ABSTRACT
The experiments of the early 1990s aimed at electrifying mobility failed to lead to a regime-shift as some actors, for example, in Mendrisio, had hoped. It appears that the actors who upheld the existing regime had absorbed the ideas generated and the expertise gained during the decade of experimentation with battery-electric vehicles and had begun using these to convert the gasoline car into a hybrid and/or fuel cell vehicle. By the start of the year 2000, these two vehicle technologies were expected to gain a substantial market share in the near future. This development could be interpreted as a regime-optimization scenario, since these cars were seen only as replacements for existing cars, and, as such, would not contribute to changing Western mobility patterns.
