Europe: EV billing and charging set for mobile technology
Enviado: 19 ago 2011, 21:55
Europe: EV billing and charging set for mobile technology
"16 August 2011
EV industry leaders say it is best look to mobile technology as billing and charging infrastructure is implemented.
by Ann Danylkiw
Right now EVs are handled like cell phones were 25 years ago. Every aspect operates in its own silo. Precious little is integrated. Collaboration between service partners is bespoke. And, as a result, the whole package is “not very customer friendly”.
That, at least, is the image painted by Bastian Fischer, vice president and general manager of Oracle Tax and Utilities Global Business Unit for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Oracle has just successfully implemented a nationwide travel scheme for MOBI-E in Portugal. In Fischer’s view, Portugal wisely decided to begin with a nationwide charging and billing infrastructure rather than going with a mash-up strategy of regional initiatives. That way, he argues, interoperability becomes a seamless experience for consumers. But his vision is not restricted to Portugal.
“We need to leverage the experience from the cell phone industry where we have the national platforms to operate, to roam, and to identify customers,” Fischer reiterates.
Testing the technology
It’s all within the realm of the possible, experts insist. According to Henry Bailey, vice president of industry solutions group at software company SAP, the technological capacity is definitely available.
“We were trying to look at the technical possibilities, what’s available now, today, with the way the solutions are able to be interfaced together”, he tells EV Update.
SAP and Atos Origins (Siemens) ran proof of concept business scenarios last fall for utilities around separating home and EV energy usage, tracking charging of an EV at a public station with the charging unit owned by the utility and a third party provider.
The scenarios were successful. They not only learned that home charging is best done via a sub-meter provided by the utility, but determined that the charging information can be “captured and presented to the customer . . . just like the energy bill for their home.”
The bill can be divided up between home EV charging, work, and public space / third party charging retailers and that information can be accessed by the customer via their utility provider.
Integrated billing, charging and metering is important for several reasons: utilities have the power to provide EV customers with special tariffs, EV charging — especially proposed fast charging stations — will tax national energy grids and national smart grids need to know how to distribute power. In addition, integrated billing with real-time feedback for the consumers can lead to positive behavioural change because vehicle users can see the impact of their charging on their overall energy consumption.
But John Gartner, senior research associate at Pike Research, warns about being too hasty. Just because the technology is available integrate energy billing across platforms and space, he points out, does not mean that institutions are yet in place to do so. He thinks that what Europe needs is a clearing house like is used in the US for ATM companies to make sure that banks get the proper financial information.
There is definitely a market opportunity for some company to “step in and be that intermediary” for sharing and protecting that information.
“Nobody is ready to identify themselves the one company that can tie that all together”, he adds.
Integrated solutions
But Fischer at Oracle likens the intermediary more to the European telcos models because of the “ICT backbone” that needs to be in place, especially for ‘roaming’.
The Oracle enabled MOBI-E is “a discrimination free platform” and operates through an interface on the charger as well as the customer’s smartphone. The smartphone application communicates in real time with the charging unit, sending information about the car’s charged level, the next available charging station, and issues a receipt.
Manufacturers are opening up their on-board computers to assist with interoperability as well. Smart EV charging systems technologies can utilise this integration for navigation and journey planning (again, available to the customer via the smartphone interface). Fisher says that MOBI-E customers can already easily roam to Spain.
Portugal may be ahead of the game in terms of a single, integrated system. Coloumb Technologies’ (together with 365 Energy) ChargePoint systems is probably already the biggest provider of integrated utility charging infrastructure and billing accounts provision throughout Europe. Its systems are also similar to MOBI-E in terms of features. However, neither company is yet operating within the overall energy ecology integration that many see as key to reducing our society’s carbon footprint.
Both Fischer and Gartner agree that crucial element is to integrate travel schemes nationally. But such billing integration is easier where the area is small: Amsterdam has a roaming-enabled system in place that accepts payments through all service provider cards. The city is looking to expand the system nationwide by early next year. Transport for London ’s Source London project will set up a similar scheme for Londoners as well.
Beyond an over-arching billing provider Europe still needs to work out a standard PEV plug. So far, fast charging plugs are still not standard across car manufacturers, points out Kirsten Helsel, vice president of EV solutions at AeroVironment. “It [standardisation] is a very important part of the success of the practical adoption for electric vehicles”, she adds.
To comment on this article, please contact the editor at: oliver.balch@evupdate.com
Correction: this article originally stated that Amsterdam had a contract with service providers Coloumb and 365 Energy. These companies are actually providers to a contracted supplier.
