Electric vehicles have been touted as the dream technology to
solve our suburban transport challenges and rescue us from oil
dependence and environmental threats. Yet technology use occurs
in a social context. Almost no discussion of electric vehicles
has addressed the uneven suburban social patterns among which
electric vehicles might be adopted. The evidence that my
colleagues Neil Sipe, Terry Li and I have assembled suggests the
socio-economic structure of Australian suburbia, in combination
with the distribution of public transport infrastructure,
constitutes a major barrier to the widespread adoption of
electric vehicles, especially among the most car-dependent
households. Relying on electric vehicles as a solution to energy
and environmental problems may perpetuate suburban social
disadvantage in a period of economic and resource insecurity.
Australia’s five largest cities are the most car-dependent
national set outside the United States. Our previous studies
(Dodson and Sipe 2007; 2008 have shown that