The Role of Electric Motorsport in the Sustainable Mobility Transition Master Thesis – Master Sustainable Business and Innovation Author: Bram Weggemans Student Number: 6942857 Email Address:
[email protected] Supervisor: Dr. Matthijs Punt Second Reader: Dr. Toon Meelen Date: 30-06-2021 Course: SBI-Master’s Thesis Word Count: 19940 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.