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Light Electric Vehicles in the Dutch mobility sector from an institutional perspective

Soort:Onderzoeksrapporten
Auteur:Wouter Slob
Uitgever:Universiteit Utrecht
Datum:05-07-2021

How policy makers can overcome competing values in the persuit of solutions to societal problems. A master thesis by Wouter Slob with supervision from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

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The Dutch mobility system is in transition. Due to the urgent need for low-carbon alternative transportation methods, various new vehicle types are being developed, to get people ‘out of their car’, often stimulated by policy makers. These new vehicle types are often in the form of light and electric powered vehicles, shortly LEV’s.

The current regulation system around the admission of these new vehicle types is delegated by the ministry of infrastructure and water management to independent agencies. These agencies primarily focus on safety, whereas other actors, like the ministry, innovators or companies, might strive for different or more values like sustainability, liveability or economic benefits.

This research uses the concepts of institutional logics to capture the various values strived for by actors involved in the development and implementation of LEV’s in the Dutch mobility sector. By means of a qualitative research, interviews are conducted with these actors, which resulted in the distinction of three institutional logic types: the automobile logic, the society logic and the regulation logic.

This research describes how the infrastructure and regulation mechanisms are influenced by the car-dependent automobile logic, and how this makes it difficult for LEV’s to substitute the car. It is observed that actors aiming at the implementation of LEV’s have a variety of social values like safety, liveability, and sustainability institutionalized in the society logic. The regulation logic has to balance between on the one hand, secure the safety and performance of the current infrastructure system, but on the other hand transition in line with the call for urgency towards more holistic views on mobility. The holistic view of the society logic creates tensions with both the automobile logic with its economic focus, and the regulation logic with its primary focus on safety. These insights in the Dutch mobility system and the actors and values embedded within can be used by policy makers to guide them in the stimulation of the development of solutions to various societal problems in the mobility sector, with a main focus on LEV’s.

Klik hier om het onderzoek te lezen.

The Dutch mobility system is in transition. Due to the urgent need for low-carbon alternative transportation methods, various new vehicle types are being developed, to get people ‘out of their car’, often stimulated by policy makers. These new vehicle types are often in the form of light and electric powered vehicles, shortly LEV’s.

The current regulation system around the admission of these new vehicle types is delegated by the ministry of infrastructure and water management to independent agencies. These agencies primarily focus on safety, whereas other actors, like the ministry, innovators or companies, might strive for different or more values like sustainability, liveability or economic benefits.

This research uses the concepts of institutional logics to capture the various values strived for by actors involved in the development and implementation of LEV’s in the Dutch mobility sector. By means of a qualitative research, interviews are conducted with these actors, which resulted in the distinction of three institutional logic types: the automobile logic, the society logic and the regulation logic.

This research describes how the infrastructure and regulation mechanisms are influenced by the car-dependent automobile logic, and how this makes it difficult for LEV’s to substitute the car. It is observed that actors aiming at the implementation of LEV’s have a variety of social values like safety, liveability, and sustainability institutionalized in the society logic. The regulation logic has to balance between on the one hand, secure the safety and performance of the current infrastructure system, but on the other hand transition in line with the call for urgency towards more holistic views on mobility. The holistic view of the society logic creates tensions with both the automobile logic with its economic focus, and the regulation logic with its primary focus on safety. These insights in the Dutch mobility system and the actors and values embedded within can be used by policy makers to guide them in the stimulation of the development of solutions to various societal problems in the mobility sector, with a main focus on LEV’s.

Klik hier om het onderzoek te lezen.

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Light Electric Vehicles in the Dutch mobility sector from an institutional perspective

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