New Feature: Guided Onboarding of EVs
Electric vehicles
This article looks at the benefits of one of our newer features: the guided onboarding of EVs to the re.alto platform.
14.10.2024
Electric Vehicles/IoT Connectivity
The guided onboarding process is a graphical interface where the user (in this case the driver) can trigger the onboarding of their vehicle onto the re.alto platform by following a link and then entering their own vehicle data, as opposed to our client having to set this up for each individual user/vehicle first. Our guided onboarding feature enables users to onboard their device themselves through a web-based UI created by re.alto. This allows re.alto to interact directly with those users, greatly minimising the integration effort for our client.
For a regular onboarding session, the client would need to know each user’s VIN number (the vehicle’s unique identification number) and car brand to create a classic onboarding request. This can delay the onboarding process for the client as they would need to collect the user-specific VIN numbers and car brands before each onboarding session could begin. The benefit of a guided onboarding session, in comparison, is that the session can be instigated without prior knowledge of the vehicle brand or VIN number. The guided onboarding session simply creates a guided onboarding URL with a unique code. Clicking on the URL begins the onboarding journey by directing the user to re.alto’s web UI screens for guiding users in onboarding their car, where they can then fill in the required information about their vehicle themselves and consent to sharing their data. The VIN/brand combination is verified by re.alto and the connection is confirmed. The integration effort and admin work is minimised for the client, as each individual user can complete the onboarding process for their own vehicle. The session can be started without the client needing to provide each individual VIN number and car manufacturer upfront. Since implementing this feature, it has become faster and easier for people using our platform to onboard cars. While a client/admin would previously have had to collect each user’s vehicle-specific information before being able to begin this process, the process is now automated for them in the guided onboarding session.
To explain the feature more clearly, here is an example: Client 1 makes a website or application for their users (in this example, their employees) to interact with. The functionality behind this website/app calls re.alto’s APIs (which we use to collect data from a vehicle, such as the state of charge and location for our client). In the classic onboarding version, however, the re.alto platform could not be called for the onboarding prior to the client inputting both the VIN number and car brand of the user. Hence, the client would first need to collect this information from each of their users through their own application before being able to trigger the onboarding sessions through re.alto. Instead of creating an onboarding request in this way, the client can now simply create a guided onboarding session which can be accessed via a unique URL containing a secure access code. The client can share this URL with their users directly or redirect them to it from their own application. The client can easily create multiple onboarding requests and send these to multiple users at the same time. Users are then redirected to UIs of re.alto where they are informed that the client’s company wants to connect to their vehicle. They can then input their own vehicle data, give their consent and trigger the onboarding flow themselves, saving the client time and ensuring a smoother, more professional journey for the user. The first screen focuses on consent, the second requests the vehicle information and the final one is the verification and confirmation stage.
Guided onboarding simplifies the onboarding journey and integration for our clients by enabling re.alto to interact directly with the client’s users. Whereas the previous system on the platform required the client or admin to know each individual user’s VIN and car brand upfront, a guided onboarding session makes it possible to begin the onboarding process before inputting any of this information. In addition, the user must now confirm that they give their consent to sharing their vehicle data, something that was not clearly captured in the classic onboarding process, leaving the prior consent capturing to the client. This added consent tracking and management ensures a securer and more professional process for all.
Guided onboarding is currently only available for electric vehicles, but additional types of devices will be added in future. More information on guided onboarding can be found in the re.alto readme or by contacting us.
New Feature: Charge Sessions API
Electric vehicles
We’re excited to announce that our EV connectivity platform now has a new added feature available: the Charge Sessions API.
27.06.2024
Electric Vehicles/IoT Connectivity
We’re excited to announce that our EV connectivity platform now has a new added feature available: the Charge Sessions API.
The Charge Sessions API offers an overview of an electric vehicle’s charging sessions. It enables the platform user to see when, where and how much a vehicle charged and is available as an add-on for any vehicle connected to our platform. re.alto is able to obtain this data from the car with no need for any additional hardware, and we provide this information in a very standardised way for various car brands on the market, making it a versatile and very useful product for those in need of EV charging data.
