16 AFTERMARKET MAY 2023 BUSINESS www.aftermarketonline.net provide a full charge in as little as an hour, and an 80% charge in as little as 20 minutes, while others require several hours. Overnight charging is often available, but the length of time required can vary depending on the model and station type. The cost of charging also varies depending on vehicle type, location and the charging station, as well as associated fees. On the positive side, in the UK, recent figures show a driver exclusively using rapid or ultra-rapid public chargers pays 18 pence per mile for electricity, compared with 19 pence per mile for petrol and 21 pence per mile for diesel. EV software companies provide essential solutions The evolution of charging technologies is following a typical pattern of innovation that both improves performance and commoditises hardware, so the EV equipment cost and charging time will rapidly drop in coming years. Software innovation then becomes the real enabler of EV scaling by addressing the industry’s remaining key challenges. On the issue of EV charging infrastructure availability and managing its impact on the power grid, there are already many companies solving the painpoints here. This revolves around cities and EV charging companies planning placement of chargers, utilities monitoring strain on the grid resulting from EV charging, and EV drivers planning their trips. PredictEV, Volta Charging’s proprietary network planning software, uses machine learning to predict current and future EV charging needs, from infrastructure load requirements to site-level specifics. The software can forecast current and future demand with high levels of accuracy, allowing for precision network expansion. State governments in the US are now using PredictEV to identify optimal and equitable charging locations. For grid management, we have companies such as London-based Kaluza. The company’s advanced platform helps utilities manage the impact of EV charging on electricity grid demand by providing an intelligent, distributed system that can monitor, control and optimise charging. Kaluza uses an AI-driven approach to predict EV charging behaviour and reduce peak demand, while also optimising energy costs by intelligently scheduling charging to coincide with low energy demand and lower electricity rates. Similarly, WeaveGrid’s data-driven platform ensures the grid can accommodate electric vehicles safely by helping utilities in the US find EV drivers, analyse and gather insights on charging patterns, enrol them in managed charging programs and EV-specific rates and incentivize beneficial charging habits. For journey planning, there are a number of apps that help drivers optimise their trips both from a timing and cost perspective. For instance, in the UK, Zap-Map has almost all public charge points mapped, showing live status data. Its paid version offers What3words navigation, charging network filters, charger ratings and display on car screen. On the issue of improving the ROI of EV charging infrastructure and reducing the cost of charging session, a number of software companies are tackling the challenges here. Most use-cases revolve around real-time monitoring and improving demand flexibility to reduce charging costs. In Europe, The Mobility House developed the easy-to-use and hardware agnostic ChargePilot platform that provides B2C and B2B owners of EV charging stations with a management system for monitoring, maintenance, schedule-based load management and billing. All these capabilities that result in improved user experience and cost savings are provided across multiple geographies e.g. in Munich, Zurich, Paris or Belmont, California. Based in Denmark, Monta’s EV charging management software serves drivers, companies, cities, and the electricity grid with one integrated software solution. It makes it easy for businesses to maximise the charging efficiency of their EV charging infrastructure. It offers detailed analytics, real-time monitoring, dynamic pricing capabilities and automatic billing and payment. For drivers, Monta, which is present in nine European countries, helps consumers control their home charge point, identify public charging locations and schedule charging session when electricity is cheapest and cleanest. Energy goes one step further in solving energy management and cost of charging sessions by pivoting from monitoring to optimisation through predictive suggestions. Its software platform automatically schedules charging session depending on electricity prices and leverages home solar panels to obtain free green energy. Lastly, as more commercial vehicles and fleets are electrified, software is more crucial than ever to manage fleets, since companies have to plan deliveries based on charging status of each vehicle. Vulog and Autofleet are leaders in EV fleet management. Vulog’s integrated software and data solutions power shared mobility services such as car-sharing, ridesharing, and bike-sharing. Autofleet’s cloud-based software platform helps businesses manage fleet vehicle maintenance, driver safety, fuel monitoring, and route optimisation. With the ownership of vehicles increasingly becoming shared and electrified, the ability to merge EV charging infrastructure management with vehicle sharing becomes very important and determines both the adoption of the shared ownership model of vehicles and electrification of commercial fleets EV software will become the key enabler of EV scaling and ultimately a key enabler of the energy transition As the EV adoption scales, systematic maintenance of EV infrastructure will become crucial. Whilst EV charger monitoring exists today, the concept The key link to mass EV adoption is now software, not hardware or vehicles ”
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