EV charging and billing will be discussed at Plug-In Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Europe 2011, October 11th - 12th, Frankfurt Germany. To find out more go to:http://www.evupdate.com/electricvehicle ... ndex.shtml"
Em: http://analysis.evupdate.com/industry-i ... technology
"16 August 2011
EV industry leaders say it is best look to mobile technology as billing and charging infrastructure is implemented.
by Ann Danylkiw
Right now EVs are handled like cell phones were 25 years ago. Every aspect operates in its own silo. Precious little is integrated. Collaboration between service partners is bespoke. And, as a result, the whole package is “not very customer friendly”.
That, at least, is the image painted by Bastian Fischer, vice president and general manager of Oracle Tax and Utilities Global Business Unit for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Oracle has just successfully implemented a nationwide travel scheme for MOBI-E in Portugal. In Fischer’s view, Portugal wisely decided to begin with a nationwide charging and billing infrastructure rather than going with a mash-up strategy of regional initiatives. That way, he argues, interoperability becomes a seamless experience for consumers. But his vision is not restricted to Portugal.
“We need to leverage the experience from the cell phone industry where we have the national platforms to operate, to roam, and to identify customers,” Fischer reiterates.
Testing the technology
It’s all within the realm of the possible, experts insist. According to Henry Bailey, vice president of industry solutions group at software company SAP, the technological capacity is definitely available.
“We were trying to look at the technical possibilities, what’s available now, today, with the way the solutions are able to be interfaced together”, he tells EV Update.
SAP and Atos Origins (Siemens) ran proof of concept business scenarios last fall for utilities around separating home and EV energy usage, tracking charging of an EV at a public station with the charging unit owned by the utility and a third party provider.
The scenarios were successful. They not only learned that home charging is best done via a sub-meter provided by the utility, but determined that the charging information can be “captured and presented to the customer . . . just like the energy bill for their home.”
The bill can be divided up between home EV charging, work, and public space / third party charging retailers and that information can be accessed by the customer via their utility provider.
Integrated billing, charging and metering is important for several reasons: utilities have the power to provide EV customers with special tariffs, EV charging — especially proposed fast charging stations — will tax national energy grids and national smart grids need to know how to distribute power. In addition, integrated billing with real-time feedback for the consumers can lead to positive behavioural change because vehicle users can see the impact of their charging on their overall energy consumption.
But John Gartner, senior research associate at Pike Research, warns about being too hasty. Just because the technology is available integrate energy billing across platforms and space, he points out, does not mean that institutions are yet in place to do so. He thinks that what Europe needs is a clearing house like is used in the US for ATM companies to make sure that banks get the proper financial information.
There is definitely a market opportunity for some company to “step in and be that intermediary” for sharing and protecting that information.
“Nobody is ready to identify themselves the one company that can tie that all together”, he adds.
Integrated solutions
But Fischer at Oracle likens the intermediary more to the European telcos models because of the “ICT backbone” that needs to be in place, especially for ‘roaming’.
The Oracle enabled MOBI-E is “a discrimination free platform” and operates through an interface on the charger as well as the customer’s smartphone. The smartphone application communicates in real time with the charging unit, sending information about the car’s charged level, the next available charging station, and issues a receipt.
Manufacturers are opening up their on-board computers to assist with interoperability as well. Smart EV charging systems technologies can utilise this integration for navigation and journey planning (again, available to the customer via the smartphone interface). Fisher says that MOBI-E customers can already easily roam to Spain.
Portugal may be ahead of the game in terms of a single, integrated system. Coloumb Technologies’ (together with 365 Energy) ChargePoint systems is probably already the biggest provider of integrated utility charging infrastructure and billing accounts provision throughout Europe. Its systems are also similar to MOBI-E in terms of features. However, neither company is yet operating within the overall energy ecology integration that many see as key to reducing our society’s carbon footprint.
Both Fischer and Gartner agree that crucial element is to integrate travel schemes nationally. But such billing integration is easier where the area is small: Amsterdam has a roaming-enabled system in place that accepts payments through all service provider cards. The city is looking to expand the system nationwide by early next year. Transport for London ’s Source London project will set up a similar scheme for Londoners as well.
Beyond an over-arching billing provider Europe still needs to work out a standard PEV plug. So far, fast charging plugs are still not standard across car manufacturers, points out Kirsten Helsel, vice president of EV solutions at AeroVironment. “It [standardisation] is a very important part of the success of the practical adoption for electric vehicles”, she adds.
To comment on this article, please contact the editor at: oliver.balch@evupdate.com
Correction: this article originally stated that Amsterdam had a contract with service providers Coloumb and 365 Energy. These companies are actually providers to a contracted supplier.
EV charging and billing will be discussed at Plug-In Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Europe 2011, October 11th - 12th, Frankfurt Germany. To find out more go to:http://www.evupdate.com/electricvehicle ... ndex.shtml"
Em: http://analysis.evupdate.com/industry-i ... technology