On the road to electrification - A qualitative comparative analysis of urban e-mobility policies in 15 European cities

The adoption rate of Electric Vehicles (EV's) is influenced by a considerable number of factors on both local and national levels. Most of the research aimed at understanding under what conditions that adoption thrives focuses on either level. There is also relatively little attention for the configurational nature of its uptake. We present a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of e-mobility policies in 15 European cities in order to identify policy configurations on the national and local, urban level that lead to favorable results, i.e. the successful promotion and consequent adoption of EV's. The results confirm the configurational characteristic of e-mobility policies. We identified in particular one configuration that is sufficient for the favorable outcome to occur: policies that have a stronger effect on the total cost of ownership of EV's in conjunction with incentivizing the installation of home chargers or charging points on private parking space in addition to the setting-up of a public charging grid in conjunction with push-factors that de-incentivize the usage of conventional cars lead to favorable results. Thus, our findings lead the focus on policy approaches that treat EV adoption in a holistic and dynamic way by properly linking incentives with de incentives.