ABSTRACT
Policymakers in most countries consider the electrification of transportation with energy from renewable sources key to lowering emissions from transportation, but economic factors are deemed equally important. This chapter explores recent changes in the electrification narrative, focusing on the particular case of Germany. The country is and has always been an automobile nation in multiple ways. From the early history of mass motorization during the Third Reich to the global success of the German luxury car as a distinct brand and status symbol, the automotive industry has constituted the core of the nation's economy for almost a century. Simultaneously, to the German people, the automobile came to signify wealth, success, family values, pleasure, self-determination and a positive sense of nationhood as part of their collective post-Second World War identity. The conventional car has become part of Germany's national pride and central to its export-driven economic model.
