Meet the Member: Mike Nguyen on EV battery leasing models.

Meet Mike Nguyen one of our newer NUSC experts who started their PhD in September 2025. After seven years experience in supply chain management working with Samsung and Decathlon Vietnam, and with a Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management from Birmingham City University, pursuing a PhD in this field was a natural next step to advance his academic and professional career.

 Not only does Nguyen balance his PhD studies with lecturing at FPT University in Vietnam, he also cares for twin children, “It’s something I sometimes really enjoy… and sometimes find quite challenging—but it definitely keeps life interesting and full of energy!”. With a light hearted chuckle, Nguyen also explains “I’m a big fan of the English Premier League, especially Liverpool. That’s actually one of the reasons why I chose to study my Master’s and now my PhD in the UK”

So, what does Nguyen research? He has focused in on battery leasing strategies in electric vehicle supply chains, making use of analytical models and game theory to study how different stakeholders make decisions. The goal is to provide insights into how companies can design pricing that is both economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

“End-of-life batteries, if not handled properly, can cause serious environmental problems. Leasing is a model that has been widely used in other industries to reduce waste and improve resource efficiency. However, it is still not common in the electric vehicle battery industry. While companies like NIO have applied it successfully, others such as Renault and VinFast have tried it but later discontinued the model. This raises an important question: can battery leasing actually improve profitability and increase recycling rates in this context? My research aims to explore this question.”

In terms of practical impact, Nguyen’s research can help companies decide whether to adopt battery leasing and understand the key factors that affect profitability when implementing this model. He explores whether it can support sustainability in the electric vehicle industry. From an academic perspective, Nguyen contributes to the existing literature by studying battery leasing, which is still not widely explored in this field. 

Still in the early stages of his work, one of the main challenges so far has been finding functions and assumptions that reflect real-world situations as closely as possible. Another challenge is that the model can become quite complex mathematically. In some cases, even using MATLAB, it is still difficult to solve the equations neatly. These challenges push Nguyen to think more carefully about how to balance realism and model simplicity. Supporting him in his research is the NUSC community and his supervisors:

“One thing I really appreciate about my PhD journey so far is the support from my supervisors and the research community at NUSC. I am guided by excellent supervisors. Prof Li Zhou is very experienced and demanding, which really pushes me to improve and work harder. I’m also very fortunate to have Dr Duy Tan, who has been very supportive in helping me settle into the program. In addition, Prof Petros has been very encouraging since the very beginning of my PhD journey. 

I also had the opportunity to present my PhD topic at an NUSC seminar. I’m very grateful to Anna and Bruce for making it possible for me to present online, even though it was not the most convenient option. It meant a lot to me to see people engaged and to receive thoughtful and constructive feedback.”

And, if he could collaborate with anyone, who would it be? John Nash of course! “I’ve been impressed by his work on Game theory since my bachelor’s studies. In fact, I even used it in my undergraduate thesis back in 2013. Interestingly, now in my PhD, I find myself using Game theory once again. It would be fascinating to explore these ideas further with someone who laid the foundation for this field.”

Thinking about a PhD or research collaboration? Reach out to NUSC to learn how you can join a thriving community of scholars like Mike who are pushing boundaries and creating change.