Driving climate breakdown: The politics of the electric vehicle transition in the UK and Germany

2015年签署《巴黎协定》后，一些国家承诺禁止内燃机（ICE）车辆，以确保全球排放量保持在1.5℃以下（IPCC, 2023， UNFCCC, 2015）。此次干预是承认汽车行业的脱碳有助于实现《巴黎协定》，因为交通运输部门是全球经济中唯一一个排放量持续上升的部门（ICCT, 2020）。通过解决环境政治中这个尖锐问题的特征，电动汽车（ev）作为一种不再需要化石燃料驱动的技术，已经上升到政策议程的首位。然而，电动汽车技术已经存在了100多年，这就引出了一个问题：为什么现在这项技术成为全球政策制定者关注的焦点？我的博士论文表明，电动汽车之所以引人注目，是因为它们不会挑战当代社会对汽车的依赖，因此可以在现有的道路基础设施中得到广泛的适应。因此，在这种情况下，电动汽车减少了环境政治，在不威胁汽车制造商在全球政治经济中的地位的情况下，用电动汽车取代我们目前的内燃机汽车。然而，与政策制定者对电动汽车的关注相反，电动汽车的转型很少得到学术文献的承认或研究，往往导致它被视为2050年之前的必然结果（Haas, 2019， Meckling和Nahm， 2018, Mikler, 2016）。在这场不准确、不成熟的辩论中，我指出，电动汽车的转型远非不可避免，而且在英国和德国的具体情况下，存在很大的争议。我的研究基于一个新颖的主要数据集，包括65个对公共和私营部门个人的半结构化访谈，对英国和德国政府以及汽车制造商发布的关键战略文件的文件分析，以及电动汽车增长的描述性统计数据。我的目标是利用每天致力于电动汽车转型的个人的见解，以确定他们在全国电动汽车市场增长中遇到的障碍，并进一步参考被视为全球领导者的中国和挪威。此外，我的研究结果详细介绍了一系列政策干预措施，这些措施在发展电动汽车市场方面已被证明是成功的。理解了这些障碍，政策制定者就能更好地理解转型面临的共同挑战，甚至可以进一步具体参考英国和德国，以反映那些置身其中的人的经历。该奖学金将使我能够将我的发现传播给参与电动汽车转型的学术界和利益相关者。为了最大限度地发挥影响力，我将在著名的高级期刊上发表三篇文章，以提高广泛读者的机会，扩大我与学术和非学术参与者的网络，并举办一个研讨会，为这些参与者提供一个合作论坛。事实上，这项研究的结果将提交给交通部和曼彻斯特市议会。在此过程中，我将建立一个明显重要的记录，使自己在文献中脱颖而出，从而增加在2024年10月奖学金结束时获得永久合同的机会。因此，该奖学金将使我有机会对环境政治和政治经济学文献做出几项重要贡献，将我的博士研究成果整合到三份享有盛誉、影响力巨大的出版物中。此外，这将使我有机会在演讲、定量方法和媒体研究传播方面接受额外的培训，以提高我作为一个学者的水平，并确保我将来能够进行进一步有影响力的研究。曼彻斯特大学是我项目的理想主办研究机构。

Following the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, several countries committed to banning internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to ensure global emissions could be kept below 1.5o (IPCC, 2023, UNFCCC, 2015). The intervention was an acknowledgement that decarbonising the automobile sector was instrumental in meeting the Paris Agreement, as the transport sector is the only sector in the global economy in which emissions continue to rise (ICCT, 2020). By means of addressing this acutely problematic feature of environmental politics, electric vehicles (EVs) have risen to the top of the policy agenda as a technology that no longer requires fossil fuels for propulsion. Yet, EV technology has existed for over 100 years, which begs the question of why now is the technology the focus of policymakers across the world? My doctoral thesis demonstrated that EVs have risen to prominence because they do not challenge contemporary society's dependence on automobiles, and can therefore be broadly accommodated within the present road infrastructure. As a result, EVs reduce environmental politics, in this instance, to supplanting our current ICE vehicles for EVs without threatening the place of automobile manufacturers within the global political economy. In contrast to the focus on EVs by policymakers, however, the EV transition has rarely been acknowledgement or examined in the academic literature, often leading it to be perceived as an inevitable outcome before 2050 (Haas, 2019, Meckling and Nahm, 2018, Mikler, 2016). Into this inaccurate and undeveloped debate, I showed how the EV transition is far from inevitable and would be deeply contestable with specific reference to the UK and Germany. My research was informed by a novel primary dataset, comprised of 65 semi-structured interviews with individuals from the public and private sectors, a document analysis of key strategic documents published by the UK and German governments and automobile manufacturers and descriptive statistics of EV growth. My goal was to draw upon the insights of individuals working towards the EV transition on a day-to-day basis to identify what barriers they experience in the growth of the EV market nationally, with further reference to China and Norway which are seen as global leaders. Moreover, my research findings detailed a series of policy interventions that have proved successful in developing the EV market. Understanding these barriers will allow policymakers to better understand the common challenges to the transition, with even further specific reference to the UK and Germany, reflecting the experiences of those immersed within it. The fellowship will allow me to disseminate my findings to the academic community and stakeholders involved in the EV transition. To maximise impact, I will publish three articles in prestigious, high-ranking journals to better the chances of broad readership, expand my networks with academic and non-academic actors and provide convene a workshop that provides a forum for these actors to collaborate. Indeed, the findings of this research will be submitted to the Department for Transport and Manchester City Council. In doing so, I will develop a demonstrably significant track record to distinguish myself in the literature and so increasing the chances of a permanent contract at the end of the fellowship in October 2024. The fellowship would therefore afford me the opportunity to make several important contributions to the environmental politics and political economy literature by consolidating the findings of my doctoral research into three prestigious, high-impact publications. Moreover, it would give me the opportunity to undertake additional training in lecturing, quantitative methods and research dissemination in the media to better myself as a scholar and ensure I can undertake further impactful research in the future. The University of Manchester the is perfect host research organisation for my project.