<p dir="ltr">The growth of electric vehicles (EVs) offers several benefits for air quality improvement and emissions reduction. Nonetheless, EVs also pose several challenges in the area of highway transportation. These barriers are related to the limitations of EV technology, particularly the charge duration and speed of battery recharging, which translate to vehicle range anxiety for EV users. A promising solution to these concerns is V2V DWC technology (Vehicle to Vehicle Dynamic Wireless Charging), particularly mobile energy disseminators (MEDs). The MED is mounted on a large vehicle or truck that charges all participating EVs within a specified locus from the MED. However, current research on MEDs offers solutions that are widely considered impractical for deployment, particularly in urban environments where range anxiety is common. Acknowledging such gap in the literature, this thesis proposes a comprehensive methodological framework for optimal MED deployment decisions. In the first component of the framework, a practical system, termed “ChargingEnv” is developed using reinforcement learning (RL). ChargingEnv simulates the highway environment, which consists of streams of EVs and an MED. The simulation accounts for a possible misalignment of the charging panel and incorporates a realistic EV battery model. The second component of the framework uses multiple deep RL benchmark models that are trained in “ChargingEnv” to maximize EV service quality within limited charging resource constraints. In this study, numerical experiments were conducted to demonstrate the MED deployment decision framework’s efficacy. The findings indicate that the framework’s trained model can substantially improve EV travel range and alleviate battery depletion concerns. This could serve as a vital tool that allows public-sector road agencies or private-sector commercial entities to efficiently orchestrate MED deployments to maximize service cost-effectiveness.</p>

Samhället står inför stora utmaningar när det kommer till en hållbar transformation av energisystemen. Globala trender som hållbarhet, decentralisering, digitalisering och säkerhet kombinerat med ekonomisk nedgång och geopolitiska spänningar har lett till att energileverantörernas kunders behov har skiftat. Med detta som bakgrund formulerades studiens syfte till att studera hur små och medelstora företagskunders förändrande behov påverkar energileverantörernas hållbara affärsmodeller. Eftersom energileverantörerna står inför utmaningar när det gäller att möta behov ämnar studien att stödja energileverantörerna i arbetet att utforma sina affärsmodeller för att kunna möta kundernas behov. Studien undersöker företagskunders behov med ett fokus på små och medelstora företag. Med vetenskaplig litteratur som bakgrund skapades en analysmodell bestående av delarna kundbehov, hållbarhet samt affärsmodell. Den hållbara affärsmodellen togs fram med hjälp av ett SL-perspektiv på värdeskapande vilket medför att affärsmodellen består av fyra komponenter; potentiellt värdeskapande, samskapande av värde, värdeförmedling och värdeinfångning. Kundernas behov delades in i sex värdedimensioner; finansiella, funktionella, emotionella, sociala, epistemiska och villkorliga värden. Från analysmodellen genererades tre specifika forskningsfrågor. Studien använder sig av kvalitativ datainsamling med semi-strukturerade intervjuer med 15 respondenter, varav fem genomfördes med anställda på fallföretaget och tio företagskunder. Detta för att kunna kartlägga kundernas behov samt studera hur affärsmodellen kan utformas för att möta de identifierade behoven. Studien landar i sex slutsatser baserat på analysen; (i) behoven skiljer sig från kund till kund, men flertalet gemensamma behov har identifierats, (ii) viktiga kundbehov har identifierats inom samtliga värdedimensioner, (iii) kundbehoven påverkar tydligt energileverantörernas affärsmodeller, (iv) utformning av affärsmodellskomponenter behöver beakta samtliga värdedimensioner, (v) hållbarhet påverkar kundens samtliga värdedimensioner i stor utsträckning och (vi) hållbarhet påverkar samtliga affärsmodellskomponenter och kan inte hanteras separat eller som en separat affärsmodellskomponent. Baserat på slutsatserna presenteras sex rekommendationer till energileverantörer; (i) beakta att kundernas behov skiljer sig, men också att det finns gemensamma värden, (ii) det är viktigt att inkludera och kontinuerligt undersöka samtliga värdedimensioner, (iii) det är av stor vikt att affärsmodellen utformas efter kundernas behov, (iv) utformningen av varje enskild affärsmodellskomponent behöver beakta flera värdedimensioner, (v) för att kunna stötta kunder i sitt hållbarhetsarbete är det av vikt att ha förståelse för hur hållbarhet påverkar och samverkar med värdedimensionerna och (vi) behandla hållbarhet som en integrerad aspekt i samtliga affärsmodellskomponenter. Slutligen genomfördes en diskussion relaterat till hållbarhet och de sex värdedimensionerna vilken framtida forskning kan vidare utforska. Framtida forskning kan också undersöka om det framtagna ramverket kan appliceras i fler kontexter. Genom att genomföra fler intervjuer kan behoven kartläggas mer utförligt vilket kan stärka förståelsen om företagskundernas behov. / Society is facing great challenges regarding the sustainable transformation of energy systems. Global trends such as sustainability, decentralization, digitalization, and security combined with financial downgrade and geopolitical tension has led to a shift in customer needs amongst the energy providers’ customers. As such, the purpose of the study was formulated as to study how the energy providers’ small and medium enterprise customers’ shifted needs affect the energy providers’ sustainable business models. Since the energy providers are facing challenges regarding fulfilling customer needs, this study aims at aiding the energy providers on how to design their business models to better fulfill customer needs. The study investigates business customers’ needs, focusing on small and medium enterprises. An analysis model was generated from scientific literature from three topics: customer needs, sustainability, and business model. The business model framework was constructed from an SL-perspective which generated four business model components: potential value creation, value co-creation, value mediation and value capture. The customer needs were described using six value dimensions: financial, functional, emotional, social, epistemic, and conditional value. Three specific research questions were generated from the analysis model. The qualitative data collection was done using semi-structured interviews with 15 respondents, of which five with employees at the case company and nine with customers. This was done to identify customer needs and how the business model can be designed to better meet those needs. Based on the analysis, the study presents six conclusions; (i) the needs differ from customer to customer, although common needs are identified, (ii) important customer needs are identified within each value dimension, (iii) the customer needs clearly affect the energy providers’ business models, (iv) the design of business model components must consider all value dimensions, (v) sustainability highly affect all value dimensions and (vi) sustainability affect all business model components and cannot be treated as something separate or as an individual business model component.  Built on the presented conclusions, the study also presents six recommendations; (i) understand that customer needs differ, but also that mutual values exist, (ii) it is essential to include and continuously study all value dimensions, (iii) it is important that the design of the business model is based on customer needs, (iv) the design of each business model component must consider multiple value dimensions, (v) to support customers in their sustainability practices it is vital to understand how sustainability both affect and interacts with each value dimension and (vi) treat sustainability as an integrated part of each business model component.  Finally, a discussion is presented related to sustainability and the six value dimensions which future research can study further. Future research may also investigate whether the generated framework is applicable in other contexts. By conducting more interviews, the customer needs can be identified more extensively which can strengthen knowledge about them.