Electric mobility
A solar-assisted EV concept with regenerative braking, aimed at lower-impact mobility.
Electric mobility: from concept to investment gates
A series of academic projects: I independently created SOLAR MOTION and modelled its business and export systems, proposed Iceland as an initial finance and risk hypothesis, then contributed to a Chile market-entry simulation with a team of five.
Product thesis
A compelling concept should earn its way from idea to investment.
- 01Opportunity
- 02Viability
- 03Readiness
- 04Local fit
Case summary
- Decision
- Advance only after technical feasibility, focused segment value, business viability and market readiness pass separate gates.
- Evidence
- A venture and vehicle concept, business and export models, an individual Iceland hypothesis, and a collaborative Chile market-entry model.
- My contribution
- SOLAR MOTION and the Iceland hypothesis were individual work. In the five-person Chile team, I contributed to international prospecting and the commercial presentation.
- Evidence boundary
- Coursework throughout. No incorporated company, engineered prototype, customer validation or market launch is claimed.
- Documented
- Research, decisions and outputs contained in the coursework.
- Modelled
- Assumptions, scenarios and targets — not observed results.
- Proposed
- Future validation and decision gates — not completed work.
Portfolio scope and evidence boundary
Create
SOLAR MOTION
An individually developed academic brand and venture for a solar-assisted electric-vehicle concept.
Model market entry
Europe, China, Iceland and Chile
EU and China export-operation simulations, an individual Iceland finance and risk hypothesis, then a collaborative Chile market-entry model.
Apply
MCY Logistics
A separate electric-fleet venture translating sustainability into last-mile operations.
01 · Individual venture
Select the opportunity and define the product hypothesis
I compared four venture concepts across market momentum, audience, cost and execution risk, then selected electric mobility for further development.
Connected pet care
An AI-enabled collar for monitoring and interpreting animal behaviour.
Assisted cooking
An intelligent appliance designed to reduce effort and uncertainty in meal preparation.
Programmable textiles
Colour-changing smart fabric at the intersection of materials and personalisation.
Selection boundary. Electric mobility was chosen after comparing market momentum, audience, cost and execution risk. No weighted score, customer preference or technical-feasibility result is claimed.
SOLAR MOTION – PW SL
- Vehicle concept
- SOLARMOTION Alpha: an electric-vehicle hypothesis combining integrated solar assistance with regenerative braking.
- Customer hypothesis
- Sustainability-minded consumers, shared-mobility and corporate fleets, and premium innovation buyers.
- Brand responsibility
- Sustainability, ethical innovation, transparency, social contribution and operational excellence formed the intended value system.
- Core uncertainty
- The energy, range and cost advantages required engineering proof; the coursework defined a proposition, not a validated technology.
The product decision was not “Can I imagine this?” It was “What must be proved before anyone should build it?”
Retrospective. The original segmentation is too broad to guide product requirements. The next decision would be to compare one fleet segment with one consumer segment, then select a priority before fixing specification, price or channel.
02 · Individual business model
Turn ambition into assumptions that can be challenged
I extended the concept into a venture model covering legal structure, required capabilities, investment logic, unit economics and risk. Its purpose was to expose the assumptions on which viability depended.
Structure
Design for risk and growth
- Choice
- A limited-company model was selected for liability protection, investment flexibility and a credible operating structure.
- Gap
- The entity was modelled for coursework, not incorporated.
Capability
Define the required capabilities
- Need
- Engineering, energy systems, product design, manufacturing and commercial expertise.
- Decision
- Plan partnerships with universities, research centres and specialist contributors rather than assume in-house mastery.
Funding
Model the capital burden
- Input
- €3m initial investment: €2m loan and €1m own capital in the academic plan.
- Risk
- Debt service arrives before technical and demand uncertainty has been resolved.
Economics
Find the viability threshold
- Model
- €50k price and €30k variable-cost assumptions, alongside a modelled 150-unit break-even threshold.
- Boundary
- A simplified model output — not observed cost, demand or profitability.
Capital gate. The model assumed €3m of initial funding, but that assumption did not justify investment. Uncertainty around technical feasibility and focused segment demand should be reduced first, then the economics rebuilt with observed inputs.
03 · Individual export system
Define commercial and operational readiness
A vehicle concept is not commercially ready when its design is complete. I used SOLAR MOTION in linked export simulations to model how the promise would survive transport, documentation, safety controls, payment and handover.
EU operation
Madrid → Amsterdam
A 10-vehicle road-freight simulation using DAP, CMR documentation, VIN-level packing information and battery-handling controls.
International operation
Spain → Shanghai
A maritime CIF scenario for the SOLARMOTION Alpha, including a bill of lading, Class 9 battery requirements, customs, insurance and traceability.
Commercial control
Protect the transaction
Modelled documentary credit, currency exposure, non-payment risk, certification and distributor/service dependencies.
Definition of ready expands at every boundary
- Physical readiness
- Packaging, battery state, securing, vehicle identification and inspection.
