Europe. The present article explores the impact of the introduction of P+R on urban car mobility, especially its potential transformative impact, in two of the densest European states: the UK and the Netherlands. An analysis of six case-studies (i.e., cities) showed a degree of disconnect between stated policy aims and implementation in practice, and in some of the cases this difference was substantial. No obvious national contextual factor explaining implementation success was identified: in both contexts the (local) political will and practical tools to ensure transfer of parking capacity to P+R, were the key factors. The overall car restraining effect of P%R hoped for was mostly not achieved - mainly due to transfer from public transport-only trips and from cycling and because overall parking supply across city centres increased.

Electric revenge after 100 years? Comparing car market patterns around 1900 and 2000

During the closing years of the nineteenth century electric vehicles (EV) outsold every other type of vehicle. Yet within ten years the electric automobile was no more and the internal combustion engined car predominated. Could EVs have succeeded or was the technology - in particular the batteries - simply not good enough? As EVs make a comeback in the early 21st century some of the same problems persist. Only one manufacturer (Tesla) has built an electric automobile capable of approaching the range of an internal combustion engined vehicle. Most modern EVs have a range of approximately 160 kilometres, which decreases their usability in longer trips. This paper compares the introduction of electric vehicles in the USA in the late 19th century with the early 21st century from a socio-technical transition perspective. It discusses similarities and differences in market innovation patterns and concludes on the chances for a successful revenge today.

Consumer attitudes towards alternative vehicles

A quick glance at the automobile market suggests steady progress in the eco-efficiency of cars in recent decades. The conventional internal combustion engines (ICE) in automobiles have improved in energy efficiency and reduced emissions. Moreover, a new market niche of alternative vehicles1 has emerged since 2000. By the spring of 2011, more than 3 million hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) had been sold worldwide and various car firms are currently introducing mass-produced electric car models. But do these trends really reflect a more fundamental change in demand for alternative car engines? Or are the sales of eco-efficient vehicles merely the result of stricter environmental regulations on car emissions and environmental subsidies being offered for eco-efficient vehicles? In this chapter, we assess this question by reviewing six recent studies on car consumers (TNS-Emnid/AutoScout24, 2004; Lane, 2005; Mytelka, 2008; Nijhuis and van den Burg, 2009; Dijk, 2011; Ozaki and Sevastyanova, 2011).

Firm perspectives on hydrogen

A glance at the product range in today’s car showrooms shows a strong commitment of all mainstream vehicle manufacturers to conventional petrol and diesel internal combustion engine (ICE) technology. These types of engines have been built and refined for more than 100 years (Cowan and Hulten, 1996). Since 1990, alternative ways of propelling vehicles have been presented by various automobile manufacturers: full electric and hydrogen driven, as well as hybrid-electric models. In general, these three alternatives have received much less R&D attention than has the dominant IC engine. Hybrid-electric engines have by now been incorporated in most car manufacturers’ research efforts, at least to some extent, and most firms consider them important in the short or medium term (Chanaron and Teske, 2007). From an environmental perspective, they should be considered to be neither a minor nor a major innovation, decreasing harmful emissions (from driving) by 10- 20 per cent (Lave and MacLean, 2002). Alongside hybrid-electric systems, more radical alternatives have also been presented. There are full electric vehicles, (re)introduced in the 1990s, and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, introduced around 2000. These latter two types of vehicles are examples of ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs). They emit extremely low levels of harmful gases compared to existing diesel and petrol vehicles. California’s Air Resources Board defines a ULEV as a vehicle that emits 50 per cent less pollution emissions than the average for new cars released in that model year. We follow that definition here, and include CO2 as a harmful gas in the examined emissions.1

From Government to Multi-stakeholder Governance for Sustainable Mobility

This chapter discusses an advanced form of stakeholder participation to enhance governance for sustainable car mobility. Our dynamic governance perspective is based on the idea that policies should be concerned not only with providing incentives and setting limits but also with providing orientation, stimulating mutual learning, fostering socio-technical alignment, making sure that a wide variety of options is explored, dealing with conflicting claims by technology actors and with learning about the effects of their policies. The perspective on governance of innovation that we take is an alternative to the dominating (static) welfare perspective of internalizing externalities.