Editorial: Electromobility at the crossroads

A recent study from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden Württemberg (ZSW), reports that in early 2015 over 740,000 electric cars were on the road throughout the world. This is a drop in the ocean compared to the 74 million ICE cars sold last year. However, latest statistics on the sale of electric cars indicate that the market is booming with no less 320,000 vehicles registered in one year, as well as an exponential growth rate of sales worldwide.These results came as no surprise to researchers from the Armand Peugeot Chair, who held the Second International Conference in Paris in December 2014. A previous issue of the International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management (‘Electromobility challenging issues', Vol. 15, No. 2, 2015) called attention to the fact that the emergence of electromobility has generated three critical challenges for the markets, the industrial processes and the business models of the traditional automotive industry. More specifically, it discussed issues regarding innovation and service transition, issues regarding grid-integration and service-aggregator actions, and lastly issues regarding supportive public policies (Donada and Perez, 2015). How have these challenges evolved one year later, a year during which this new electromobility industry has been booming? This special edition presents five emblematic researches on the issues raised during the sessions of this 2014 conference.