Blog post #4 (April 2025)
Who rides the wave of change, When the city goes electric?
Alireza Aboutalebi is urban planner and Doctoral Candidate in the C-NEWTRAL program at Heidelberg University. With a background in urban planning engineering and a master's degree in urban planning and policy design from Politecnico di Milano plus a year of study in urban agglomeration at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, his focus is on how digital technologies can reshape urban policymaking; building on his master’s thesis, “The Digital Transformation of Policymaking: The Promises of Digital Twin,”. He is currently working on mobility justice and the electric mobility transition in a comparative context. His research investigates innovative ways to enhance decision-making, sustainability, and quality of life in cities
When we talk about the electric mobility revolution, the conversation often revolves around efficiency, zero-emissions targets, and the technical hurdles of battery innovation. Yet as (opens in a new window)Henderson (2020)outlined, it is important to know “who benefits
from this shift “. We must also ask what it means to design inclusive electric mobility systems that account for the diverse socio-economic realities of our urban populations. The literature discussions are more on urban sustainability which frequently intersect with questions of access, affordability, and equity. Cities are already sites of unequal power relations. As new e-mobility solutions (such as electric scooters, bikes, cars, and buses) flood the market, there should be an assurance that they do not simply reinforce existing injustices.
What Is Mobility Justice?
Mobility justice is an emerging framework that expands the discussion’s focus beyond reducing carbon emissions or easing congestion. It focusses on the social and political dimensions of how people move in and between urban spaces. According to (opens in a new window)Sheller (2018)and some scholars in this area, mobility justice stresses that we look at:
• Who can afford an electric car, or an e-bike subscription, or the public charging fees?
• Are charging stations and e-mobility services distributed evenly, including in lower-income neighborhoods?
• Which voices are included in policymaking processes, and do they represent marginalized communities (e.g., low-income individuals, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities)?
These questions matter because “the deployment of electric vehicles (Evs) tends to favor wealthier areas, often leaving behind those who could benefit most from clean, affordable transport “ (opens in a new window)(Bauer, Hsu, and Lutsey, 2021).
EVs are hailed as a key tool in reducing urban air pollution and mitigating climate change. Yet, as with any technological transition, there can be unintended consequences like in many cities, EVs charging stations and battery-swapping networks concentrate in affluent areas. Government subsidies often go to new car purchases rather than improving communal mobility systems, such as electric buses. This can intensify existing spatial inequalities, especially when marginalized neighborhoods still lack reliable public transit options or even safe sidewalks and bike lanes. EVs and sometimes even e-bikes remain prohibitively expensive for many urban residents, particularly those in risky economic situations. The raw materials for batteries (like lithium and cobalt) are typically extracted in ways that harm local communities and ecosystems in the Global South. Even in “green” transitions, someone pays the price often out of sight of end consumers.
In most of the developed cities, we observe how efforts to introduce shared e-scooters in the cities sparked debate. On one hand, these scooters provide a low-emission alternative to cars in narrow, pedestrian-friendly streets. On the other, there is some concerns about safety, public space management, and the privatization of sidewalks. Moreover, an initiative to install fast-charging stations near the commercial district highlighted the mismatch between city-level ambitions and neighborhood needs. While the project looked promising from an innovation standpoint, many community members argued that investments should first address more immediate challenges like improving bus routes and walkability for elderly and low-income residents. These discussions echo a broader tension: Can we ensure that electric mobility aligns with community-driven priorities, rather than imposing a top-down solution that may not serve all equally?
Moving Toward an Equitable E-Mobility Future
• Engage Communities Early Community consultations particularly in underrepresented areas can guide policymakers to develop infrastructure that genuinely meets local needs.
• Prioritize Public and Shared Mobility Beyond private EV ownership, public transport electrification and shared emobility services can democratize access. However, these options must be designed to be affordable, safe, and reliable.
• Intersectional Policy Approaches Mobility justice intersects with housing, labor, and environmental policies. For instance, measures to prevent “transport poverty” (where people cannot afford to travel for work or essential services) should be integrated into broader urban planning.
Transitioning to electric mobility is more than just swapping out the engines and is not just a technological fix it’s an ongoing social and political negotiation about who has the right to move, how they move, and what support structures exist to make that movement sustainable and just.
Reflections on our co-authored perspective about mobility, it should spark further conversation about achieving environmental goals through the lens of justice, because the road to a truly fair future must be one that everyone can travel on without limits than impose a limitation on humans’ movement.
References
(opens in a new window)Henderson, J. (2020). EVs Are Not the Answer: A Mobility Justice Critique of Electric
(opens in a new window)Vehicle Transitions, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110(6), 1993
(opens in a new window)2010. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1744422
(opens in a new window)Sheller, M. (2018). Mobility justice: the politics of movement in an age of extremes.
(opens in a new window)London: Verso
(opens in a new window)Bauer, G., Hsu, C.-W., & Lutsey, N. (2021, February). When might lower-income
(opens in a new window)drivers benefit from electric vehicles? Quantifying the economic equity implications of electric vehicle adoption. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.19144.03842