Using our own Readings API, re.alto’s platform is now automatically able to derive a vehicle’s charge session data based on various information collected from the car, such as its real-time location at all times, the battery state of charge and whether it is currently plugged or not. Our solution spares development time and saves the platform user from having to figure out how to standardise and use all this different data together themselves. This feature is ideal for anyone either building apps relating to EV charging or managing fleets of EVs. Any app that you want to connect with an electric car can very easily determine from this product when a charge session was happening, how much the vehicle was charged and even the location where the charging took place. It enables our platform users to see when a charging session has started and ended, how much the vehicle’s battery was charged, how fast the vehicle was charging and how much energy was consumed in the session. The start and end value of the battery is displayed as a percentage (%), the charge speed is shown in kilowatts and the charge total is displayed in kw/h. This is very useful for apps focusing on dynamic tariffs and/or energy and cost optimisation, for example, to determine when the best time to charge the vehicle is.
For employers/mobility service providers, the Charge Sessions API also offers numerous advantages. The ability to communicate charge session data and determine where a charging session took place is useful for employers wanting to reimburse their employees for their electricity costs for charging at home. Also, when it comes to saving money on charge poles in a company carpark, the charging behaviour of your drivers will ultimately affect how many charge poles you need to offer at your parking facility. If a driver hogs a charge pole all day (or for far longer than necessary to charge their vehicle), you will end up purchasing a larger number of charge poles in order to comfortably accommodate all EV drivers. In collecting state of charge data, re.alto can determine when a car parked at work is fully charged and can inform that driver, so that they can move their vehicle and free up the charge pole for the next user (who we can then also alert to the fact that a pole has now become available!). Improving driver behaviour is a much cheaper and more efficient solution than installing an excessive number of expensive charge poles, especially as EV fleets are expected to continue to grow. Another issue that our charge session API can help alleviate for employers/mobility service providers/fleet managers is the range anxiety of their EV drivers, which often causes these employees to demand an EV with the largest battery pack option available – which is usually the most expensive and is often excessive for their average usage. Analysing charge session information can help employers/fleet managers monitor battery usage and determine whether such a large battery is really necessary for their next electric vehicle order.
With our standardised and versatile APIs, you can save development time and focus on delivering value to your customers. The Charge Sessions API is an optional add-on available through our EV connectivity platform and is ideal for those building an app related to EV charging or for those managing a fleet of EVs / mobility service providers.
This feature is currently still in the beta phase while we work on adding a guided onboarding option aimed at non-developers, but if you are interested in accessing it now, please reach out to our team for more information on how to do so, and we’ll be happy to assist you.
Example from Charge Sessions API:
Remote EV Charging via Official APIs
Electric vehicles
Remote Charging via Official APIs: the Mercedes Benz / Tesla Connector
14.02.2024
Electric Vehicles/IoT Connectivity
re.alto has been testing the official APIs from Mercedes-Benz and Tesla and our development team is satisfied with the response from both so far. The new APIs enable near real-time monitoring with a reading every five minutes and offer access to interesting data. This connectivity provides a lot of potential and opportunities when it comes to smart charging and smarter energy management – no smart charge pole is required and using an official or native API means the data obtained is reliable.
Back in November, we published an article on the new EU Data Act, highlighting that the new regulations ultimately mean that OEMS/manufacturers in the European Union must make the data of their appliances available to the user for free in a machine-readable format (ie: an application programming interface to extract or share data). Manufacturers therefore need to build interfaces to give consumers (or companies) the opportunity to download or read this data. Some OEMs are ahead of the game, with car manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and Tesla offering access and already making a remote control function available over their official APIs.
A remote connection to the electric vehicle is also important for charging-related use cases. Most people want the comfort to charge their EV at home, yet an EV adds a significant peak load to the household installation. Load balancing, optimised solar consumption, dynamic rate charging: most of these features require the installation of a smart charge pole. A smart charge pole easily mounts to 1000€ above a regular one. That is where remote charging can be a game changer. Remote charging can help these consumers save money while increasing comfort in use cases such as smart charging or obtaining data from the car to help their employer reimburse their transport expenses.
The APIs will also allow us to control EV charging to a certain degree with the aim to be able to stop and start charging the vehicle on command. This opens the potential to optimally schedule the charging of the EV, so that the consumer is only consuming energy at the time when it is most cost-efficient to do so. Our developers tested this function and saw that, in most cases, the vehicle responds to the command to stop or start charging in less than a minute. This is certainly impressive and will enable interesting new use cases as a result, especially for those with a dynamic energy tariff and those harnessing solar power – however, we will delve into these use cases in more detail soon.
