The required change goes far beyond exchanging the cars’ engines and transmissions. It implies major changes in the way that cars are constructed and automotive value chains organized. Moreover, electrification of road transport creates new infrastructure and new interfaces between transportation systems and energy systems. It favors new concepts of mobility (e.g. combining mass carriers for long distances with electric vehicles (EVs) for the last mile) and new consumer attitudes towards mobility and car ownership.
Anticipating such systemic changes, manifold new alliances between energy utilities, car manufacturers, railway companies and software companies are emerging. Many observers assume that we are at the beginning of a ‘paradigm change’ that reaches out far beyond the automotive industry.
