GREEN CARS MARKET AFTER DIESELGATE

Abstract

Dieselgate can be considered a momentous crisis to strike out the dynamics of automobile market – which, given automobile market is made up of two parts, in deep and bitter competition (as far as theory and public discourse go), must be understood as (another) impulse meant for green cars (i.e., EVs – Electric Vehicles) market expansion and of ICEs (Internal Combustion Engine – i.e., ‘classical’ – automobiles) market shrinkage.

The latter is, for the time being, according to current evidence, more or less theoretical; green cars market needs more than a Dieselgate to thrive, because scandal is, maybe, sometimes necessary for stimulating competition, but it can never replace whatever a party needs in order to outrun the other party of competition. And, in addition, EVs market cannot function without existence and advancement of other, complementary, markets – i.e. that comprising network of charging infrastructure of those very green cars –, whose growth is equally (if not worse still) problematic, especially in short run.

In other words, specific characteristics of green vehicles, on one hand, and sound economic and social mechanisms, on the other hand, maintain the statu-quo which (still) exists in automobile market, and the current (relatively slow) speed of EVs market expansion.