Driving and transition
This article is about electric driving in combination with the energy transition ( in the first part I discuss the challenges of the energy transition for our electricity network ). Because one thing is related to the other. I talk to the scientists, the consultants, the transport companies and the service industry that specifically develop products and services.
But of course you also have to drive an electric car. In the distant past (about 10 years ago) I once drove an electric Volkswagen and a few years ago a Tesla. In this case I drove a week in the new Nissan Leaf (second generation). The Leaf is a modest car. What is disappointing is the range. My fear comes from a feeling that you do not have with regular cars. The dependence on the battery gives you the stress you used to have when you were low on fuel in France (or any other country) and had no idea where to refuel.
The dependence on the battery gives you the stress you used to have when you ran out of fuel in France and had no idea where to fill up.
This stress can be constant when driving electric, because yes, the battery is empty every 200-300 km. And charging takes time: time to charge and the possible waiting time to charge. FastNed does not have full coverage in the Netherlands with its fast charging stations. I know from experience that the route Utrecht - Amsterdam - Haarlem has no charging points. And there you are. Car on eco mode, air conditioning off to make sure you get home. Because you can't get a jerry can with fuel or a reserve tank.
TomTom
TomTom is proud of the Netherlands in the field of navigation and is already working on a solution for the navigation of electric cars. In most cases, this is the basic navigation that is included, but with a big difference: the charging points are essential when making a long journey. A trip from The Hague to Groningen of about 240 km is almost twice charging with the current electric models. The route must be provided with stops for charging, where in the future the data may be collected directly from the car. At present, there is no exchange of data (such as consumption and driving style) and the navigation module. TomTom would also like to play an important role in this, just as in navigation now.
At TomTom, navigation is the origin of the company. You iran telegram data know the well-known box that was attached to the car with a suction cup. We are now more than 10 years further and navigation has changed enormously. TomTom of course still supplies navigation systems that you can use in any car. But the company is also very successful in the field of built-in navigation, or agreements with manufacturers whereby TomTom supplies the navigation to various suppliers, such as Renault.
It is this position that gives TomTom a special starting position when developing navigation for electric cars. The reasoning is as follows: at the moment that you are built into the car, it should in theory – and in practice for that matter – also be possible to read data directly from the car. Think for example of the state of the battery in an electric car.
Combine this with weather forecasts, traffic information and other information relevant to the journey, and you have a system that is able to determine with greater accuracy how far you can still drive. On the other hand, the navigation can adjust the route if the power suddenly turns out to be insufficient to reach the next originally planned charging station. The question is of course who owns this data, whether you want to share it with others or whether you see it as an invasion of your privacy.