Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how the the expansion of smart technologies relates to social disempowerment and urban transformation in the New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) market in China. I show how the promise of smart futures fosters the technological control over society by NEV producers and city authorities.

Paper long abstract:

What do New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) tell us about the future of urban mobility and property regimes in a rapidly changing Chinese megalopolis? Convenience (bianli) was a recurring trope used by producers, sellers, and consumers of NEVs during my fieldwork in Shenzhen within the Worlds of Lithium project. They usually referred to different “smart" devices and functions that enhanced the user experience of the vehicle. For producers and city authorities, they were also important sources of data for future modifications or policies. In hindsight, I realised that many “smart” technologies were redefining the way people experience urban mobility for the sake of convenience. In this paper, I build on Huberman’s (2021) notion of ‘ideology of convenience’ to explore the implications of smart technologies in the electromobility market in Shenzhen, China. I analyse what kinds of smart technologies are implemented in NEVs, how notions of convenience are deployed by producers and consumers, and to what extent are these technologies redefining traditional consumer property relations and the urban experience. I argue that the promise of smart futures fosters the technological control over society by NEV producers and city authorities, which is omitted by narratives of convenience. By looking at the urban transformations connected to the expansion of electromobility in one of China’s model socialist cities, I attempt a more systemic critique of a kind of techno-optimism that is deeply enmeshed in China’s project of a sustainable socialist modernity, which is guiding the transformation of its urban landscape.