Policy recommendations for a transition to sustainable mobility based on historical diffusion dynamics of transport systems

Drivers and Barriers to the Adoption of Fuel Cell Passenger Vehicles and Buses in Germany

“…is not available, fuel cells will be unable to penetrate into diverse market segments [53]. Consequently, the low availability of vehicles then reduces the rationale for market investors and policymakers to commit to rolling out refuelling infrastructure [53,54]. Meanwhile, the supply of vehicles may also be impeded by technological difficulties in mass producing components like fuel cells and hydrogen tanks [55] or the lack of alternatives to expensive materials used in these [23,49,56].…”

“…From the perspective of driving influences, market development is expected to accelerate when the rollout of refuelling stations occurs ahead of vehicles [54,65]. This sends positive signals to automakers that production volumes can be safely ramped up without stressing the capacity of refuelling infrastructure or inconveniencing drivers with limited opportunities to source hydrogen [16].…”

“…Also, targeting market segments where vehicle demand is expected to propel market development. Optimal segments for fuel cells include fleet applications requiring long driving ranges and short refuelling times [22,54]. Finally, public awareness of the benefits of hydrogen mobility can accelerate market formation since positive attitudes tend to influence government policy and the purchase decisions of transit agencies (i.e., for buses).…”

Decision-making and decision support connected to biogas use in Sweden

“…For example, the government set up an investigation on how biogas could be supported (Swedish Government Official Reports 2019), both of the major Swedish auto manufacturers presented new versions of heavy trucks that ran on liquefied biomethane (Alpman 2018) and a Finnish company decided to make large investments in infrastructure that would radically increase the number of refueling stations for primarily liquefied methane in Sweden (Gasum 2018). Infrastructure is a common "chicken-and-egg" problem since there is no interest in vehicles if there is no refueling infrastructure at the same time as there is no interest in refueling infrastructure if there are no vehicles (Leibowicz 2018). According to Leibowicz (2018), there needs to be a diffusion of infrastructure before there is a diffusion of the vehicles since the infrastructure enables vehicle adaption.…”

“…Infrastructure is a common "chicken-and-egg" problem since there is no interest in vehicles if there is no refueling infrastructure at the same time as there is no interest in refueling infrastructure if there are no vehicles (Leibowicz 2018). According to Leibowicz (2018), there needs to be a diffusion of infrastructure before there is a diffusion of the vehicles since the infrastructure enables vehicle adaption. These findings showed similarities to thatwhen there was more infrastructure for biomethane for heavy vehicles, the decision-makers seemed more interested in using biomethane in their trucks.…”