The sustainable development of the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry is receiving increasing attention worldwide. However, as a “catch-up” country in the automobile industry, China has made remarkable achievements in NEV industry development. To explore this phenomenon, this paper develops an “innovation-demand-policy” (IDP) framework to investigate the driving forces of sustainable development of the NEV industry from the perspective of an innovation ecosystem. Based on a comprehensive data collection and processing of interviews, patents, industry reports, and policy documents, the findings showed that technological innovation, market demand, and government policy drive NEV industry development together, and policy can play an effective role of coordination only when it follows an innovation process and market demand selection mechanism. Specifically, technological grafting, potential market demand, and supply-side policy create a minimum viable ecosystem and the embryonic form of the NEV industry. Technological breakthroughs, public demand, and demand-side policy enhance the NEV industry’s ability to grow via a platform ecosystem. Additionally, total innovation, private demand, and environmental-side policy upgrade the NEV industry through expanding and reconfiguring the innovation ecosystem. This study also provides suggestions for policymakers and industrialists to promote sustainable development of the NEV industry in the future.

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Why does an industrial alliance upgrade sometimes quickly and sometimes very slowly? The answer to this question can scientifically reveal the key driving forces of the sustainable intergenerational evolution of industrial alliance innovation ecosystems. From the perspective of structural evolution, we analyzed and compared the key driving forces using a longitudinal case study from the 2G to 3G, and then to the 4G innovation ecosystems of China’s Time Division Industrial Alliance (TDIA). The findings showed that the internal key driving forces influencing the intergenerational evolution of the industrial alliance innovation ecosystem include the superiority of the new innovation ecosystem, the sustainability of the old ecosystem, and inheritance between the new and old ecosystems. Market demand and government policy indirectly affect the intergenerational evolution by shaping the environment in which the innovation ecosystems are embedded. This research will support industrial alliances and core members in making strategic innovation ecosystem decisions and support governments in designing related policies with scientific theoretical guidance and decision-making references. In particular, this study aimed to offer inspiration for the promotion of the successful sustainable evolution of China’s TDIA towards 5G.

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