Int. J. Automotive Technology and Management, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2015 97 Copyright © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Editorial Carole Donada* ESSEC Business School, Av Bernard Hirsch, CS 50105, 95021 Cergy Pontoise Cedex, France Email: donada@essec.edu *Corresponding author Yannick Perez Supélec, 3 Rue Joliot Curie, Plateau de Moulon, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France and RITM, University Paris-Sud, 15 Rue Georges Clemenceau, 91400 Orsay, France Email: yannick.perez@u-psud.fr 1 Introduction Electric vehicles (EVs) are not a 21st century innovation. They first surfaced during the early days of the automotive industry, and continued evolving until the rise of Fordism. During that period, EVs dominated the market but, within a matter of years, they disappeared in favour of internal combustion vehicles (ICV). Throughout the 20th century, researchers, engineers, experts and consultants encouraged manufacturers to launch new EVs, but each attempt led to failure. Today, EVs (full electric, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, as well as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles) are resurfacing through a wide range of projects and in a number of different ways. First, EVs are no longer considered to be experimental concept cars, but rather are incorporated into the production plans of mainstream manufacturers (e.g., Zoé by Renault, Leaf by Nissan, Prius by Toyota, DS by PSA, BMW i by BMW). Second, new entrants to the marketplace like Tesla Motors or BYD are bypassing the barriers that traditionally controlled entry into the automotive industry and are instead positioning themselves within the elite circle of car manufacturers (Donada, 2013). Third, the EVs resurgence does not focus solely on the vehicles themselves but also on a set of associated services such as car-sharing, battery rental, charging infrastructures, and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems. Operating these services are many non-automotive companies such as energy and service providers, battery producers, telecoms, and internet companies; all of which are motivated stakeholders in the new ‘electromobility’ industry.