We expect it to be a major game changer that car manufacturers are now enabling this remote control function via an official API, and with the EU Data Act demanding that users be given access to data, it won’t be long until more OEMs follow suit and make data available via official channels.
The EU Data Act
Electric vehicles
This article looks at the EU Data Act and what it means for OEMs.
30.11.2023
News/Energy APIs
What is the EU Data Act?
The EU Data Act (regulation on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data), proposed by the European Commission in February 2022, will play a significant role in Europe’s digital transformation going forward. The Data Act has now been adopted and is expected to be published in the next few days. As an EU Regulation, the provisions of the Data Act are binding and directly applicable in all Members States and will apply from 20 months from the date of entry into force.
The Data Act will provide a framework for data access and data sharing and aims to make more data available for companies and consumers, and to ensure fairness regarding the distribution and use of this data. According to the European Commission, the main objective of the Data Act is “to make Europe a leader in the data economy by harnessing the potential of the ever-increasing amount of industrial data, in order to benefit the European economy and society”. The Commission states that “the strategy for data focuses on putting people first in developing technology and defending and promoting European values and rights in the digital world” and emphasises that the Data Act is “a key pillar of the European strategy for data”.
An essential part of this act for the average citizen is regarding the data generated by Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as electric vehicles or smart home devices. IoT appliances are smart devices that can connect to the internet and independently communicate in real time with other devices or apps within the IoT network. When someone purchases an item from a store, they become the legal owner of that physical item. The situation with digital data from connected devices and who owns or uses it, however, has always been more complicated, and the new act aims to create clarity here.
- The new Data Act (Art. 3(1)) mandates that all connected products should be designed and manufactured in such a manner that the product data, including the relevant metadata, is, where relevant and technically feasible, by default directly accessible to the user easily, securely and free of charge in a comprehensive, structured, commonly used and machine-readable format – (i.e. not only accessible to the owner, but also to the one leasing the product, for instance). This particular obligation will apply from 32 months after the date of entry into force.
- It also stipulates (in Art. 4) that where data cannot be accessed directly by the user of the connected product or related service, data holders should make accessible the data to the user, free of charge and in real-time. This means that, after the date of application (~last quarter of 2025), the manufacturers of these devices must provide users with free access to the data produced by those devices.
- In addition, upon request by the user (or by a party acting on behalf of the user), that data should also be made available to third parties and such a request should be free of charge to the user (see Art. 5). The act also specifies the obligations of third parties receiving the data at the request of the user, e.g. they can only use it for the purposes and conditions agreed with the user and subject to relevant EU law on data protection (see Art. 6). However, making data available to third parties (data recipient under Art. 5) must not necessarily be for free, and the act provides conditions as well as rules regarding compensation (Art. 8 and 9).
Finally, while specific obligations for making available data in Union legal acts that entered into force on or before the date of entry into force of the Data Act will remain unaffected, these harmonised rules should impact the update of existing or new Union sector legislation.
What other enabling EU framework is out there?
In the meantime, recent EU legislation is already paving the way towards accessing and sharing of data from connected devices.
For instance, the recently revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED, Directive (EU) 2023/2413) not only mandates a Union target for 2030 of at least 42,5% of share from renewables in the gross final energy consumption. It also asks Member States to (Art. 20a(3)):
- ensure that manufacturers of domestic and industrial batteries enable real-time access to basic battery management system information to battery owners and users and third parties acting on their behalf.
- adopt measures to require that vehicle manufacturers make available in real-time in-vehicle data to EV owners and users as well as third parties acting on their behalf.
We can find similar provisions for instance in the proposed revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), asking Member States (Art. 14) to ensure that building owners, tenants and managers can have direct access to their buildings system’s data (inc. data from building automation and control systems, meters and charging points for e-mobility).
The recently proposed reform of the Electricity Market Design also asks Member States (Art. 7b) to allow transmission system operators and distribution system operators to use data from dedicated metering devices (submeters or embedded meters) for the observability and settlement of demand response and flexibility services.
Last but not least, as part of the Action Plan on the Digitalisation of the Energy System, there is a focus on the need to enable an EU framework for data access and sharing, namely via so-called EU energy data space(s). In that regard, the Commission announced the creation of an expert group (“Data for Energy” working group) that will support them in the definition of high-level use cases for data sharing (in particular for flexibility services for energy markets and grids, and smart and bi-directional charging for EVs) and in defining the governance of EU energy data space(s).
