How to Build an Electric Vehicle Charging Management System

Electric vehicles are becoming ever more popular in the world due to their effects on global climate change and their performance now being compared to the traditional vehicles that run on non-renewable petroleum fuel. In this blog, we will discuss the solutions for creating an efficient charging infrastructure for such vehicles, which remains an obstacle to creating a better and healthier infrastructure surrounding modern transportation.

What is an electric vehicle tracking system?

Electric vehicles are going to be embedded with a vehicle tracking system that helps 8them be more efficient and easy to use. The electric vehicle tracking system or asset tracking system tracks critical battery levels, location of the vehicles, and keeps track of more specific things associated with vehicle health. The EV charging and energy management software tracks both:

• real-time status
• historical location status and can 

The system protects vehicles from suspicious or dangerous activities on roads. Because of the tracking system being IoT based, it has software capabilities that make it require minimal maintenance.

Benefits of smart charging for EV drivers

Now that you know the capability of EV tracking systems, it is time to discuss the benefits of such smart tracking and particularly, smart charging systems in the context of the users of such technology. There are many benefits of smart charging systems for the users of electric vehicles in general. Following are some of the benefits of smart charging for EV drivers

Reduce cost associated with ownership

Vehicle ownership costs can heavily be influenced by electric vehicle monitoring software. Such software helps manage critical components of the operation of such vehicles and thus can reduce the cost of ownership. There are a number of ways that this can occur, and the level of monitoring of the vehicle depends on the complexity and specifics of the software in question. The software usually uses IoT technology in parallel to just traditional software based applications to achieve this.

Uninterrupted journey

Not all aspects of owning a vehicle can be quantified in numbers. Oftentimes, a seamless experience of driving gives more enjoyment than any statistic of fuel or cost saved. It is here that our IoT based technology helps the vehicle automatically protect itself from any kind of failures that can become an obstacle in a seamless journey. The software also receives timely updates that help keep it improved in every aspect.

Reliability and stability

The software is tested in every aspect like reliability, security and stability. This is because all such factors are essential for an attractive product. Since the system heavily depends on IoT technology, a lot of skill is put into making the systems, especially those related to the different hardware components of the system reliable and stable. 

Efficiency

The system remains highly efficient because it sends notifications based on the charging requirements of the vehicle and journey. Capacity planning and local storage are considered when making charging decisions and intelligent vehicle to grid(V2G) systems are leveraged to keep this efficiency at an all time high most of the time. Notifications are sent whenever the drivers travel to areas where charging is difficult.

How long does it take to charge an electric vehicle?

The charging process for the EV vehicle itself is super fast and efficient if you select the right kind of charging device.

Here are a few things to consider when choosing a charging device.

Gather information of vehicles and chargers that you intend to incorporate

It is important to gather all the information about the types of vehicles you need to charge and their routine journeys. This is because this information will determine the capacity of your charging stations and also help you determine things like energy demand that can sometimes present problems in charging stations.

Be careful about sockets

There are 2 types of charging devices depending on the type of charging process people go for. The regular device works on a socket called type 2 socket and is an EU standardized socket that works with AC technology. It however offers a comparably slower charging time. The other device works on DC charging stations and either uses CCS Combo or a CHAdeMO socket that are known for their fast charging properties. 

Use OCPP

Open charge point protocol is a software protocol that is popular in many charging stations as it makes the charging process more efficient and effortless. It helps software and hardware communicate together. If you choose the approved devices for the chosen OCPP standard, you should be good to go.

Use smart technology

Smart technology refers to the many innovations that are ongoing in the EV charging sector that can help make your charging stations more efficient. No matter the existing technology, you should invest in smart and future-proof solutions in your charging stations to make them as attractive to customers as possible.

Reasons why businesses should invest in Smart EV charging

Here are some reasons why a business might consider investing in an IoT development company that knows about smart EV charging.

• Smart EV charging systems come with smart admin systems that help you monitor every aspect of the charging process, including monitoring energy storage, acquisition, and demand by vehicles. It will be visible in the form of a dashboard.
• The system also takes care of an efficient and fast billing process, which is mostly automatic. The EV drivers can use various forms of payment and payments are linked to the account of the charging station and payments are transferred regularly and in a timely manner through highly secure processes.
• Smart EV charging systems are smart in the sense that they can help in dynamic load management. Dynamic load management refers to the change in energy demand during peak times. This in turn keeps the customer experience level quite high through the IoT apps for the customers.

Trends in the electric vehicle market and the case for installing EV charging stations

Following are the many trends in the electric vehicle markets.

• The market is expected to be over 500 billion dollars by 2025. As many European countries are in the process of banning the use of fossil fuel vehicles in the next 10 to 15 years, electric vehicles will take the lead globally when it comes to mass transit.
• Governments are encouraging citizens to buy electric vehicles in many parts of the world. Primary examples are China and European countries under the European Union, and they do it by turning up the costs associated with buying and maintaining vehicles that run on fossil fuels. 
• There are already 30,000 EVs on the roads of British Columbia for instance and 1000 charging stations around the country. Similar numbers exist in many developed countries, and the numbers are increasing all around the world.

Cost to build an electric vehicle charging and tracking system

The cost to build a vehicle tracking system and charging stations are, however, not as straightforward as one may want them to be. This is because the price depends on many things. The cost of regular public charging is about 10 to 30 million dollars to upwards of 5400 outlets. For DC fast charging, the cost is about 36 million for about 500 outlets.

The vehicle tracking software costs much less than this, as it depends on the skill of the software developers. This is why choosing a good mobile app development company is crucial in building EV charging systems. 

The tracking systems, once established can improve upon themselves after the software updates itself through incorporating newer technology. For now, the tracking systems depend on trustworthy GPS and IoT based systems. The IoT based system that is paired up with high performance software can be accessed by mobile apps and onboard dashboards on vehicles. If the builders of EV charging systems and vehicle tracking systems make smart choices, they can build cost effective solutions when they pair up with good companies that know what they are doing.

Conclusion

As you can see, the electric vehicle industry is booming. Due to the renewable nature of the fuel, its efficiency and its effects on climate change, it is proposed to be an attractive alternative to present day fuels. IoT technology is taking the lead in developing charging infrastructure for such vehicles.

Nextbrain Technologies is one of the best IoT app development companies in Canada and has its headquarters in Toronto, Canada. Having years of experience, the company has earned a reputation for creating innovative solutions in the field. We have the potential to develop highly efficient smart charging solutions for electric vehicles as we have worked closely with the automotive industry.

If you want a cost effective electric vehicle charging management system and capitalize on the electric vehicles, give us a call with a detailed list of requirements. We work with legal policies like NDAs and other agreements as well.