Unveiling the EV Services Platform

As businesses across the world step up to cut carbon emissions, electrification is top of mind for many fleets. Evolving regulations, emission zone limitations and, the need for sustainable operations urge fleet managers across the world to take action now. But the route to electrification comes with challenges. In this interview, Taco Olthoff, Director Electric Vehicle Program at Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, talks about Bridgestone’s EV Services Platform - a unique ecosystem for a simple and successful electrification journey.

What is the EV Services Platform?

The EV Services Platform is a unique ecosystem that combines solutions from industry leading mobility and energy providers into a single platform, to make electrification easier, cheaper and faster for fleets. It's where customers and suppliers come together to solve fleet and energy management challenges in an integrated way. Customers will be able to effortlessly access a network of pre-integrated EV service providers and seamlessly share data between any of them to optimise EV operations. This way, they can reduce integration costs and eliminate the hassle of having to find suitable suppliers for their fleet’s needs. For EV service providers, the platform allows to integrate in a scalable way, and help enhance their services using fleet data.

What is unique about the EV Services Platform?

The energy industry provides a lot of value, from energy supply to charge point operation, to load balancing. However, the energy system will need fleet data to further optimise fleet operation costs and productivity, and, more urgently, safeguard the reliability of services. The EV Services Platform, allows both energy and mobility services to collaborate and make it easier for fleets to go electric, manage the e-fleet operation and optimise performance.

The EV Services Platform is organised under six key pillars: from the energy side there are charging hardware and software, smart charging and energy management, and from the mobility side there are battery analytics, planning, and fleet management. The organisation of these six pillars in just one ecosystem makes it easy for customers to choose the ideal combination for their specific electric vehicle (EV) goals.

Why is the EV services platform relevant in the EV landscape?

Currently, switching from ICE to EVs presents exciting opportunities for fleet managers, though we cannot ignore it does have its challenges, like unclear total cost of ownership of EV fleets, maintaining a reliable operation and optimising fleet performance to cut costs. These issues can only be solved when the energy and mobility systems collaborate. Our EV Services Platform is designed to be a game-changer during this transition: through our platform we will enable a seamless data exchange that empowers fleets to embrace the transition to electric vehicles with confidence and ease. Our goal is to help bridge the gap between the mobility and energy industries to unlock the complete potential of EV services.

What is the value of the EV services platform for fleet managers?

Through our EV Services Platform, fleet managers will be able to access the optimal services to run their operations by sharing fleet data seamlessly with service suppliers. A fleet manager can, for example, get range information to allocate the most suitable vehicle to get a specific job done. This trip information can then be shared with their charging management provider to select which vehicle should be charged and when based on the required battery level and trip schedule.

How is the EV Services Platform going to transform the way EV service suppliers collaborate?

Our platform will simplify service integration and allow our partners to enhance their solutions using fleet data. By partnering with us, service providers participate in a comprehensive suite of solutions, among industry leaders from fleet to energy management. Through our EV Services Platform, we facilitate the connection between these industries, enabling the delivery of the entire value within the EV ecosystem.

Can you mention some concrete examples of use cases the EV services platform makes possible?

For commercial fleets, it allows fleet managers to monitor State of Charge (SoC) and State of Health. It also sends warnings if a vehicle is connected but not charging at optimal speed. Fleet managers can receive notifications if planned trips might not work out due to factors like departure SoC, temperature, load, and route for each vehicle. Drivers can get alerts suggesting public charging to avoid depot congestion or peak electricity demand. And, if the operation plan permits, smart charging solutions can be adjusted to slow down charging speed and extend the battery life of specific vehicles.

For more information, visit EV Services Platform | Solutions for Electric Commercial Fleets — Webfleet GB.