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200 FCEs because they are at least potential “critical turning points” (Lampel & Meyer, 2008, p. 1026), where representatives of all the relevant actor groups meet occasion- ally to structure, or restructure, resource combinations and to keep coordinating joint action—or, more formally, aim to institutionalize the field of electromobility. In each region we identified three events that we classified as potentially field- configuring in nature. Taking these steps in data analysis, we conducted a within- case analysis in each region, focusing on a detailed description of the observable events and activities that occurred between mid-2007 and early 2012. Lastly, we compared the cases across the two regions under study to elaborate commonalities and differences between the identified platforming activities. Preformation Phase: Political Agenda-Setting Political actions in the field of electromobility go back to a gathering of Germany’s federal cabinet in August 2007. The neologism electromobility originally appeared as one of several ways to address the challenges posed by global climate change, growing energy demand, and rising oil prices as documented in the Integrated Energy and Climate Program (German Federal Government, 2007). The assump- tion in this report was that battery electric vehicles in particular offer two advan- tages. One is an enormous potential to reduce transport-related carbon dioxide emissions and the country’s dependence on oil imports. The other is an apt opportu- nity to increase the number of primary energy sources by using the full spectrum of renewable energies to power electric vehicles in the medium and long term. This document was the first official reference to electromobility by the German govern- ment, which addressed at the very least three different industries: automotive, energy, and information and communication technology (ICT). As one early result and imprint, German car manufacturers and electric utilities announced field experi- ments with battery electric cars and new infrastructures in several German regions.3 In 2008 the German federal government organized the National Strategy Conference on Electromobility to provide the impetus for further action despite the peak of the financial and economic crisis gripping the world at that time. It was the first official venue at which governmental authorities, scientists, and representatives from all the relevant industries met to discuss the country’s next strides in the field of electromobility and jointly underlined the future potential of this technological alter- native. The necessity of increasing national R&D efforts to maintain the competi- tiveness of the automotive industry, the backbone of the German economy, also came 3 Even earlier imprints may have been left by the abortive field tests conducted by the German automotive industry on the island of Rügen from 1992 to 1996. Unlike the current experiments, these early ones of the 1990s were predominantly technological in nature. No coordinating national or regional institutions integrated diverse actor constellations from industry, politics, and science, nor were demonstration projects of applied science and technology set up in multiple German regions. J. Sydow and F. Koll