Politics of urban energy transitions: new energy vehicle (NEV) development in Shenzhen, China

ABSTRACT

Cities are critical arenas for low-carbon energy transitions as a means to address challenges of climate change and sustainable development. The unfolding transition politics during new energy vehicle (NEV) implementation in Shenzhen, China are explored. Two competing processes of urban energy transitions (destabilizing and stabilizing dominant regimes) confront each other in the battleground of urban materiality, particularly the construction of charging infrastructure. Reflexive and interactive transition governance would highlight the learning and adjustment capacities of not only policymakers but also other transition actors.

KEYWORDS:

• Politics
• urban energy transitions
• governance
• new energy vehicle
• China

Acknowledgments

We thank all the interviewees who participated in this study and shared their thoughts with us. We also thank the reviewers and editors for their constructive and informed comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. According to the State Council of China, NEVs include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles. (Source: http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2012-07/09/content_2179032.htm).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the NSSFC (National Social Science Fund of China) project ‘Transition of socio-technical regime for sustainability in China’ (Grant reference: 11CZX025).