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By drawing on critical security studies in the context of a sociotechnical transition, this article calls for more attention to the presence and sometimes alternative use of mostly unobserved security practices in the materialization of everyday consumer goods and services. This call is illustrated through a discussion of the phenomenon of range anxiety and the intra-action between drivers of electric vehicles (EVs), designers, and algorithms that observe, estimate and nudge the remaining range of an EV. Inspired by Foucault and Barad, the range-anxiety discussion offers four alternative security insights. First, it supports an argument to include stress as an embodied instance of insecurity. Second, it draws attention to a security apparatus that is based on a constantly expanding assemblage around range estimates. Third, it shows how this apparatus rests on a novel algorithm that has a continuous instead of a binary output and is governed by a distributed sovereignty: where the driver simultaneously is the object of measurement, subject of governance for more efficient driving and the ultimate sovereign who decides on the trip. Lastly, the discussion highlights how range estimates not only mediate the materialization of EVs and their automobility but also (re)perform epistemological or ontological forms of uncertainty.

Political Science - In de publicatie wordt gekeken hoe andere landen hun internationale positie en profiel in een veranderende wereld proberen vorm te geven, wat hun drijfveren zijn en welke methoden zij daarbij toepassen. Ten tweede wil deze publicatie de overeenkomsten laten zien tussen de reacties van die verschillende landen op de veranderingen, zonder de unieke, contextspecifieke beleidskeuzes van elk land uit het oog te verliezen. Op basis van deze analyse beoogt deze publicatie, ten slotte, een aantal lessen en ervaringen te identificeren die voor de Nederlandse situatie het meest van belang zijn. De serie WRR-webpublicaties omvat studies die in het kader van de werkzaamheden van de WRR tot stand zijn gekomen. De verantwoordelijkheid voor de inhoud en de ingenomen standpunten berust bij de auteurs.

Despite a potentially revolutionary shift towards electric mobility in the passenger vehicle market, the academic and policymaking communities remain wedded to a techno-economic paradigm that may not fully appreciate deeper social and geographic elements of a transition to electric vehicles. In this paper, based primarily on bivariate statistical analysis as well as a hierarchical regression analysis of a survey distributed to >5000 respondents across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, we analyze how perceptions and attitudes towards electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technologies differ by income, political affiliation, and geography. Although our findings confirm EV ownership and mobility patterns in general are related to income—those with higher incomes both own more EVs and drive more generally—they also confirm that interest in EVs is not so strongly related. Lower income groups seem to ask less from their cars, thus potentially opening up a market for cheaper low-range alternates. Political orientation is correlated to car and EV ownership, with those on the "left" more interested yet those on the "right" more able and willing to buy expensive cars. Moreover, we see variation in preferences across urban and rural subcategories, and our findings strongly suggest that EVs need not be promoted only for city or suburban areas. When controlling for variables, a multilevel regression analysis does not change the overall thrust of these associations.

Air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging for travellers, airlines, airports, health authorities, and governments. We reviewed multiple aspects of COVID peri-pandemic air travel, including data on traveller numbers, peri-flight prevention, and testing recommendations and in-flight SARS-CoV-2 transmission, photo-epidemiology of mask use, the pausing of air travel to mass gathering events, and quarantine measures and their effectiveness. Flights are reduced by 43% compared to 2019. Hygiene measures, mask use, and distancing are effective, while temperature screening has been shown to be unreliable. Although the risk of in-flight transmission is considered to be very low, estimated at one case per 27 million travellers, confirmed in-flight cases have been published. Some models exist and predict minimal risk but fail to consider human behavior and airline procedures variations. Despite aircraft high-efficiency filtering, there is some evidence that passengers within two rows of an index case are at higher risk. Air travel to mass gatherings should be avoided. Antigen testing is useful but impaired by time lag to results. Widespread application of solutions such as saliva-based, rapid testing or even detection with the help of "sniffer dogs" might be the way forward. The "traffic light system" for traveling, recently introduced by the Council of the European Union is a first step towards normalization of air travel. Quarantine of travellers may delay introduction or re-introduction of the virus, or may delay the peak of transmission, but the effect is small and there is limited evidence. New protocols detailing on-arrival, rapid testing and tracing are indicated to ensure that restricted movement is pragmatically implemented. Guidelines from airlines are non-transparent. Most airlines disinfect their flights and enforce wearing masks and social distancing to a certain degree. A layered approach of non-pharmaceutical interventions, screening and testing procedures, implementation and adherence to distancing, hygiene measures and mask use at airports, in-flight and throughout the entire journey together with pragmatic post-flight testing and tracing are all effective measures that can be implemented. Ongoing research and systematic review are indicated to provide evidence on the utility of preventive measures and to help answer the question "is it safe to fly?".