Location Intelligence Driving Higher Adoption of EVs

An IIM Calcutta alumnus, Abhijit Sengupta boasts over 27 years of cross-industry experience across India, APAC, and ASEAN regions. Additionally, he is also the current Chair of the Smart Mobility Committee at the Singapore Chamber of Commerce. In an exclusive interview with Asia Business Outlook, he shares his insights on the key trends driving the adoption of EVs

Of late, we are witnessing an increasing adoption of electric vehicles worldwide. However, the concept of EVs is still relatively new for customers across many countries, due to which they have many concerns about using EVs, such as the availability of charging stations, distance per charge, and many other critical aspects. Realizing the importance and scope of EVs, many governments around the world are now making significant investments in developing charging infrastructure across the country to encourage more consumers to buy EVs. Location intelligence is playing the role of an enabler here for the governments and EV companies by helping them to setup charging stations at various locations as per the demand/number of EVs in that particular location.

While opportunities are endless for the integration of location intelligence data in EVs, here are a few key trends that we have witnessed on a larger scale in recent times -

Data Collection for Better Customer Experience

The foremost concern for most EV owners is the distance that they can travel on a single charge. Thus, it is extremely critical for automobile OEMs and charging point aggregators to strategically set up their charging stations in such a way that they are easily accessible to customers. As a result, many OEMs and aggregators are now collaborating with location intelligence companies to collate all the data regarding their charging stations and integrate it into their software or mobile applications. This enables customers to quickly locate the nearest charging points by using their smartphones and accordingly plan their travel routes. Additionally, collaborating with location intelligence companies also enables the OEMs to gather data regarding customer behavior, user patterns and many other aspects, which can then be used to improve their service efficiency and accordingly allocate their resources.

Enhances Driver Safety

Due to the increased electrification of automobiles, most of the vehicles today are equipped with digital displays that provide users with information about numerous aspects related to both the bike as well as its surroundings. Thus, integrating location intelligence data into the EVs enables drivers to have clear updates regarding traffic congestion, accidents, or any other potential hazards that might have occurred in their travel path. Additionally, in regions that are prone to natural disasters and unfavorable climate conditions, location intelligence offers drivers weather updates of the nearby areas and enables them to choose a path that is safer and free of any dangers. Further, having access to the location data of the charging stations enables the users to properly plan their travel routes, especially when traveling long distances or in remote locations.

Route Optimization in Transport & Logistics

The transport and logistics companies are increasingly integrating EVs into their existing fleet especially for shorter distance routes. Additionally, they are combining location intelligence data with AI to optimize the routes for their fleet of vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and avoid empty movement of their vehicles post delivering to a particular location.

Facilitating Higher EV Adoption in Public Transport

Be it passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, or public transport such as buses, location intelligence has now become a critical component of any EV. As a result, many governments today are increasingly promoting the use of EVs for both personal usage as well as a means of public transport. Thus, we are witnessing the emergence of numerous regulatory policies and guidelines by the government in terms of the usage of EVs by companies as part of their ESG initiatives. Additionally, the government is integrating EVs into their public transport systems to the maximum extent possible and even including them in their fleet of government vehicles.

"Integrating location intelligence data into EVs enables the drivers to have clear updates regarding where charging stations are, traffic congestion, accidents or any other potential hazards that might have occurred in their travel path."

Realizing the impact that effective EV integration into public transport systems can have, especially in a highly populated country like India, the government is also leveraging numerous cutting-edge technologies such as AI and data analytics to gather passenger information such as the number of passengers traveling daily on each route, correlate it with location intelligence data and accordingly increase or decrease the fleet of buses as per demand. Since the cost of operating an e-bus is significantly lower compared to regular buses, the government is able to maintain very low ticket rates, further encouraging the general public to use public transport systems.