“We may want the transition, but we don’t actually want the transition” : a discourse analysis of Swedish policies to incentivise charging infrastructure development for electric vehicles

Abstract: As Swedish government aims for the transition to a fossil fuel-free transport sector by 2030, it becomes clear that the electrification of the fleet is one of the biggest ambitions to achieve that goal. The process is hindered by various factors and one of them is the development of charging infrastructure which has been proven a bottleneck in the transition to a fossil free passenger car fleet. Drawing on Bacchi’s approach “What’s the problem represented to be?” this paper conducts an analysis of policy discourses on the development of charging infrastructure and further investigate the hindrances in policymaking. Building on an analysis of policy documents and interviews with stakeholders within the sector, it was possible to identify three problem representation clusters: uneven development of charging infrastructure that hinders the electric vehicle uptake, socio-economic dilemmas in the development of the charging infrastructure, and the mandate of the public sector. The paper therefore further systematized the knowledge connected to what hinders the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the Swedish context.