What does this mean for OEMs/manufacturers?
The new Data Act ultimately means that the European Union is going to impose upon OEMs/manufacturers to make the data of their appliances available to the user for free in a machine-readable format (ie: an application programming interface or API to extract or share data). To enable access to the data, manufacturers will therefore need to build interfaces to give consumers (or companies) the opportunity to download or read this data. Some OEMs, such as SMA Solar, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, are ahead of the game and have already been working on building this infrastructure over the past year or two. Others, however, have not yet dedicated resources to implementing this and will need to follow suit in the year to come. With the last quarter of 2025 deadline set, the remaining OEMs will find themselves under pressure to switch their focus to ensure they are compliant with the new legislation on time.
How can re.alto help those requiring access to this data?
re.alto works with IoT connectivity and acts as a connector between OEMs and third parties. While there was previously a question of whether OEMS would choose to offer access to this data, it is now being dictated by legislation, and their compliance is therefore mandatory. That ultimately means that the IoT technology is emerging, and each OEM will have to make their data machine-readable and create a suitable interface to share this data by 2025 at the latest. But while compliance in ensuring data is machine-readable is compulsory, the EU has not imposed a standard by which all OEMs must comply when implementing this. That means that each OEM will create their own kind of interface, with the API for each device or brand potentially differing greatly from the next. The result will be a jungle of different interfaces/APIs to integrate with, making it incredibly complicated for third parties to access the various data they require when building their own energy-as-a-service products.
That is where re.alto comes in. This recent evolution in EU legislation supports our vision and aligns with the services and solutions we are offering our customers. If you are building energy-as-a-service products or applications and want to be able to access energy data from various OEMs or devices, we can give you access via a single, standardised API. re.alto can create a path through this jungle of APIs, so you can use one single interface to communicate with them all. Whether you want to add electric vehicles or heat pumps to your solution, we can act as a standard interface for all of the energy-related transactions and connections, thus simplifying access to energy data for third party use.
Conclusion
The new EU Data Act, as well as other recent pieces of EU legislation, is shaking up IoT connectivity and putting pressure on manufacturers/OEMs to make their data machine-readable and available to the public sector and ultimately the end consumer. Going forward, the strategies of OEMs will no longer play a role in whether they choose to make this data available – legislation now dictates that they must comply. While compliance is mandatory, the EU has not set any standard for the resulting infrastructure. This means that data will be available via many very different kinds of APIs and interfaces, resulting in connectivity being complicated. To simplify all of this for third party use, re.alto translates everything into one standard API connection, regardless of the kind of device or its brand.
If you are building energy-as-a-service apps or solutions and want to know more about how we can help you access the data you require in the simplest way possible, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!
Vehicle IoT: an Alternative to Smart Charge Poles
Electric vehicles
Vehicle IoT connectivity: an alternative to smart charge poles / smart charge points.
29.08.2023
Electric Vehicles/IoT Connectivity
We are in a new era of mobility, with the uptake of electric vehicles firmly on the rise. With more electric vehicles comes the need for reliable, and better still, smarter charging options. Smart charging enables vehicles to charge at the most suitable moment, for example when grid costs are at their lowest, avoiding spikes in consumption and saving consumers money.
The transition to an electric vehicle and all this encompasses is still new territory for most people, however, and comes with a lot of considerations for fleet managers and vehicle owners alike, one of which is figuring out which charge pole to purchase, for example a single-phase EV charger or a three-phase one, and whether to invest in a smart charge point or just a simple charge pole. There are currently various solutions available and choosing the most suitable and compatible is not always easy.
One way of optimising your charging is via a smart charge point. A smart charge point gives consumers the power to monitor their energy usage and remotely control their charging activity. Such charge points can be expensive, however, and due to this technology still being developed, they are not always reliable, and there may be concerns about potential safety deficiencies. This is a new and emerging technology with certain flaws that still needing ironing out, as we have seen recently in Sweden, where even a well-established brand like Easee can encounter some issues regarding regulations in terms of compliance and documentation. This ultimately leaves consumers with a degree of uncertainty about the longevity of such solutions.
