EVS27 International Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Symposium 1 EVS27 Barcelona, Spain, 17-20 November, 2013 Perspectives on Demonstration Pathways in the Sociotechnical Transition of Electric Mobility in Finland Pekka Malinen 1 , Tero Haahtela 1 , Iisakki Kosonen 2 , Antero Alku 2 1 Aalto University School of Science, BIT Research Centre, P.O. Box 15500, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland 2 Aalto University School of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, P.O. Box 12100, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland E-mail: forename.surname@aalto.fi Abstract A model of sociotechnical change takes into account different sociotechnical configurations and their interactions in a multi-level framework consisting of three major levels: niche innovations, a sociotechnical regime and a sociotechnical landscape. The sociotechnical changes can be analysed by studying the transition pathways along different multi-level interactions. The pressure from the landscape level and niche-innovations from the bottom level reinforce the relationships and operations on the regime level. This paper discusses the results of the study and illustrates the on-going development and the future changes in sociotechnical regimes of electric mobility in Finland. The regime changes have been analysed using a three-level perspective. The levels comprise an industry level, a value networks level and an end- user level. The results of the regime analysis show that there is a great deal of uncertainty in the operation environment and that new actors and new business models are needed to for the system to work properly. According to earlier research, sociotechnical transition pathways can be categorised based on the environmental change and the type of transition. In the case of electric mobility, the transition does not fit directly with any of the category types. Electric mobility will most likely follow the reconfiguration transition pathway. The changes in Finland are taking place slowly. This development can be aggregated via governmental support and incentives for organisations and consumers. Keywords: sociotechnical change, sociotechnical regime, transition pathway, electric mobility 1 Introduction The introduction of electric mobility varies significantly in different countries and is strongly based on the amount of public support from local governments. The governments have been forced to provide incentives, such as tax reductions for users, because electric vehicles (EV) are far more expensive than comparable conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Not only the high price of the recent technologies, but also the other limitations they face, such as the energy capacity of batteries, reduces the extent to which EVs have penetrated the market. In addition, the limited availability of vehicles due to