Stable energy: the road ahead for electric cars

The adoption of electrically powered modes of transport continues apace. However, even in countries such as the Netherlands where a boom in the use of electric cars has been perceptible over the past four years, the problem remains the same – the high frequency of recharging is expected to pose new strains on the grid due to the extra load coming from these vehicles

UNCOVERING THE PROCESSES OF IT VALUE COCREATION IN DIGITAL PLATFORM ECOSYSTEMS

Pervasive digitization and complex business challenges encourage companies to collaborate, build innovative digital solutions, and cocreate IT value in multi-firm environments. Despite much research extensively focused on the outcome of value cocreation, emphasizing the concept of cocreating with customers, what remains under-investigated is the ‘process’ of IT value cocreation in digital platform ecosystems with customers, partners, and competitors. This research investigates what are the key processes of IT value cocreation in digital platform ecosystems. We draw on dynamic capabilities theory to examine value cocreation in two digital platforms to tease out key processes of IT-based value cocreation in multi-firm, complex environments. We advance a theoretical framework that helps us understand how firms manage the IT cocreation journey by sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring competencies to address rapidly changing environments. This research provides an emerging model and theoretical insights into extant literature about the nine processes involved in IT value cocreation in digital platform ecosystems, also opening up new avenues for future research

Do Natural and Technological approaches have any impact on Agri-farms?

Agriculture’s considerable role in the existence of mankind has been offset by its significant contribution to the deterioration of the natural ecology due to factors such as, the expanded use of the land surface and the use of technologies to enhance food production. Accordingly, there is a perceived need to examine how sustainability in this domain can be enhanced and promoted. Relatedly, the domain is advancing in the use of digitalization such as, Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and techniques. This research paper theorised that the implementation of natural and technological approaches can affect economic and sustainability outcomes in agriculture. Research related to different agricultural practices revealed that permaculture and digital solutions can facilitate achieving sustainability and economic goals in agriculture. Furthermore, an empirical investigation using the case of a Bangalore-based company (Hosachiguru), which provides managed farm plots, indicated that natural and technological practices, in combination, supported economic and sustainable outcomes

Sustainable Electric Vehicle Management using Coordinated Machine Learning

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how intelligent algorithms can support electricity customers in th

Heterogeneous Electric Vehicle Charging Coordination: A Variable Charging Speed Approach

We present a coordination mechanism that reduces peak demand coming from EV charging, supports grid stability and environmental sustainability. The proposed mechanism accounts for individual commuting preferences, as well as desired states of charge by certain deadlines, which can serve as a proxy for range anxiety. It can shape EV charging toward a desired profile, without violating individual preferences. Our mechanism mitigates herding, which is typical in populations where all agents receive the same price signals and make similar charging decisions. Furthermore, it assumes no prior knowledge about EV customers and therefore learns preferences and reactions to prices dynamically. We show through simulations that our mechanism induces a less volatile demand and lower peaks compared to currently used benchmarks

Multiple Vickrey Auctions for Sustainable Electric Vehicle Charging

Electric vehicles (EVs) are important contributors to a sustainable future. However, uncontrolled EV charging in the smart grid is expected to stress its infrastructure, as it needs to accommodate extra electricity demand coming from EV charging. We propose an auction mechanism to optimally schedule EV charging in a sustainable manner so that the grid is not overloaded. Our solution has lower computational complexity, compared to state-of-the-art mechanisms, making it easily applicable to practice. Our mechanism creates electricity peak demand reduction, which is important for improving sustainability in the grid, and provides optimized charging speed design recommendations so that raw materials are not excessively used. We prove the optimal conditions that must hold, so that different stakeholder objectives are satisfied. We validate our mechanism on real-world data and examine how different trade-offs affect social welfare and revenues, providing a holistic view to grid stakeholders that need to satisfy potentially conflicting objectives