Electric roads have had a pleasant journey through the research landscape but are now about to enter the "valley of death." The basic technologies for dynamic power transfer from the road to vehicles in motion has been developed through various research projects across the globe, largely supported by public funding. Electric road systems (ERS) will soon be tested on public roads, but is still a long way from constituting a large-scale commercial system. While ERS has gained recognition as a technological solution, few studies address the necessary system transition from a holistic perspective. This article addresses this gap by presenting the state of the art of ERS and examining future use case scenarios and stakeholder implications. The purpose of this article is accordingly to examine how ERS not only constitutes a technical development challenge, but also radically increases technical, business, and systems complexity. This article illustrates how ERS will likely evolve from a system to a system of systems and the likely changes in the business and system architecture occurring during this transformation will be analyzed. Finally, future challenges will be discussed.

Technology shifts are lethal to many manufacturing companies. Previous research indicates that this is not purely a problem of technological innovation, but is also closely related to the inertia of business models and business model innovation. This paper inquires into the dynamics of this intersection between technology and business models. Anchored in a case study in the automotive industry, it reveals how a potential technology shift constitutes a business model dilemma for firms leading in the existing technology. The paper illustrates why technology shifts are so difficult to master and contributes to theory by suggesting that managing technology shifts does not require either technology or service innovation in order to create a viable business model, but instead a compound of both. Furthermore, the paper applies a business model perspective to illustrate the explanatory power of analyzing the challenges of technology shifts faced by incumbent firms.

Given sustainability challenges, it is crucial to develop sustainable technologies that reduce emissions and oil dependency and increase energy efficiency. Transition literature advocates creating niches where learning activities can occur, but internalniche development alone is insufficient. The niche empowerment concept has attracted attention for its utility in analyzing how alternative technologies with sustainability potential can diffuse beyond niches and become commercialized. As few studies consider how firms choose empowerment strategies, depending on their selection environments, this paper analyses business model barriers in niche projects implemented in different institutional contexts. This paper compares two electric road system (ERS) demonstration projects, analyzing how their contexts influence the niche advocate’s empowerment strategy. The projects were largely similar, suiting them for comparison, though their barriers to creating a business model differed, affecting the empowerment processes facilitating wider transition of the socio-technical regime. Analyzing the empirical data indicated that the niche advocate implemented two empowerment approaches in the two similar ERS demonstration projects: a “fit-and-conform” process in Gävle and a “stretch-and-transform” process in LA. The paper identifies a dilemma whereby no single niche empowerment strategy can overcome the business model barriers; accordingly, niche advocates must develop an empowerment strategy that simultaneously deploys both strategies.

This paper examines how infrastructure investments could create conditions favoring the commercialization of sustainable niche technologies. While the transition literature has traditionally treated existing infrastructure as a barrier, recent research has emphasized that infrastructure transformation can function as a facilitator, helping sustainable niche technologies break through. However, few have investigated the dynamics of such processes. This paper conceptualizes how window of opportunity dynamics can arise during infrastructure transformation. The paper is based on a case study of the planning of the I-710 Project in Southern California, the first infrastructure project in which zero-emission truck technology was to be deployed on a large scale. This paper illustrates how infrastructure transformation can play a contradictory role, acting as a barrier or facilitator depending on the niche empowerment processes. Furthermore, this paper addresses the selection mechanisms of infrastructure projects and the interplay between infrastructure design and the business models underlying niche innovations.