The Grand Challengers Podcast Episode #54

What it takes for the sustainable energy transition – from electric vehicles to full grid transformation

Guest: Mats Larsson

November 25th, 2025

Episode Teaser

Introduction

“…We need electrification strategists and electrification architects…”

Mats Larsson is the Founder of the Global Energy Transformation Institute based in southern Sweden. Mats has over 30 years of experience as a business and management consultant, supporting hundreds of companies in a large number of industries with business development and growth strategies. Mats has a passion for guiding our world towards sustainable, large-scale transformation of our energy system and has actively been supporting the systemic shift from conventional oil and gas mobility towards widespread electrification of our transport system, through on-the-ground projects, systems thinking, mapping of opportunities and several books on the topic.

On today’s show, Mats and I explore just how much is required to revolutionize and electrify our mobility system, from not only the technological and infrastructural requirements, but also the societal shifts that need to occur. We review the current state of our progress, the options that we have and what still needs to be done if we want to transition towards sustainable mobility and, generally global sustainable electrification in the next few decades.

Biography

Mats Larsson is the founder of Global Energy Transformation Institute. He has over 30 years’ experience as a business and management consultant, developing business strategies for companies in many different industries. He has worked with the large-scale transformation to electromobility and sustainability since 2004, leading a sequence of projects. This work has resulted in five internationally published books, starting with Global Energy Transformation, published in 2009, then The Business of Global Energy Transformation 2012, Circular Business Models 2018, Redrawing the Map of the Future 2019, and The Blind Guardians of Ignorance 2020.

In Global Energy Transformation 2009 Mats launched the idea that the large-scale change to electromobility and a sustainable society will require large-scale transformation programmes. He has since then elaborated on this idea and developed strategies for various aspects of the transformations, such as the expansion of vehicle fleets and charging infrastructure, power generation and distribution, the development of training programmes for the groups of professionals that need to become involved in the change, and development of the companies and business models that will be needed.

Over the years, he has supported hundreds of companies in a large number of industries with business development and growth strategies.

Resources Related to the Episode

Our chat on Sweden:
- Mats is based in southern Sweden in a town called Höör near Malmö
- A guide to Österlen – a good place to visit in summer
- I went running along the Fyris River in Uppsala
- Sürströmming – fermented Herring
- Other Swedish elements: IKEA (the Swedish website), Fika, Kanebullar (Swedish cinnamon buns)
- The best Swedish Crime Novels
- The Bridge – the famous show Mats mentioned that also relates to the bridge with Copenhagen
- Lund University Official Website
The Global Energy Transformation (GET) Institute Official Website
Some data on the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs)
- IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2024
- EEA’s Data on new registrations of electric cars in Europe
- McKinsey’s article on new twists in EV transition and a report on the needs for scaling EV infrastructure to meet net zero targets
All about Hydrogen Vehicles – BWM also has a nice illustration on Hydrogen Fuel Cells
EU’s ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2035
We reference Episode 46 with Mark Swinnerton in regards to the Sustainable Energy Transition, check out his episode for more on this topic
An interesting article about China’s EV development
More about The Apollo Program
The 5 Customer Segments of Technology Adoption explained (in reference to the early innovators vs. the laggards)
The concept of the life puzzle (in Swedish: Livpussel) – Lane, L., 2011. Conceptualizing work-life balance in the swedish life puzzle debate–is it just about time. Höjer, ingrid och Höjer, staffan (red) Familj, vardagsliv och modernitet. göteborg: intellecta. [PDF]
Evolution of EV Battery technology
Some of Mats’ Books: (more books available on GET Institute’s Website)
- How Building the Future Really Works: From Information Technologies and Space Technologies to Power Production and Electromobility—What Society Needs to Take the Next Leap Forward, published in 2023 [Amazon]
- The Severe Economic And Social Consequences of The Rapid Change to Electric Vehicles: The Effects of the Decision to Ban the Sales of Fossil Fuel Vehicles from 2035 A Whistle Blower’s Report, published in 2024 [Amazon]
- Redrawing the Map of the Future: Digitisation, Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, E-mobility, and the Circular Economy – published in 2019 [Amazon]
Speed limits by country [Wikipedia]
Electric Road Technology [Wikipedia]
- An interesting article by the BBC on the topic
- The evolution of wireless charging
- The piano staircase I mentioned, which also generates energy [YouTube]
The growing electricity demand for data centres
- IEA’s Article on the Energy Demand for AI
The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, by Richard Heinberg [Wikipedia]
Start with Why by Simon Sinek [Amazon] and his habit of taking plane rides to write his book
The famous Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, best known for the Millennium Trilogy (”The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”)

Episode Chapters

(Chapters are embedded in the episode for quick access, click this to expand and view all chapters and time stamps)

0:00 Intro
1:59 Guest Intro & some Swedish culture
6:27 The GET Institute and its mission
7:42 The origin of Mats interest in energy
14:57 How do alternatives to EVs compare?
16:53 Planning stepwise for a societal shift – Parallels to Apollo
20:50 Is there a way to speed up adoption of EVs?
23:06 A question of cities?
25:32 Is increased battery life an answer to greater adoption?
27:28 An insight into Mats’ projects at the GET Institute
37:00 Scaling up sustainable electrification
41:09 Transition starts by simply starting
44:10 What about AI?
47:07 Q&A Start
47:27 What does innovation mean to you?
49:10 Key Moment, Event, Book
51:15 Time Management
54:51 Favourite Childhood Memory
55:48 Greatest challenge to date
58:22 Advice for young professionals
1:00:15 What would you most like to be remembered for?
1:01:52 Where can people find you?
1:03:45 Final Message
1:03:59 Outro

Connect with Mats Larsson

Related Episodes

Credits

Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach, follow me on: X: @petermbach, Instagram: @petermbach87 or subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
Intro/Outro Song: ‘Starsky’ by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)

	Episode #8 – Megan A. Farrelly Don’t forget the social – experiments in urban water and energy transitions (Related Topics: energy, transitions, societal shifts)
	Episode #28 – Alexa Delbosc A social psychology toolkit for changing transport planning, built environment and future mobility (Related Topics: transport planning, future mobility, sustainable mobility, social behaviours)
	Episode #37 – Brett Ferrin “Safeguarding the ordinary” – achieving traffic safety planning and management in a data-rich, AI-powered world (Related Topics: transport planning, electric vehicles, AI)
	Episode #42 – Mashael Yazdanie “Doing the right things the right way” – how to holistically plan for sufficiency and renewable energy (Related Topics: energy systems planning, renewable energy, transformation)