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Purpose
The purpose of this study is to address the challenges of teaching sustainable development to computer engineering students. Part of the problem is that they perceive the topic as irrelevant for their future profession.


Design/methodology/approach
To address this challenge, we introduced a project element into a course on sustainable development where the students developed applications for sustainable mobility together with the local public transport authority, an academic institution and a multinational telecom company.


Findings
The findings conclude that the course changes improved the overall student satisfaction while succeeding in anchoring sustainable development in a context which the students can relate to. The collaboration was also perceived as fruitful by the external stakeholders who encouraged the students to stay in touch for their bachelor theses and internships.


Research limitations/implications
The theoretical implication is a first attempt in integrating sustainable development education with entrepreneurial experiences, whereas the practical implication is a description of how the integration can be realized.


Practical implications
The contribution is therefore of value for both educational researchers to open novel research opportunities and for teachers to describe new possibilities for sustainable development education.


Originality/value
The contribution describes how entrepreneurial experiences can be used to motivate engineering students in mandatory courses on sustainable development and ethics. The approach is novel in that the approach has not been described earlier in this context.

Plug-in Electric vehicles (PEV), both as battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) have noteworthy potential to reduce global and local emissions. Governments around the world have implemented monetary and non-monetary policy measures to foster PEV market diffusion. However, empirical estimates of their effectiveness are scarce. Here, we analyse data on PEV sales from Europe and the US with the policy measures active in these countries, e.g., direct subsidies, tax rebates, and public charging infrastructure. The aim of the present paper is to contribute empirical evidence to the discussion of policy aided market evolution of electric vehicles. We find income, gasoline prices and both direct and indirect subsidies to positively influence PEV adoption.

Potential users of plug-in electric vehicles often ask for public charging facilities before buying vehicles. Furthermore, the speed of public charging is often expected to be similar to conventional refueling. For this reason, research on and political interest in public charging focus more and more on fast charging options with higher power rates, yet estimates for future needs are rare. This paper tries to fill this gap by analyzing current charging behavior from a large charging data set from Sweden and Norway and take the findings to calibrate a queuing model for future fast charging infrastructure needs. We find that the ratio of battery electric vehicles to public fast charging points can be similar to other alternative fuels in the future (close to one fast charging point per 1000 vehicles for high power rates of 150 kW). In addition, the surplus on the electricity prices for payoff is only 0.05–0.15 €/kWh per charging point. However, charging infrastructure needs highly depend on battery sizes and power rates that are both likely to increase in the future.

Potential users of plug-in electric vehicles often ask for public charging facilities before buying vehicles. Furthermore, the speed of public charging is often expected to be similar to conventional refueling. For this reason, research on and political interest in public charging focus more and more on fast charging options with higher power rates, yet estimates for future needs are rare. This paper tries to fill this gap by analyzing current charging behavior from a large charging data set from Sweden and Norway and take the findings to calibrate a queuing model for future fast charging infrastructure needs. We find that the ratio of battery electric vehicles to public fast charging points can be similar to other alternative fuels in the future (close to one fast charging point per 1000 vehicles for high power rates of 150 kW). In addition, the surplus on the electricity prices for payoff is only 0.05–0.15 €/kWh per charging point. However, charging infrastructure needs highly depend on battery sizes and power rates that are both likely to increase in the future.