Vehicle-to-Grid Concept for Swiss Road Carriers- an Alternative Revenue Stream

Abstract

The signed climate goals in the Paris climate agreement (Clémençon, 2016) requires drastically reductions of CO2 emission. Vehicle-to-grid concepts open the opportunity to accelerate electrification of road vehicles, as it can generate additional revenue streams. Use cases like the study from Kempton, Tomic, and Letendre (2001) have proven profitable concepts of vehicle-to-grid back in the year 2001. In Switzerland the traffic and transport sector is the highest fossil energy consumer and inherits high potential for emission reduction (BFE, 2019). The integration of electric commercial vehicles into a given operational concept of road carrier operation and the potential revenue generation for the participation in the Swiss regulation market as possible a secondary revenue stream of the road carrier business model is examined. The methodical approach is composed of a detailed systematic literature review to reveal the current state of the research fields of V2G concept, electrification of commercial vehicle fleets and the Swiss transportation and energy market situation. The gathered insights are processed into a value network analysis and business model proposal for road carriers participating in the Swiss regulation market. The qualitative research is followed by a quantitative simulation research approach where real world data sets of transportation pattern and Swiss regulation market data are accessed on potential revenue generation in the regulation market and a feasibility analysis for the adaption of electrified commercial fleets on a operational pattern of a Swiss road carrier. An adaption of the design science research framework by Vaishnavi et al. (2004) has been elaborated and fitted to address the topic of this research. The framework provides a step by step approach with intermediate knowledge creation for the research community....