| Abstract: |
This paper aims to shed light on the drivers that encourage a shift from
incumbent internal combustion engine technologies towards low-emission vehicle
technologies. We emphasise the role of fuel prices, one of the main drivers of
environmental innovation, and other features of the technology space (such as
technological proximity), in impacting technological dynamics and fossil fuel
technological lock-ins. Specifically, we investigate whether green
technological efforts come at the expense of other environmental or
non-environmental inventive activities. In doing so, we employ Self-Organised
Maps (SOMs) to detect the main technological domains exploited by the
automotive industry during the period 1982-2008, using triadic patent families
as a proxy for technological efforts pursued in each technological field. On
the one hand, we test whether these drivers foster the substitution of
non-green patents with green ones. On the other, we analyse if they favour
substitution between technological efforts related to alternative vehicles, de
facto influencing low-emitting vehicle competition. Our findings suggest that
higher tax-inclusive fuel prices (used as a proxy for carbon tax) are
effective in redirecting patenting activities from non-green to green
technological fields. In addition, we observe a similar impact when we focus
on green technological fields. Although this result may involve the risk of
potential lock-in into sub-optimal substituting technologies, there are
insights that the competition within the environmental technological domain
mainly regards technological efforts spent on greening conventional cars and
developing low-emission vehicles. |