Electric Vehicles represent a small niche market today, but is predicted to grow rapidly over the next years. In order to prepare for this upcoming trend it is the networks of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) must expand, leading to an increasing demand for EVCSs. The EVCS market is thus becoming increasingly more popular to companies, and therefore this study’s purpose is to investigate this market and its competitive situation. The method used in this study includes a brief market analysis and a competitor analysis. The market analysis includes identification of the EVCS markets together assessing the future of the markets, and identification of EVCS market drivers and restraints. The competitor analysis includes competitor identification, classification and analysis. The top ten competitors are analyzed by the use of document content analysis, the analysis involves understanding the competitors’ target customers, how they do business and how their marketing material is structured. The three most promising EVCS markets, both currently and in the future, are the Asia Pacific, Europe and the North America markets. Most of the top competitors are active within these three markets. Regional developments, and market drivers and restraints of these markets have been identified. The opportunities in the EVCS markets are many as they are relatively unexploited markets without any actual market leaders, and also that all markets are predicted to grow at a very high rate over the coming decade in parallel with the projected mass adoption if Electric Vehicles (EVs). / Idag utgör elfordon endast en liten nischmarknad i transportmarknaden, men denna förväntas växa snabbt under de närmaste åren. För att kunna hantera marknadsetableringen av elfordon måste elfordonsladdningsinfrastrukturen byggas ut, vilket leder till en ökad efterfrågan på elfordonsladdningsstationer. Elfordonsladdningsmarknaden förespås således bli allt mer intressant för företag. Detta examensarbete genomförs på grund av detta växande intresse, då studiens syfte är att undersöka elfordonsladdstationsmarknaden och dess konkurrenssituation. Metoden som används i denna studie inbegriper en kort marknadsanalys och en konkurrensanalys. Marknadsanalysen innehåller identifiering av elfordonsladdningsmarknaderna, vad som driver och hindrar marknaderna, och en bedömning av hur framtiden ser ut för marknaderna. I konkurrensanalysen ingår identifiering, klassificering och analys av de olika konkurrenterna. De tio mest konkurrenskraftiga konkurrenterna analyseras med hjälp av dokumentinnehållsanalys, syftet med analysen är att förstå konkurrenternas målgrupper, hur de gör affärer och hur deras marknadsföringsmaterial är strukturerad. De tre mest lovande elfordonsladdningsmarknaderna, både nu och i framtiden, är marknaderna i Asien och Stillahavsområdet, Europa och Nordamerika. De flesta av de analyserade konkurrenterna är verksamma inom dessa tre marknader. Den regionala utvecklingen, och vad som driver och begränsar marknaderna har identifierats för de tre mest lovande marknaderna. Eftersom dessa marknader är relativt oexploaterade i samband med att de förväntas växa med väldigt hög takt det kommande decenniet parallellt med massanvändningen av elfordon är möjligheterna många för de företag som inriktar sig mot elbilsladdning.

<div>Electric vehicles (EVs) face a major issue before becoming the norm of society, that is, their lack of range when it comes to long trips. Fast charging stations are a good step forward to help make it simpler for EVs, but it is still not as convenient when compared to vehicles with an internal combustion engine (ICE). Plenty of infrastructure changes have been proposed in the literature attempting to tackle this issue, but they typically tend to be either an expensive solution or a difficult practical implementation.</div><div> </div><div> This dissertation presents two solutions to help increase the range of EVs: a novel wireless charging method and a multi-motor architecture for EVs. The first proposed solution involves the ability for EVs to charge while en route from another vehicle, which will be referred to from here on as vehicle-to-vehicle recharging (VVR). The aim of this system is to bring an innovative way for EVs to charge their battery without getting off route on a highway. The electric vehicle can request such a service from a designated charger vehicle on demand and receive electric power wirelessly while en route. The vehicles that provide energy (charger vehicles) through wireless power transfer (WPT) only need to be semi-autonomous in order to ``engage'' or ``disengage'' during a trip. Also, a novel method for wireless power transfer will be presented, where the emitter (TX) or receiver (RX) pads can change angles to improve the efficiency of power transmission. This type of WPT system would be suitable for the VVR system presented in this dissertation, along with other applications.</div><div> </div><div> The second solution presented here will be an architecture for EVs with three or more different electric motors to help prolong the state of charge (SOC) of the battery. The key here is to use motors with different high efficiency regions. The proposed control algorithm optimizes the use of the motors on-board to keep them running in their most efficient regions. With this architecture, the powertrain would see a combined efficiency map that incorporates the best operating points of the motors. Therefore, the proposed architecture will allow the EV to operate with a higher range for a given battery capacity.</div><div> </div><div> The state-of-the-art is divided into four subsections relevant to the proposed solutions and where most of the innovations to reduce the burden of charging EVs can be found: (1) infrastructure changes, (2) device level innovations, (3) autonomous vehicles, and (4) electric vehicle architectures. The infrastructure changes highlight some of the proposed systems that aim to help EVs become a convenient solution to the public. Device level innovations covers some of the literature on technology that addresses EVs in terms of WPT. The autonomous vehicle subsection covers the importance of such technology in terms of safety and reliability, that could be implemented on the VVR system. Finally, the EV architectures covers the current typologies used in EVs. Furthermore, modeling, analysis, and simulation is presented to validate the feasibility of the proposed VVR system, the WPT system, and the multi-motor architecture for EVs.</div>