Electric vehicle transitions and the emerging spaces of sustainability capitalism in Dublin, Ireland.

Keywords: EV users, decarbonisation, charging stations, local dependence
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

This paper examines the role of electric vehicle (EV) users in shaping the emerging geographies of “sustainability capitalism” in Dublin, Ireland. At issue is Dublin’s transportation sector, which is undergoing a so-called sustainability transition underpinned by private and commercial decarbonising technologies centred on EVs and EV charge points. Against this backdrop, I use an analysis of 39 semi-structured interviews with EV users in Dublin to examine their role in shaping the emerging geographies of urban sustainability capitalism. I analyse how EV users leverage the political-ethical project of decarbonisation and its associated market mechanisms in three ways. First, I examine why users push for infrastructure privatisation. Second, I consider how users call for “carrot and stick” interventions to establish new dependencies on decarbonising technologies. Third, I explore how users invoke environmental objectives in ways that render the relationship between nature and accumulation both explicit and obscure. I use my analysis to argue that the EV transition should be understood as a “class project” which enrols wealthier EV users in a push to alter the city and produce uneven pathways of sustainability transitions.