Thankfully, smart charge points are not the only option when it comes to smart charging. The sector is always evolving, and with the right software, the car’s own internet of things (IoT) connections can provide the same reliable data as a smart charge point at a fraction of the cost and without the risks. This is the reason why Tesla, for example, is not selling smart charging stations, only simple ones, focussing the smart part of the charging process on the car itself. Monitoring data such as state of charge or odometer readings does not require expensive additional hardware, as most vehicles are already connected to the internet today, for example to allow an app from the manufacturer to communicate with the vehicle. By leveraging these already-embedded IoT solutions, electric cars are able to share digital information and communicate intelligently with other entities within this IoT network. re.alto uses this existing setup, via a collaboration with the manufacturers, to collect data such as state of charge from the car and provide it to fleet or facility managers either directly or via an API into their preferred IT solution. This is a much simpler, cheaper and more reliable way of monitoring data from the car than installing a pricey smart charge point.
When it comes to transitioning to EVs, fleet managers and vehicle owners must do a lot of exploratory work before making big decisions regarding their charging setups. To complicate this decision-making process further, a lot of the available technology is not yet mature. This means that there is no guarantee that the solution they choose will also be the one that will survive and become standard in the long term. With numerous potential solutions on the table, it is a guessing game on which will prevail in the long run. While many people are opting for smart charge poles right now, this isn’t the cheapest option available. If vehicle IoT, as outlined above, takes over, with smart charging then being done as standard directly via the vehicle, these smart charge points could ultimately become redundant. Smart charging directly from the vehicle itself helps consumers or fleet managers avoid issues like Easee has now encountered regarding compliance, because with a simple charge pole and direct vehicle IoT, no one is likely to face such complexity in regard to regulations. The re.alto Connect solution works on this theory and eliminates the need for a smart charge point, saving users money and helping avoid the issues outlined above. It is sufficient to use just a simple charge pole and let the vehicle IoT handle the smartness, which is ultimately both easier and cheaper.
Reach out to us today for more information on how re.alto can help you do this.
EV: Fleet Managers and Smart Charging Cables
What is smart charging?
With increasingly more companies (and individuals) transitioning to electric vehicles and with electrification increasing in general as fossil fuels are phased out, it is becoming more and more important to consume electricity intelligently. Smart charging is a method of charging where data connections are shared between the electric vehicle, a charging device and the charging operator. These connections help optimise energy consumption by ensuring that the charging of vehicles is instigated at the most cost-efficient time. This works by flattening the overall energy consumption curve for a household and avoiding consumption at peak times, for example by offloading a heavily consuming device (the EV) to off-peak charging hours.
What is a smart charging cable?
Smart charging cables, such as the Nexxtender cable by Powerdale, are currently the most common method of monitoring the charging of an electric vehicle. They are sometimes limited to a pure data monitoring functionality, in which they provide charging data records to a fleet manager or driver. They sometimes work by enabling drivers to remotely control the charging of their vehicle and set charging periods. They are used to facilitate the data connections between the car, the charging device and the charging operator to enable optimised, cost-efficient charging of the vehicle. The data sharing allows the vehicle to know the best time to charge, allowing the car owner to take advantage of off-peak electricity prices.
What alternatives are available and how do these alternatives benefit fleet managers?
While smart charging cables are one solution to the charging issue, they are not the only smart charging solution. In fact, there is a much simpler and far more efficient alternative available. Instead of using a smart charging cable, why not utilise a connection directly to the vehicle? Using our cloud-based technology, your car can communicate directly with charging devices and operators, eliminating the need for a pricey smart charging cable. re.alto provides a remote vehicle connectivity solution that allows the retrieval of data directly from the car itself. No additional hardware is required, thanks to our cooperation with the car OEMs.
This is particularly beneficial to fleet managers, who have a large fleet to manage as opposed to an individual vehicle, as less expensive equipment is required, and minimal support is generally necessary after the initial set-up. The ability to get data directly from the car will ultimately simplify the management of your reimbursement process. And because we are able to obtain various data sets from the vehicle, including odometer readings and charging records, we can also help fleet managers in other ways too at no additional cost, such as in dealing with range anxiety, plug allergy and charging fraud.
Next steps?
If you are currently using smart charging cables, why not simplify your solution by obtaining charging data directly from the vehicle instead?
Reach out to us today for more information on how re.alto can help you do just this!
There has never been a better time to switch and improve your company’s transition to EVs.
