Developmental trajectories of new energy vehicle research in economic management: Main path analysis

摘要

The present share of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in the global automobile market is less than 1%. To understand why, we reviewed the body of literature on this topic, to identify the developmental trends of NEVs. Unlike previous reviews, which have mainly focused on a singular topic (e.g., charging, policies, etc.), we used main path analysis (MPA) to analyze a citation network of the literature on NEVs in the field of economic management. Our goals were to identify developmental trajectories and explore the major research topics of NEVs. A search of the Web of Science database identified 801 NEV-themed articles. Analyses of these studies indicate the following. First, endurance mileage was a key factor restricting the penetration of the new energy market by NEVs before 2013, and the charging problem gradually became the key factor after 2013. Second, the technological development of NEVs is locked to some extent onto the technology of the internal-combustion engine. Third, more innovative vehicles are the future of NEVs. This paper presents some feasible solutions to the charging problem and call for more attention to be placed on the influence of the intelligent attributes of NEVs which may drive the future developmental trend.