Our EVision: E-Mobility as a Service

We publish this article to summarize the Lightning talk we were invited to hold at the Engerati Meets conference in Vienna, where we shared our vision for the electric mobility ecosystem of the future. Engerati is a network of 50k energy professionals spanning the entire globe.

We have always been very passionate about electric mobility. For us it is however not the reasons driving most people or regulators for that matter. We care about the environment and love the idea of sustainable mobility.

For us it is about technology behind the electric vehicle concept. The fact that most of the kinetic energy of a moving vehicle can be recuperated and stored – demoting the brake pedal to an emergency system – is how driving should be. The multidirectional flow of energy in an electric vehicle is fascinating. The combustion engine is just a necessary evil of our time. The electric car is the future. If we can just make it available and accessible to the masses?

EV Market developments 

A while back, if you wanted to buy an electric car, your options where a prohibitively expensive Tesla Model S or some low range electrified ICE vehicles. Even us as real EV optimists did not expect what we see happening in the market today. We now expect to reach price parity for EVs sooner rather than later. Estimates range anywhere from 2022 – 2025. This number is highly dependent on the vehicle class and market, but by all measures a remarkable achievement in the industry. By this time, EV market share will inflect upwards considerably and we expect a shortage of electric vehicle production to meet customer demands.

Now if we look at the power consumption of charging EVs we might face an even bigger challenge than lowering the TCOs of EVs. Managing demand side flexibility will become an important topic if not a major issue in many markets.

So how could we solve this?

Most electric vehicles today allow the owner to set an upper charging limit. What if you added a second limit, the lowest state of charge you feel comfortable with? Let’s say you have an EV with 75kWh battery and you set your upper charging limit to 90% SoC. If you set a lower bound of 70% you would get 15 kWh of opportunity per electric vehicle. If you add discharging you could even use this capacity multiple times over!

Now what if it is not your car but you use it as part of a mobility subscription service. What if you monthly subscription charge is variable depending on the spread of your upper and lower charging limit?

So this is our EVision 

Platforms are the future economic model in the digital economy and they will replace the previous pipeline model in every industry where information plays a vital role.

Managing the synthesis of information such as energy and power demand patterns, individual’s driving behavior, personal preferences and so forth will be the key to unlock the monetization potential of demand services in the grid.

Everything else is in place. Someone just needs to pick up the pieces and build the EV mobility as a service platform. It can either be the utility or the OEM or as we suggest, a partnership of both. But be aware, it wouldn’t be the first industry, where incumbents are threatened by new entrants with a platform model.

Howsoever this plays out, we look forward into a bright future of sustainable and consumer friendly mobility. Because someone definitively will solve both sides of the platform equation.

accilium & DNV GL partnership:

DNV GL unites the strengths of DNV, KEMA, Garrad Hassan, and GL Renewables Certification. DNV GL’s 2,500 energy experts support customers around the globe in delivering a safe, reliable, efficient, and sustainable energy supply. We deliver world-renowned testing, certification and advisory services to the energy value chain including renewables and energy efficiency. Our expertise spans onshore and offshore wind power, solar, conventional generation, transmission and distribution, smart grids, and sustainable energy use, as well as energy markets and regulations. Our testing, certification and advisory services are delivered independent from each other.

We – accilium and DNV GL – believe in transformational changes in the energy and mobility ecosystems. Hence we formed a partnership to offer both industries the full set of necessary competencies to develop and implement integrated solutions for a sustainable and electric mobile future.

Photo credits: 

Kristof Braekeleire, Engerati Meets Vienna 2018