Disruptive Change in the Transport Sector – Eight Key Takeaways

The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies held a Work​shop – the first of a series – on ‘Disruptive Change in the Transport Sector’ in relation to its impact on energy use in private transport. Participants included experts from the energy, auto, mobility, and technology sectors. This document summarises eight key takeaways from the Workshop discussions:

  1. Despite many government announcements and strong press coverage regarding vehicle electrification, there are alternative technologies which are also important for future mobility.
  2. Level 5 Autonomous Vehicles are still some years away, and will be context-specific.
  3. Cost is one among multiple factors in the scaling up of batteries.
  4. Grid management is critical to electric vehicle (EV) adoption.
  5. Automobile manufacturers will need to restructure their business models around value creation.
  6. Technology diffusion goes beyond cost-competitiveness.
  7. Emerging markets will also adopt EVs, driven primarily by government policy – but outcomes will differ.
  8. Automation, electrification and shared mobility imply very different types of impacts in different combinations.

By: OIES