Driving the transition: Intermediary actors in the grassroots e-carsharing niche of rural Germany.

Abstract: Rural Germany is massively dependent on fossil fuel driven cars. But in many villages, socio-technical innovations have emerged to tackle this dependency. Electric carsharing, often organised in grassroots-settings, is one of them. For such innovations to spread and grow, different projects from across the country need intermediariesto connect them in networks, or share ideas, and experiences. This thesis identifies the intermediaries and outlines their possible roles in overcoming challenges to the spread of rural, electric carsharing-projects. Semi-structured interviews with both grassrootsactivists and potential intermediaries are conducted. The results show several active intermediaries, especially in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. However, challenges persist, including a detachment of projects from each other, political dependencies, disregard of local identities and a need for more intermediation. The practical implications of these results for policymakers and practitioners are discussed alongside theoretical implications for future research around socio-technical transitions to sustainability.