Students brainstormed services for charging electronic cars
At Aalto University School of Business theory meets practice in many ways. A group of students completed a comprehensive project for Helen as a course assignment.
The amount of electronic cars increases constantly. The growing popularity makes sense, as electric cars are thought to be more environmentally friendly, energy efficient and economical than gas or diesel cars. Despite the increased interest, the amount of electronic cars still remains small and for example only few electronic car drivers have their own charging units by their houses.
Four students from Aalto University School of Business got the task of analyzing and understanding the services related to own charging units and how they could be developed to serve better both the drivers of electronic cars and the housing cooperatives.
In co-operation with the one of the biggest in the industry
Group members Heta Havu, Emilia Mikola, Kristian Rämö and Susanna Salminen describe the project given by Helen, one of the biggest energy industry companies in Finland, as clear in terms of progress and the group’s teamwork as smooth.
“The group got a good start for the project as Helen had a well-defined problem and was specific in what they were looking for”, explains the group’s mentor Ainomaija Haarla, Professor of Practice at the Department of Management Studies. “The assignment was easy to understand and it had clear limits. The participants from Helen’s side were professionals, which helped the group find a good result.”
The project was a part of a capstone course that finishes up the master level studies. The course’s idea is to gather the learnt topics into a comprehensive whole, often combining theory and practical examples from the business world. The group consisted of knowledge from three master level study programs: Management and International Business, Business Law and Corporate Communications.
Working in multiple phases was worthwhile
During this Helen project the students interviewed different stakeholders related to the topic, such as drivers of electronic cars and representatives of housing cooperatives.
It was clear from the results that a strong basis for developing the charging unit business exists – electric car enthusiasts would happily use their own charging units to charge their cars. As the analysis continued, the students also sought different possible service options with Helen’s support, and finally chose a solution where the electricity usage is distributed in the grid so that everyone gets the amount of electricity they need.
The results presented to Helen were received with a warm welcome.
“It was motivating to notice that our work meant something for them as well. We didn’t do the project just for the course credits“, the students say. “We got very positive feedback from Helen. For them, this was a good first step after which the next steps are easier.”
The importance of the work was highlighted as other participants and stakeholders, such as the drivers, were interested in the results as well. The students even wrote a blog post about the project for Helen’s website.
Comprehensive study experience through project-like work
Students thought that this kind of project in collaboration with a company was a meaningful way to work. The course got thanks for being practical as well as for the project centric approach with a real client. On top of that, the students thought the course was a nice ending to their studies.
“It’s rewarding to think where we started and where we ended up and how much we learnt along the way”, the students say.