EV Fleet Management: Budgeting Issues & Standstill Losses
As the energy transition progresses, increasingly more companies are upgrading their fleet of passenger vehicles from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. While there are many benefits to this transition, fleet managers are now also facing new and different challenges when it comes to managing and expanding their fleets. One unexpected challenge that fleet managers with EVs tell us they have encountered is difficulty in accurately budgeting for electric vehicles and then facing unexpected standstill losses as a result.
When investing in a new vehicle, companies must estimate the running costs of the car for the coming year to then be able to define their budget. Issues occur when the running cost of the vehicle ends up going overbudget. This happens because the fleet manager underestimated the total cost of owning and running the vehicle, and certain costs are thus incurred that were not considered in the budget. Fleet managers often observe too late that the energy consumption of the electric vehicles can be quite high, even while an employee is parked and the car is therefore stationary. This is what we call standstill losses, and it is something that many fleet managers are not aware of and therefore do not consider when first estimating the cost of an EV. A fleet manager will generally calculate the total cost of the vehicle based on three factors: the consumption quoted by the manufacturer, the expected kilometres covered by the driver and the price of electricity. However, the cars also consume electricity even when they are not moving, meaning the overall consumption is often higher than anticipated.
Since several fleet managers highlighted this concern to us, re.alto has started estimating the cost of these standstill losses to help enable fleet managers to budget more accurately in future. To do this, we refer to data that we obtain from the cars, including odometer readings and GPS locations. Obviously, the cars consume the most electricity while they are being driven. However, our analyses show that they also consume significantly more than expected while parked. Typical losses mount to about 3% of its battery capacity every 24 hours while it is parked and doing nothing. While this number may vary slightly from brand to brand, it ultimately amounts to about 20-25% of the total energy that is consumed by a car being wasted as standstill losses. That is roughly 500-600 euros worth of electricity a year for a single car that the fleet managers didn’t budget for because they were either completely unaware of the issue or because they are simply unable to monitor these factors. Naturally, such costs can quickly accumulate if multiple cars are purchased, and this then leads to a big headache for fleet managers, who have only considered the watt/hour per KM that the car is expected to drive. This is where re.alto comes in, because our Connect platform can give fleet managers better insight into this consumption and ultimately help save them money. re.alto’s platform can therefore enable fleet managers to budget better by taking into account the standstill losses and by helping them identify abnormal situations that require special attention.
Feel free to reach out to us today for more information on how re.alto can help you estimate these costs and budget more accurately to improve your company’s transition to EV.
The graph above shows on the left axis the total accumulated charging (in grey) over time, whereas the red and blue lines indicate the split between energy used during driving or during standstill respectively. On the right axis, the yellow line indicates the average consumption of the car during driving.
EV: Matrix Car Leasings and COVID-19
Electric Vehicles: Matrix Car Leasings and COVID-19
Over and under mileage are a huge problem for fleet managers trying to control the cost of their fleet. During the initial contract negotiations, fleet managers and consultants are often able to secure a few commercial grants from the leasing companies, which tend to disappear whenever the contract parameters, such as the mileage, are adapted. Or at least, due to a lack of transparency, it is hard to tell whether the original grants are still applicable in the new leasing agreement.
Hence, the sector has evolved, and the majority of fleet managers now negotiate matrix leasings. These agreements typically provide a range of monthly leasing fees in relation to both the duration of the lease (in months) and the mileage (in km). As such, contract modifications became a lot more transparent, and bonuses/commercial grants would be ensured for the duration of the lease, even if mileage or duration were changed along the way.
These contracts have proven their worth during the COVID-19 crisis, when suddenly, cars were used way less than intended before the pandemic hit the world. Fleet managers who had matrix leasing agreements could simply change the duration and/or mileage of their existing contracts to a new optimum, taking into account the changing needs of the driver. Problem solved, or so you might think.
But in the aftermath of COVID-19, the world economy is still struggling today to get supply lines back to their original performance. This also goes for the automotive sector. Delivery times for new cars have gone up exponentially, and a 15-to-18-month delay has become the standard, rather than the exception. Now, why is this a problem?
During COVID-19, with the reduced usage of the cars, most fleet managers used their matrix agreements to extend the duration of the lease. As a result, a lot of lease agreements were set to the typical maximum of about 60 months. But the supply line problem creates the issue that there is simply no way to replace the car with a new one in time. As such, fleet managers face the old familiar problem of transparency about the new leasing conditions of the extended lifetime.