- Regulatory readiness
- Transport classification, conformity, homologation and customs documentation.
- Financial readiness
- Incoterm, landed cost, insurance, payment protection and currency exposure.
- Experience readiness
- Traceability, distributor capability, service support and a handover the customer can trust.
The exercise changed “market ready” from a marketing milestone into a cross-functional operating condition.
Proposed release rule. No market-release decision until battery handling, homologation, landed cost, payment protection, distributor capability and service support are independently confirmed.
04 · Two market lenses
The same category creates different decision risks
The Iceland and Chile assignments were not a single country-ranking exercise. Iceland began as my individual finance and risk hypothesis; Chile became a later market-entry simulation developed with a team of five. Read together, they show why market attractiveness must be translated into market-specific product, commercial and operating assumptions.
Initial hypothesis · individual
Iceland
- Documented signal
- The coursework identified high income, institutional stability, electrification policy and support for some zero-emission vehicles as favourable conditions.
- Critical uncertainty
- Whether EUR/ISK movement, local affordability and the payment structure would preserve a competitive offer.
- Product implication
- Treat invoicing currency, FX protection, incentive eligibility and after-sales readiness as parts of the offer—not finance tasks added after pricing.
- Next evidence
- Refresh the policy baseline; define one buyer segment; test local-currency willingness to pay; validate importer, homologation, logistics and service assumptions.
Later model · collaborative
Chile
- Documented signal
- The coursework used high urbanisation, policy momentum, an emerging charging network and the EU–Chile trade relationship to frame an opportunity.
- Critical uncertainty
- Whether Santiago customers would accept the modelled price and trust the charging, range and service ecosystem.
- Product implication
- Focus the initial proposition on Santiago; explain total cost, support charging, validate range locally, and include warranty, maintenance and battery stewardship.
- Next evidence
- Prioritise one segment, test willingness to pay and validate charging, distribution, service and compliance partners.
Shared decision rule
Macro attractiveness is not a release gate
- Evidence boundary
- The assignments did not compare Iceland and Chile in one scoring model, and no market “winner” is claimed.
- Advance only when
- Local affordability, payment protection, homologation, logistics and after-sales capability support one focused customer proposition.
Translate market conditions into product requirements
- Affordability
- Explain total cost of ownership and test the full landed-price proposition with the target segment.
- Charging
- Pair the vehicle proposition with wallbox support and credible charging partnerships.
- Range
- Treat the 400–500 km coursework target as a hypothesis requiring local technical validation.
- Trust
- Make warranty, maintenance, service access and battery stewardship part of the offer.
Market entry is not the same product in a new location; it is a new configuration of value, risk and operating readiness.
Modelled commercial path
€29,250 cost → approximately €50,593 retail
In the Chile model, channel costs and VAT increased the ex-works figure by approximately 73%. The exercise made landed affordability a product decision, not a late pricing calculation.
Planning boundary
Targets are not forecasts
The coursework proposed year-one funnel targets, but they were not calibrated with live conversion evidence. Icelandic and Chilean inputs reproduce time-bound academic research and require refresh before any market decision.
05 · Evidence and next decision
Define the evidence required before proceeding
The portfolio becomes useful when it turns ambition into staged decisions. Each gate below can narrow, reshape or stop the concept before further capital is committed.
Produced
What the portfolio establishes
- An individually created venture, brand and EV concept
- Business, funding and simplified unit-economics models
- Individual EU and China export-operation simulations
- An individual Iceland finance and risk market hypothesis
- A collaborative Chile offer and market-entry model
- Explicit risks, gates, planning targets and next tests
Not evidenced
What the portfolio does not claim
- Company incorporation or external funding
- Engineering feasibility or a prototype
- Primary customer or partner validation
- Regulatory homologation
- Sales, adoption or market impact
Recommended validation sequence
Build evidence before committing capital
Interview one prioritised buyer segment about switching barriers and current workarounds.
Independently test solar contribution, range, safety and cost assumptions.
Test the proposition and comprehension of total cost before fixing the specification.
Confirm charging, service, distributor and compliance capability.
Pilot only if the earlier gates hold; otherwise narrow, redesign or stop.
Proceed
One segment shows a meaningful problem, feasibility is credible and the ecosystem and economics support a bounded pilot.
Revise
The problem is credible, but the proposed specification, price or market-entry model is not yet viable.
Hold
No focused segment or technical case justifies further capital.
Academic venture caseSeparate team project
MCY Logistics
See the same interest applied to a different product problem: designing a focused electric-fleet last-mile service, operating model and planned path from proof of concept to service-level agreement.
The strongest idea is not the one with the most conviction. It is the one whose assumptions are made visible soon enough to change the decision.
Evidence base: individual and collaborative UOC International Trade coursework, 2025–2026, including an individual Iceland finance and risk assignment and a separate Chile team simulation. Names, figures and market inputs reproduce the academic work and its original research dates; they are not current quotations or realised results.
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