Owning a fully electric vehicle unlocks a whole new world of possibilities, like never needing to pump a single gallon of fuel. However, along with the freedom from traditional gas stations comes a set of new questions and challenges. For many electric vehicle (EV) owners, the process of locating appropriate charging stations and completing payments can be one of the most stressful parts of driving [1]. While concerns about range anxiety and charging times remain prominent for EV drivers, having to rely on numerous smartphone apps is a challenge/worry in and of itself for current EV owners and even potential buyers.
How Many Apps Does It Take to Charge an EV
Smartphone charging apps have become ubiquitous companions for EV owners for initiating charging sessions. However, there is currently an overload of charging apps. A typical EV driver may find themselves managing as many as eight different smartphone apps [2], all attempting variations of the same essential task: guiding you to the fastest available chargers along the route and processing payment. This creates a significant amount of complexity for EV drivers compared to drivers with a traditional gas-powered vehicle.
EV charging stations are operated by different companies –Charging Point Operators (CPO’s), each with its unique system and relationship to manage. Most require customers to create a prepaid account and use a brand-specific smartphone app or ID card to activate their chargers. EV owners who use multiple charging providers must manage and keep track of several accounts and cannot use an unfamiliar brand’s chargers without going through a new sign-up process, resulting in a fragmented experience. Unlike traditional gas stations, most EV chargers lack the convenience of a credit card slot, leaving EV owners with no choice but to download smartphone apps specific to each charging network they may utilize.
Aisin Location-Based Services (LBS) Platform
Through many decades of experience providing navigation systems to the world’s largest automotive OEMs, Aisin is able to provide numerous products and services that leverage our expertise in geo-location technology. The LBS Platform utilizes data that is captured from various endpoints including vehicle data, map data, image data, and Aisin’s proprietary machine learning and AI algorithms to deliver data that can be used for a multitude of B2C, B2B, B2G, and engineering applications.
Aisin In-Vehicle Payments Solution
Aisin’s In-Vehicle Payments solution leverages the Aisin Location Based Service(LBS) platform’s high accuracy location data and a database of geofences surrounding enabled merchants to turn your vehicle into an intelligent digital wallet. Drivers are then able to pay for a range of goods and services from EV charging / gas, to parking, to curbside pickup/drive thru with a few taps on their vehicle’s In-vehicle infotainment. Additionally, the payment solution integrates with Aisin’s core navigation features, so a driver can see merchants that support payment services and receive guidance to their destination.
The solution aggregates merchants and service providers into a single payment account enabling drivers to use one payment method for EV charging and all other services. This eliminates the need for drivers to sign up for multiple accounts. Now EV charging can truly be as easy as pulling up to a charger, and plugging in.
One Intelligent Wallet
You may be wondering how is this digital wallet any different or any more convenient than the numerous other digital wallets currently in the market? When using digital wallets, there are three main tasks that the user needs to do in order to complete a transaction.
- Create an account/add payment method.
- Determine if the merchant accepts the wallet as a form of payment.
- Activate the wallet to complete a transaction.
Aisin’s in-vehicle payments solution streamlines this entire process. By querying Aisin’s proprietary high accuracy location received from the vehicle against a geofence database, the system knows when the driver is in range to activate the payment user experience. The user then must confirm and accept the transaction through the vehicles navigation system. There is no need to fumble through any applications or open another mobile app. Allowing drivers to complete transactions with different service operators without managing multiple apps and accounts gives Aisin an advantage to offer a unique value proposition for drivers.
Merchant Coverage
Without wide acceptance at many different types of merchants and brands a digital wallet begins to lose its original value proposition. Through Aisin’s in-vehicle payments solution users have access to gas stations, EV chargers, parking lots, tollways across the United States. For example, with our current coverage for gas stations 51% of all Americans live within 5-mile radius of an enabled gas station. This number is only increasing as we continue to integrate with more brands. In terms of other use cases, our users have access to 77% of all public chargers, 42,000+ parking spots in all 50 states, and approximately 95% of tollways.
Conclusion
Although range anxiety continues to be the top concern for most EV drivers, other problems such as the ability to find chargers, and the cumbersome payment process continues to be a big problem for current and potential EV drivers. With Aisin’s in-vehicle payment solution drives can ditch their 10 charging apps for one intelligent wallet that works at multiple service operators.