The Mobi Charger seeks to make charging anxiety a thing of the past for EV drivers. (Image courtesy of Freewire Technologies.)
Batteries on Wheels Powering Batteries on Wheels
What’s the most convenient way to charge electric vehicles (EVs) that are constantly moving around? For Freewire Technologies, the answer is simple; make charging stations that can also move around. This is the idea behind the Mobi Charger, a mobile power source specifically designed for EVs. And now, with help from Eurotech, the Mobi Charger is connected to the IoT.
Before we delve further, let’s have a look at Freewire’s unique business model. The idea is fairly simple; instead of looking for parking spots near charging ports, EV drivers can park anywhere in a Mobi-friendly lot. Then, with a smartphone app, they can tag where they parked. A Mobi attendant will then come charge the vehicle with a Mobi Charger, ensuring it’s ready to go when the driver returns. Just don't forget to turn off your car alarm so it doesn't sound when the Mobi Charger unplugs.
This video demonstrates the idea:
Since this is a relatively new concept, being able to utilize data analytics from the IoT offers a huge opportunity for Freewire Technologies to modify its business and mobile charging battery design as needed. This includes the ability to monitor the performance of the systems as well as business data such as dynamic supply and demand.
According to Freewire’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jawann Swislow, partnering with Eurotech to utilize the Everyware Cloud platform and ReliaGATE IoT Gateway was the best option for adding IoT capability to the Mobi Charger.
“It didn’t make sense for us to continue building out something when we could buy the Eurotech solution on a similar budget that would also work better,” Swislow explained. “Once the hardware is installed we never have to touch it because software updates can be done automatically, which is a huge benefit.”
This reinforces the benefit of partnerships in the IoT industry. Engineers don’t need to constantly reinvent the wheel; if the technology exists and there’s little cost benefit to rolling out a custom design, consider following Freewire’s example. Obviously there are other times when you’ll have to get creative, but aim to fill an actual need; too much creativity won’t get you very far.
Another added benefit to partnerships is that as more organizations continue to opt in to using prebuilt IoT platforms, it will become easier for IoT products to communicate with each other. Currently, the industry is suffering from an IoT protocol standardization nightmare which makes device-to-device communication more difficult for engineers than it should be.
To learn more about Freewire’s Mobi Charger, check out the website.