British company Elektromotive has unveiled a groundbreaking tool for monitoring and invoicing electricity drawn from vehicle charging stations.
Known as EBConnect, the technical innovation will make it easy to identify energy consumption and bill customers accurately. It will be installed at all Elektrobay charging stations of which there are already 160 across the UK.
The software manages a two-way exchange of data via GSM and the internet to track electricity usage and invoice accordingly. This in turn allows for a number of payment methods to be used such as pay as you go where the user adds credits to the keyfob; or where the costs are added to the consumer’s utility bill. The balance can also be settled remotely through SMS text messages, voice recordings and automatic registration number recognition.
These advancements are seen as vital in the development of a charging network.
That’s not the only innovation to be announced by Elektromotive at the Norwegian zero emissions exhibition EVS24. It also unveiled the Three Phase Fast Charge Elecktrobay prototype which will reduce charging times and is the first of its kind to provide two separate five-pin power sockets able to accommodate the new Mennekes plug, which is expected to be standardised on commercial electric vehicles.