This topic becomes even more important when looking at EV, because fleet managers don’t usually obtain odometer readings from their EV, as charge poles don’t record this data from the car like fuel cards used to do. So, the only access to odometer readings for EV is often via the tire changes, meaning twice a year, or via a driver app in which the drivers are asked to input their mileage from time to time. Neither is very granular or frequently updated, making it all the more difficult to estimate when the car will be in need of replacement.
The good news is that most EV are connected to the internet nowadays, as car manufacturers are building apps to connect their drivers to their car also remotely. And through this connectivity infrastructure, it is possible to retrieve the odometer readings at a much higher frequency. For the problem above, the typical 2–5-minute updates are probably overkill, but at least they make the problem far more manageable and likely also solve some other problems along the way. Through our collaboration with manufacturers, re.alto is able to collect state of charge and odometer readings from the car and provide this data to fleet managers or facility managers either directly or via an API into their preferred IT solution. Through our Connect product, we connect to various OEMs to enable access to data from not only EVs, but also heat pumps, PV and batteries.
Reach out to us today for more information on how re.alto could help your business.
EV: Facility Managers Versus Charge Pole Stickers
Electric vehicles
Electric Vehicles: Facility Managers vs. Charge Pole Stickers
08.11.2022
Electric Vehicles
The European directive known as the ‘right to plug’ obliges facility managers of publicly accessible parking lots to install charging infrastructure on at least 10% of their parking spots by 2025 and 20% by 2030. This includes company parking, grocery store parking and public parking and has therefore triggered many facility managers to start a project on how to comply with this obligation in a timely manner. At the same time, fleet managers are seeing a huge uptake of electric vehicles in their car parks since 2021, which creates the need for charging infrastructure at work as well. Both factors together accelerate the deployment of charging infrastructure today even beyond the minimum requirement set by the EU.
The question is no longer what the minimum effort needed to meet the EU benchmark is, but rather, what effort is needed to ensure a good driver experience for employees and visitors driving electric vehicles alike. Obviously, installing a charge pole at every single parking spot is often not possible and never desirable from an investment point of view. Yet installing the bare minimum of 10% is most likely going to create a lot of unhappy drivers. The optimum lies in the balance between the two and can be significantly influenced by the charging behaviour of the drivers.
This is where charge pole stickers come in. A known problem at public charging infrastructure is becoming more widespread. People tend to treat their EV like a normal ICE car. They park it in a good spot and leave it there until they are ready to leave again. If you need to charge your EV, that good spot is probably next to a charger. And hence, the charger is blocked for anybody else until you decide to leave. Initially, some interesting tools were created to solve this problem, like a charging disk, as opposed to a parking disk, that you could put in the front window with your phone number on it. But this didn’t educate most EV drivers to adopt a certain charging etiquette. So, Tesla decided to introduce ‘waiting fees’ at their super chargers a couple of years ago. From the moment the car is charged to the set limit, Tesla gives the driver about five minutes to move their car and notifies them in the Tesla app about it up front. As such, Tesla solved the first shortage of super chargers in their network without having to install any additional chargers right away.
The facility managers now face the same problem. You can install a decent batch of charge poles on your parking lots, but in the end, if your drivers don’t apply a certain charging etiquette, you will find yourself having to install more charge poles very quickly. And those don’t come for free. Hence, the question: is it possible to imitate what Tesla did at their super chargers? The answer is yes! By using onboard vehicle connectivity, you can monitor the state of charge of any of your vehicles. Hence, you know when they will almost be done charging, and you can then notify the driver. In addition, through monitoring the location of the vehicles in your fleet, you can send that message only if they are parked in one of your parking spots. You’ll even know which other colleagues have vehicles with a low battery that they would like to charge and can inform them that a spot has now become available. As such, not only can you limit your costs and avoid installing too many charge poles, but you can also improve the driver experience and charging etiquette of your colleagues.
Monitoring state of charge and odometer readings needn’t involve installing track & trace hardware equipment in every vehicle, as most vehicles are already connected to the internet today, to allow for instance a driver app from the manufacturer to communicate with the car. re.alto uses that existing setup, through a collaboration with the manufacturers, to collect state of charge and odometer readings from the car and provide it to fleet managers or facility managers either directly or via an API into their preferred IT solution. Through our Connect product, we connect to various OEMs to enable access to data from not only EVs, but also heat pumps, PV and batteries.
