The Role of Electric Motorsport in the Sustainable Mobility Transition

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are perceived as a viable technology for the replacement of combustion engine vehicles for a transition towards a more sustainable mobility system. Transition theory emphasizes that development of sustainable technologies such as EVs can be achieved within niches, which are protective spaces that shield sustainable technologies from mainstream market selection pressures. An interesting environment that has generally been known for innovative developments with regard to mobility has recently seen an increased usage of EVs. This environment is the motorsport. This paper therefore aims to identify the role that the electric motorsport as niche plays in the development of EVs for a transition towards a more sustainable mobility system. In order to fulfil this aim, a qualitative research approach was used where both semi-structured interviews and grey literature was analysed. The electrification of certain categories of the FIA World Rallycross Championship as well as the Extreme E were selected to exemplify the entire electric motorsport. The protective space conceptualisation of Smith and Raven (2012) that focuses on shielding, nurturing and empowering processes was used to conduct the analysis and describe the electric motorsport as a niche. The analysis showed that the electric motorsport as niche shows great capabilities of making contributions towards the development of EVs, but currently is not utilised to this potential. The involved actors showed a focus which is more inward-oriented to EV development processes that were deemed beneficial for the sport rather than for the society. However, whilst focusing more inward, some valuable contributions are still made towards the general development of EVs. It was found that the electric motorsport mainly contributes to the acquirement of technical knowledge on EVs, development of the technical design of EVs, and demonstration of the capabilities of EVs towards a large audience. Based upon these findings, this paper suggests how further analyses can be made and other studies can benefit from this research.