Innovation in Energy Services: New Business Models for Electric Vehicles

The aim is to define barriers and enablers of value creation and capture in early electric vehicle (EV) ecosystems.  This research will identify the elements of successful business model innovation: value propositions, profit and loss structures, key partners and customer segments (Osterwalder, 2006).  

Electric Vehicle Sales: Actual

Electric Vehicle Sales: Projected

Case studies

5 existing electric vehicle ecosystems: Autolib’ in Paris, Better Place in California, MoveAbout in Norway, BYD in China, and TEPCO in Japan     
50+ innovating companies will be represented at different critical positions in the EV ecosystem: charging infrastructure, end-user service, and battery technology

Expected findings

EVs to cause a major paradigm shift: servitization of transport and change of ownership structure in the consumer/supply network (vehicle- battery- energy supply and infrastructure)
The grid/EV interface is one major source of value creation and capture in the ecosystem
ICT-driven business models must and can address technological barriers to adoption (high battery costs, limited driving range

Case Study Report

'E-Mobility Services: New Economic Models for Transport in the Digital Economy', Claire Weiller. 
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are enabling new business models and the introduction of electric vehicles (EV).  The report examines the example of the electric car-leasing system currently implemented in Paris, Autolib’.   Autolib’ illustrates the change from traditional mobility as we know it, to mobility-as-a-service.  The report begins with a presentation of the ways in which ICT enhance the value proposition for users by providing sophisticated information on the network and state-of-charge of the vehicle in the Autolib’ business model. It is then suggested that while ICT do add to the customer value proposition in this business model, the full potential of ICT-enabled value creation in this emerging market, especially from the supply-side, is not yet achieved. Untapped opportunities at the interface of electricity supply and ICT include the use of EV batteries for electricity storage and grid management. These are discussed in detail in the last sections of this report.

Listen to an Podcast Interview with author Claire Weiller, who discusses this research report.

Please contact Claire to discuss potential collaboration or find out more about her work.