Abstract
To eliminate the problems of climate warming and oil shortage, many developed & developing countries have devoted a great deal of budgets and efforts to reduce the CO2 emission and have developed sustainable or clean technology alternatives, such as photovoltaic solar, wind power and electric vehicles. Of which electric vehicles (EVs) is one of the very selective solutions. Since there are still few empirical studies and some theory gaps need to fit in the emerging technological paradigm. From the sectoral system of innovation (SSI) perspective, the paper examines three dimensions of EV SSI, namely; (1) knowledge & technology; (2) actors and networks and (3) institutions (regulations, standards & markets). Thus, this paper aims to explore the development and dynamics of the EV industry in Taiwan and how the Taiwanese governments, firms and research institutes to co-develop local EV innovation system. The paper concludes that a leading firm in Taiwan affects significantly the direction of EVs policy and the inter-organizational networks among innovation system actors as government fails to deal with radical environmental change and decide which niche technology should be invested. Some policy implications to correct these system failures and to solve these bottlenecks are provided