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e-Mobility and Community Sharing use cases
e-mobility took a new dimension with Tesla launching its electric car in the US. The interesting part is not just the electric car and battery technology, but related services and infrastructure developments that are happening – switchable batteries for range extension, battery changing stations, charging infrastructure and analytics for the connected car. The Tesla car is always connected to the internet and the company even provides regular software updates.
Considerable growth is expected in ride sharing, car sharing and bike sharing solutions as per a recent survey done by Roland Berger. These are popular among the younger generation now, especially in the developed countries. An increasing number of systems are expected to develop where there are simple aggregators (not service providers). Somebody has a car and somebody else has a driver. A third person rents both and uses them.
Even in the West there is no single standard. Multiple standards are being considered. It is too early to think about an India-specific standard at this point of time. As a part of NASSCOM Automotive Special Interest Group, We have formed a group to study this topic and recommend what could be the nearest standard which could be adopted in India. Sometimes it makes sense to see what other emerging countries are doing and to adapt an existing standard to suit Indian conditions rather than to reinvent the wheel.Regarding Big Data, there are applications being introduced in India. E.g. Big Data is used to understand buying behaviour in the automobile industry.
Another trend that is coming up in Europe is shared parking to overcome shortage of parking space. Statistics show that most parking lots, especially the private ones are empty about 50-70% of the time since drivers are busy trying to find parking places elsewhere. Private parking spaces are being introduced for rental in city centres which people can rent for many hours using simple apps and connected systems.
Seamless ticketing with good last mile connectivity options is expected to improve the use of public transport. In the Indian context, it comes down to enabling the commuter to move seamlessly between the various modes of transport: auto rickshaws, buses, metro rail, suburban trains, etc. without waiting in queues for each mode.
An analysis done in 2014 for the automobile industry called “Voice of Customers – What do customers want?” showed that eco-friendly and low cost transportation were the main requirements of customers from across the world. Owning a low cost car was not the priority but having access to low cost transportation was. Convenience of transportation was the next concern: Is there a change of vehicle needed? / What is the waiting time? etc. Utility beyond just driving was also a consideration – How much flexibility does the transport mode offer? / Will it allow taking agricultural produce from home along with the ride? Surprisingly, low cost transport was the major criterion in countries such as the US, Germany, Japan etc while this was not the case in China and India where the demand was for technology innovations.
India has its own challenges as far as the developments in new mobility are concerned. For example, many parts of India do not get electric power for the whole day. So how can we have a reliable charging mechanism for electric cars? Safety is considered an option in India; people find innovative ways to avoid wearing basic safety aids like seatbelts and helmets. So would they be willing to pay for additional safety devices such as airbags and ABS systems? Similarly, for connected vehicles, continuous reliable connectivity is important. Again, with the present condition of infrastructure of mobile internet systems in India are we having continuous connectivity? While these are challenges, they are also an opportunity for solution providers to innovate because standard systems deployed elsewhere may not work in India.