“The Gasoline of the Future:” Electric Vehicles, Points of Continuity, and Making Green Capitalism

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are key to U.S. plans to transition to a green economy that is powered by renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. There has been extensive research documenting the adverse socio-ecological impacts of resource extraction for EVs, including water shortages driven by lithium mining on Indigenous lands in South America and child labor in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, little research has attended to the ways that automakers and utility companies shape the adoption of EVs through the use of corporate narratives and strategies. In this thesis, I introduce the concept of points of continuity, whereby specific aspects of the gasoline vehicle user experience are mimicked by the EV industry to increase adoption of EVs. This desire to adopt behavioral similarities between gasoline and electric vehicles allows for existing patterns of automobile production and consumption to be maintained. However, in order to establish points of continuity, EV industry actors must navigate material constraints imposed by the physical properties of electric power. Through this case study, I demonstrate that the production of points of continuity is a method through which the environmental violence of green capitalism is maintained.