Leopold Johannes Florentin Max Peiseler

As the only sectorin Germany which could not decrease greenhouse emissions compared to 1990, the transport sector in Germany faces massive challenges to meet national and supranational climate targets. In this context, electric vehicles (EV) are widely considered to be anintegral part of future mobility systems and their potential to reduce transport emissions is acknowledged across the political spectrum. This thesis investigates whether current EU and German policies exploit the full environmental potential of EVs and how policies might be amended to strengthen the climate change mitigation impact of EVs.

To answer this question, academic and grey literature was reviewed to identify the CO₂-intensive parameters of EVs. Having adopted this technical perspective, current regulations and policies were analysedusing primary and secondary literatureto test whetherthese parameters are addressed appropriately. Both the technical and regulatory findings informed thegeneration ofinitial policy proposals,which were subsequentlydiscussed with experts. Using a grounded theory approach, iterative amendments of the proposals in parallel to the interview phase improvedthe proposals’quality and real-world relevance.Four representatives each ofthe automotive industry, policy-makers and researcherswere interviewed. For the sake of reproducibility, interviews were transcribed andanalysed using adescriptive coding method.

The results of the technical lifecycle analyses indicate that vehicle weight, source of electricity, battery size and chemistry,andvehicleutilisation are pivotal parameters. Moreover, it isshown that current European and German regulations focuson increasing theEV adoption rate, butthey donot differentiate between varying environmental performances ofEVsand therefore miss emission reduction opportunities. To reducethis regulatory gap, four policy proposals(PP) were developed:the Modification of the EU Emission Standard Regulation (PP-1), the Introduction of a Bonus-Malus Registration Scheme (PP-2), the Overhaul of the Existing Road Tax System (PP-3)and the Overhaul of the EU Battery Directive (PP-4). An overwhelming majority of the interviewees(90%,or 9out of 10experts)acknowledged a need for regulatory action.Assessing the proposals’ GHG impact potential and the likelihood of political consideration,it isfinally concluded that futureefforts should be streamlined on PP-2 and PP-3 as they combine both factorsmost promisingly.

This dissertation fillsa well-defined gap in the academic literature bycombining a technicalperspective with systematic policy analysis and broad stakeholder engagement. As members of all stakeholder groupshave demonstrated interest in this dissertation’s findings, a shortened version of this documentwill be distributedfor further external development.Moreover, it is planned to make this workaccessible by publishing it in an academic journal.