Complementary innovation: systems and technologies towards the electric vehicle

Summary form only given. The paper explores the inherent relationship between stand-alone products and their technological sub-systems. The development of the electric vehicle, explored in the paper, was found difficult to explain using existing theories because innovation is needed at the vehicle sub-system as well as the final product level. The paper first explores the literature on innovation and product development as it relates to such radical new product development and in particular the identification of strata within the product development process. The case of the electric vehicle is then introduced to show how the related regulatory efforts have demanded the development of a totally new product, something which is seen only rarely, particularly in the automobile industry