A nifty means of transport and mobile electrical storage ... - Siemens

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The energy business becomes an Internet business
Energy expert Lechner sums up the technological requirements for the overall emobility
architecture as follows: “Electromobiles need information from the primary
sources of traffic management systems and telematics solutions. Combined with user
profiles and actual (driving) behavior, this data is merged with that from the energy
management systems and aggregated to give an overall forecast at the end of the
process. As a result, mobility providers can plan exactly and know when and how
much energy they need for which customer.”
This is almost automatically accompanied by additional business models: If the
vehicle is constantly connected to the Internet or another service provider, it makes
sense to offer services above and beyond searching for a parking space and
information on contract repair shops. “Take, for example, the Apple App Store, an
extremely successful business model that works excellently in the world of mobile
terminal devices. A similar scenario is likewise conceivable for a mobile terminal
device like a vehicle, for instance to pay automatically for parking or to find a nearby
restaurant and reserve a table right away. By offering such services, providers can
enhance their portfolio to deliver important added value that may be crucial to their
success,” is Zahnjel’s conviction.
A further area where work still needs to be done is to achieve global consensus on
consistent standards for communication and models such as roaming. “There are
adapters for plugs, so that is not a challenge,” notes Zahnjel. “Things get tougher
when one billing system has to communicate with another. In the medium term, there
are bound to be service providers for conurbations who offer the same
communications standards. That means the identical ICT is used in the vehicle and
by the service provider – and my car works just as well in Munich as in Hamburg or
Paris.”
Ever further, ever better: The telco industry as a model
The Munich-based high-tech group is taking an end-to-end approach to the e-car –
and has forged an alliance within the group: The IT and energy experts from Siemens
IT Solutions and Services and from the Energy and Industry Sectors work hand in
hand – and the smart grid is the element that unites them.
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