E-Mobility Boundaries and Re-Organizing Supply Networks in the Automobile Industry.

The trend towards electric mobility (E-mobility) is an ongoing trend, which offers the potential to reshape the future of mobility within the urban-ecosystem. In essence, to make mobility or transport more sustainably focused and protective of delicate “human” and “natural ecological” sub-systems (i.e. green spaces, wildlife). It forms a vital component of emerging sustainability blueprints on “blue” and “green” infrastructural initiatives. For instance, one of the few benefits of the Covid-19 crisis is the improvement in air quality being reported in urban areas. As lockdown initiatives have led to much lower emissions. Indeed, numerous commentators and sustainable development agencies such as the UN one could argue are likely to push governments to speed up their transition to electric vehicles. With the promotion of “low” rather than “high” emission route to economic growth. Given the social and ecological benefits we are currently observing with wildlife, and ironically, the associated improvements in children’s and adult’s health being experienced with respiratory conditions such as Asthma.

In this paper, electric mobility is considered as a central strategic objective of the smart city. Therefore, when we discuss the very broad concept of the smart city, we are particularly focused on this one element. Electric mobility, according to the definition of the German government and the National Development Plan for Electric Mobility (NEP) comprises: “…all street vehicles that are powered by an electric motor and primarily get their energy from the power grid – in other words: can be recharged externally” (Fraunhofer, 2020, p. 1). This includes purely electric vehicles, vehicles with a combination of electric motor and a small
combustion engine (range extended electric vehicles – REEV) and hybrid vehicles that can be recharge via the power grid (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles – PHEV).