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Beyond the green rhetoric: the marketability of sustainability in electric vehicles

Ankush Pal

Consumption, Markets and Culture2026https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2025.2607369article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.37

Abstract

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are promoted as a sustainable way of transport claiming to be environmentally friendly, with different governments in India launching several schemes to promote them. Recent studies reveal that EVs release more toxic emissions than their non-electric counterparts. Furthermore, the batteries result in the extraction of minerals from the Global South. In this article, we draw from Marxist criticisms of consumerism, sustainable development, and technological fetishism to interrogate how notions of sustainability are legitimised to support EV consumption in India. Dependency theory has been employed to study how policies to provide a sustainable means of life for a few are enacted at the expense of most. By examining India's EV policies within global dependency relations, the article demonstrates how EV promotion represents a form of commodity fetishism reproducing unequal development patterns.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2025.2607369

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@article{ankush2026,
  title        = {{Beyond the green rhetoric: the marketability of sustainability in electric vehicles}},
  author       = {Ankush Pal},
  journal      = {Consumption, Markets and Culture},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2025.2607369},
}

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Beyond the green rhetoric: the marketability of sustainability in electric vehicles

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.