THE ELECTRIC CAR INDUSTRY UNDER PATH DEPENDENCY AND THE LOCK-IN EFFECT

Abstract

Electric vehicles and their environmental impact have become topics of increased interest in contemporary days, as innovative technologies developed and influenced the automobile industry. There is constant competition between gasoline and electric vehicles, the latter one trying to gain market share and change people’s perception about what eco-transportation means and the benefits it can bring. The presented paper recognizes the phenomenon of path dependency and lock-in effect that the automobile industry faces as a result of the dominance of gasolinebased cars and illustrates the pressures executed by these forces. The paper aims at bringing valuable solutions for approaching these issues, by bringing under attention relevant concepts such as skeuomorphs and the network effect. For tackling the topic proposed, the research adopts an illustrative case study technique, that offers a detailed and complex outline of the issues considered in relation to the electric vehicle industry.

Keywords

• electric cars
• lock-in effect
• network effect
• path-dependency
• sustainability
• technology