Electric cars & telematics - no match? (updated)

[April 18 - I've added, to the bottom of this email, comments regarding this post received on LinkedIn]

I originally thought that electric cars would be more naturally inclined to have advanced telematics, including energy monitoring/management and wireless connectivity to web services. Over time, though, I've come to think that there is no inherent technical reason why electric cars are more amenable to telematics than gasoline-powered cars. 

However, the one crucial difference is that electric cars are being designed from the ground up TODAY whereas gasoline-powered cars have decades of legacy components, legacy architectures and entrenched cultures/bureaucracies surrounding them.

Will we see better-than-expected IT/telematics from Chevy Volt, TH!NK's city, Fisker's Karma, Reva etc.?  I hope so, especially from the US-focused companies.  Probably not from the emerging markets-focused companies such as Reva.

And today, I realized that this wish may come true, while watching the Techcrunch video of the test-driving of the Tesla car.  It seems like the upcoming Tesla model has a great screen in the cockpit with mapping and other related functions (I sure hope it's a connected service, as opposed to a pure on-board system).  The company's website certainly does not show anything remotely interesting in the cockpit.  See below for the video of the Tesla test-drive.

April 18 update - I posted a question about the relationship between electric vehicles (EVs) and telematics to LinkedIn a week ago. Here's a synopsis of the many comments that people made there - comments came from Renault, Gragras SAGAsystem, Fleetmatics, Applied Computer Technologies, Hughes Systique, Sirius Satellite Radio, iSuppli, Atlantic Management Strategies, Frost & Sullivan, Mercedes-Benz and VisionSeeds.  Thank you all!

• EVs need to be more proactive/predictive about the remaining miles that the car can travel on its current charge. This is because charging points are sparse and traffic conditions and driving behavior greatly affect the performance of the car.  As a result, traffic and location-based information (such as location of charging points or parking spots), combined with predictive algorithms, could be of great use to EV OEMs.
• Telematics need to be an provided on an open platform for EVs, so that new applications/services can be developed that tie into mobile devices etc. Proprietary approaches such as from Onstar will not survive much longer.  The auto OEM has to make performance data available to 3rd party devices and also enable third-party devices to have some (controlled) effect on performance.  
• There is an even split between people who think that EV OEMs will provide built-in telematics functionality versus those who think that mobile devices will incorporate this functionality and then interface with the cars to take in and put out information. Personally, I think this depends on the type of telematics you are talking about - if it is performance- and energy-management-related, then IMO it will have to be embedded in the car.
  
• Some comments said that EVs will be premium-priced for quite a while and therefore consumer will expect whiz-bang features such as telematics, connectivity, diagnostics, energy management etc. as a standard part of the MSRP.  (Wireless) connectivity should come standard with all EVs, given the initial audience for these cars. But what's the recurring revenue business model that will fit with consumer expectations? 
  
• Telematics is a fuzzy term, incorporating energy management, LBS applications, diagnostics, roadside assistance, navigation, entertainment services etc.  Some of these areas will differ in traction between EVs and gasoline-powered cars, some will not.  I personally think that energy management/predictive intelligence will be key for EVs.  All the other features mentioned above can also be put into gasoline-powered cars equally well - the only difference is the early adopter audience for EVs which will (I think) expect a lot of these features.

Comments

[Dkhare]

Agreed. I think Better Place should have something interesting to offer when they start rolling out in Israel. Hopefully that whole telematics stack is up to them to configure. However, I do hope that they (and other EV companies) go beyond the utility side (safety, maintenance, productivity, nav) toward to fun/entertainment side in a more modern way (as opposed purely approaching this from a music controls/weather/traffic perspective)

[Ralf Hug - Savvy Marketing Executive]

I think there is a couple other potentially unique solutions to EV vehicles that require connectivity to the car (embedded or via handset) and will become important components of the telematics service offering.

At the beginning the battery charging stations will be scarce and dramatically change as EV vehicle volume goes up. This requires access to the latest battery charging locations and is better handled with an off-board than an on-board solution. Pricing for charging and capabilities of the charging spot, even availability of spots are all dynamic contents and are additional services that can be offered.

Another area will be battery monitoring and alerts (important to the OEM, dealer, battery manufacturer, or battery service provider, i.e. BetterPlace) which could be processed on-board or better off-board to get you to the next charging spot or process data to improve quality and service of batteries or troubleshoot issues in real-time.

To reach your charging spot before the juice runs out some intelligent routing engines that include traffic, slope (going up a hill is harder), charging spot location, spot availability, pricing and other attributes could optimize your route calculation and navigation. This could work with embedded navigation solutions and connected services (connected navigation) or purely off-board solutions.

Enhancing some of the existing services like Road Side Assistance and retrieving trouble diagnostics codes for battery management and real-time troubleshooting will further improve the more classical telematics services.

To sum it up: If only for the quality control in the field for this still unproven technology and to provide the customer some piece of mind and a good experience it might be worthwhile to offer connectivity and telematics services standard on EV vehicles.

In case something would go wrong and too many cars are stranded, it could hurt the reputation of EV vehicles dramatically. Overall EV vehicles fit nicely into the telematics value proposition of today: safety, security, maintenance, care, productivity, convenience and piece of mind.

[Dev Khare]

Thanks for your comment, Chris. I've included below a summary of comments made on LinkedIn, regarding this post. Predictive intelligence/performance management/energy management looks like a differentiated opportunity for EVs.

* EVs need to be more proactive/predictive about the remaining miles that the car can travel on its current charge. This is because charging points are sparse and traffic conditions and driving behavior greatly affect the performance of the car. As a result, traffic and location-based information (such as location of charging points or parking spots), combined with predictive algorithms, could be of great use to EV OEMs.
* Telematics need to be an provided on an open platform for EVs, so that new applications/services can be developed that tie into mobile devices etc. Proprietary approaches such as from Onstar will not survive much longer. The auto OEM has to make performance data available to 3rd party devices and also enable third-party devices to have some (controlled) effect on performance.
* There is an even split between people who think that EV OEMs will provide built-in telematics functionality versus those who think that mobile devices will incorporate this functionality and then interface with the cars to take in and put out information. Personally, I think this depends on the type of telematics you are talking about - if it is performance- and energy-management-related, then IMO it will have to be embedded in the car.
* Some comments said that EVs will be premium-priced for quite a while and therefore consumer will expect whiz-bang features such as telematics, connectivity, diagnostics, energy management etc. as a standard part of the MSRP. (Wireless) connectivity should come standard with all EVs, given the initial audience for these cars. But what's the recurring revenue business model that will fit with consumer expectations?
* Telematics is a fuzzy term, incorporating energy management, LBS applications, diagnostics, roadside assistance, navigation, entertainment services etc. Some of these areas will differ in traction between EVs and gasoline-powered cars, some will not. I personally think that energy management/predictive intelligence will be key for EVs. All the other features mentioned above can also be put into gasoline-powered cars equally well - the only difference is the early adopter audience for EVs which will (I think) expect a lot of these features.

[Chris Carde]

On one hand, electric cars specifically prompt the creation of certain complementary telematics applications. On the other hand, I agree with Dev that there's no intrinsic long-term reason for telematics as an industry to be more successful on EV platforms than on any other.

In the end, I would argue that we're likely to see innovative telematics platforms launch on electric vehicles for less obvious reasons: partly that the companies leading in the EV space tend to be smaller, more agile, and open to new ideas and business models. Such companies may also discern that, in the short term, their target demographic skews towards tech-savvy early adopters -- the same early adopters who will embrace (and pay for) telematics.