Technological breakdowns and the dynamics of an industry, the transition to electromobility

Marc Alochet, former Expert Leader Vehicle Powertrain Assembly Engineering at Renault, gives us the honour of previewing his doctoral thesis on "Technological ruptures and the dynamics of an industry, the transition towards electromobility", the defence of which will take place in December at the Ecole Polytechnique. 

Strict regulations force global players to invest heavily in the production of electric vehicles. Electrification is a systemic innovation whose massification should disrupt the vehicle dominant design. “Could this disruption durably destabilize the industrial architecture of a sector, considered as very resilient?”

An empirical study on the electric traction value chain, confirms, to date, the resilience of this industry as carmakers remain the focal actor: electrification alone is not enough to destabilize this industry!
But, technological innovations, new societal challenges, new powerful players in the mobility market influence the future of this industry. “Could this combination of factors internal and external to the industry facilitate a disruptive dynamic?”

By analyzing 10 case studies of innovative mobility services worldwide, this thesis identifies 3 ideal types: “mobility service added to product”, “robotaxi”, “territorialized open mobility platform”. If the first one is a natural extension of the carmakers' business, the last two have the potential to destabilize the automotive industry.

An empirical comparison, between China and Europe, of the governance of environmental regulations, states that China is now in capacity to impose its standards worldwide through a planning capacity combining directiveness, intrusiveness and agility.

Theoretically, it confirms strategic theories and the interest of building upon the STT paradigm to shed light on transitions in this industry. It contributes to innovation management and servitization fields by proposing a design space for the development of mobility services and confirms that project is an important learning vector in a nascent ecosystem. This thesis supports the hypothesis of an avalanche of converging causalities leading to the destabilization of the historical architecture of the automotive industry. In accordance with the theory of transitions, the modes of regulation between these different factors will shape these potential destabilizations.

The seminar will take place virtually and in French. More information will be available here and communicated by email to the registered participants. To register, please login and validate your registration below or send an email to gerpisa@gerpisa.org.