Reach out to us today for more information on how re.alto Connect could benefit your business.
EV Fleet Management: Dealing with Range Anxiety
Corporate sustainability targets and environmental regulation are pushing fleet managers to switch to electric vehicles at an accelerated rate – or at least, faster than natural adoption based on driver demand. As such, fleet managers are left with the challenge of convincing their drivers to go for an electric vehicle (EV) instead of an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. A very common argument from drivers against a proposed switch to an EV is the limited range the battery provides.
“Range anxiety” is a well-known issue with EV. Although there are more charging plugs than there are fuel stations, and although the average daily trip of a driver is less than 50km, and although EV ranges are now commonly reaching +300km, this anxiety still remains. There are various ways of managing driver comfort, educating them up front, sharing first-hand experience from colleagues and so on… but in the end, the fleet manager usually still ends up ordering the biggest available battery the model has to offer simply to counter the concerns of their drivers.
Ordering the biggest battery is unfortunately the most expensive solution to the problem. And although the fleet manager is aware of this, the question remains on how to avoid this from reocurring at the next vehicle renewal. Pioneers in the area have already had the renewal discussion with some of their drivers, who claim the necessity of the big battery for their comfortable use of the car. Little data can currently be brought to the table to reduce the discussion down to the simple facts.
This lack of data is because fleet managers cannot monitor the actual state of charge of the battery of the vehicles through the services of the mobility service provider or charge pole operator. The charge pole simply doesn’t get this data from the car. The best some of the EV fleet management software has been able to do so far is to estimate the original state of charge of the battery by calculating at the end of the session the amount of energy charged into the vehicle. Yet this software does not know whether charging stopped at 100%, 90% or 80% due to a driver setting or whether it simply stopped because somebody decided to drive to the supermarket. As the end point isn’t known, it becomes even harder to estimate the start of the state of charge and to analyse whether there was a comfortable margin left in the battery or not.
Adding to this are the big variations in energy consumption by an EV. Head or tail wind provides a 20% difference in consumption/km. Winter-summer variations mount up to 20% as well. And, of course, the speed of the car while driving: another 20% difference between 100km/hour or 130km/hour. So even if the battery was nearly empty, why? If it is due to irregular driver behaviour, the fleet manager could investigate options on how to manage this. But if the driver regularly has to do a winter highway trip back and forth along a windy coastal road, how can this be managed?
To get to the bottom of it, monitoring the actual state of charge of the battery and its evolution over time is an essential parameter in identifying whether or not the size of the battery can be reduced. If it can be reduced, it will have a direct cost saving for the renewal of the EV for the driver afterwards. Extrapolated to an entire fleet, these savings can become quite important, since the battery is the most expensive part of an EV. Looking at a simple example: the cost difference between a Tesla model 3 and a model 3 long range is about 9000 euros – for 110 km of extra range that your driver might never need.
Monitoring the state of charge through the charge pole interface is not feasible, but luckily, it is possible through direct car connectivity. As simply as your driver can connect his mobile application to the right car, a fleet manager can get access to the state of charge as well. Monitoring this parameter over time will provide a fleet manager with factual data to decide on the appropriate battery size and guide drivers on the trade-off between a bigger battery or a few more fast charging stops along the way.
But fleet managers don’t have to limit this exercise to their EV fleets. They can already start with their ICE fleets as well. By monitoring the odometer readings at a high frequency (at least daily), a driver-specific assessment can be made about the daily range need. If up to five-minute odometer readings are included, the driving style (highway %, speed, acceleration) can be considered for more detailed results. As such, a trade-off can be made between a larger battery or more frequent fast charging for the selected driver. All while data on a driver’s specific behaviour can reassure him or her that they won’t run a flat battery and end up stranded somewhere while on a road trip. This approach would take total cost optimisations, which are commonly used in EV transition plans today, to a new level, while saving significant capex amounts on right size battery procurement.
Monitoring state of charge and odometer readings doesn’t have to involve installing track & trace hardware equipment in every vehicle. Almost all vehicles are already connected to the internet today, to allow for instance a driver app from the manufacturer to communicate with the car. re.alto uses that setup, through a collaboration with the manufacturers, to collect state of charge and odometer readings from the car directly and provide it to fleet managers directly or via an API into their preferred fleet management IT solution.
Reach out to us today for more information on how re.alto can help improve your company’s transition to EV.