The opportunity to test whether your ideas really work in practice: in the ‘From prototype to society’ minor, students got the chance to see whether their innovations really resonated with the community. As part of their High Tech Human Touch-module, Sander Gillissen, Joachim Batzke, Emily Bohan (all Industrial Design Engineering students), Daniël van der Vegt, Maximilian Möllers (both International Business Administration students) and Jule Krüger (Psychology) went to Lochem to run their car sharing project: Electrip.
Pilot project
In January, Lochem Energie made four electric cars available to the students to see whether residents would make greater use of sustainable transport through a car sharing project in which customers could book a car to be delivered to their front door. From creating the website to marketing and ensuring the car was actually delivered at the time for which it was ordered: the students were responsible for all aspects from start to finish.
During the project, the students demonstrated that they were truly in control. Maximilian: “We developed a good plan prior to the test, we considered the risks thoroughly and developed a plan to manage everything. It worked out well in practice. We were well organised and able to respond effectively if something was at risk of going wrong.” Sander adds: “It was an excellent opportunity to see first-hand whether our concept actually worked in practice. And not with just one car, but with a reasonable number. Thus, we were also able to analyse our results really well.”
Accessible
The students were able to attract many customers during the period by offering attractive prices and excellent service. “A quarter of customers had no experience with car sharing or electric vehicles”, according to Jule. “They used our project to try out an electric car. The convenience and the low price made it an ideal opportunity to see whether it worked.” Joachim: “We came to the conclusion that it was a great advantage that we had direct contact with customers through delivery of the cars. That gave us the opportunity to provide them with detailed information about the system and the vehicles, and that generated enthusiasm.”
Multidisciplinary approach
Albert Molderink, lecturer and researcher from the Computer Architecture for Embedded Systems department of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS), sees a great deal of added value in the minor’s multidisciplinary approach. “A group with such a broad composition works well because they look at the problem from different angles. Everyone has their role and has added value.” Molderink is leading the minor along with Thomas Hoppe and Suzanne Vosslamber (both BMS).
The collaboration in the living lab proved a success. Afterwards, the researchers received positive feedback from Lochem Energie, who said they looked forward to a subsequent pilot. “They have already asked us to work with them on an implementation plan”, says Maximilian. “For example, there are potential opportunities to link this to an employment project, or to devise clever partnerships with companies. They would like to develop those options further.”
Living lab Lochem Energie
LochemEnergie is an initiative by Lochem residents who aspire to be self-sufficient in their energy by 2030. Therefore, the cooperative is exploring various aspects of energy consumption and energy generation. For example, they are working with residents to install solar panels and encourage sustainable transport.
The University of Twente is a research partner of LochemEnergie. Last year, researchers at CTIT tested the maximum peak load the electricity network could sustain by using pizza-ovens and electric cars to overload the network. That peak provided a good idea of the impact of the increasing use of electric vehicles.
