EV charging

• How to not drop the ball on a great EV charging experience? Our Head of Product Keith Reed shares his thoughts.
• No surprise that Tesla ranks #1 in the Auto Express UK CPO rankings, as Zap Map also releases their own 2021 CPO survey.
  • Some apples-and-oranges comparisons, because CPOs with just tens or hundreds of rapid chargers are ranked alongside national players with 10,000+ fast chargers.
  • Great that these rankings are starting to become important
  • Great to see our customer Pod Point as #1 of the nationals. Feel free to ask how we can help you up the rankings!
• We see CPOs increasingly using project management tools to manage their installs, including Site Tracker (ex-telco) and Jumptech (purpose-built for EV).
  • Interestingly, Jumptech serves both sides of the market, so installers can get leads from multiple CPOs, and CPOs can use multiple installers. 
• Chancing a lull between Delta and Omicron, I attended the London EV show which proved quite small but focused on charging, so very useful for conversations with customers and partners.
• New Motion is to be fully absorbed by the Borg
• EO (still in the process of listing on the Nasdaq via a SPAC) claims to have patented a way to enable smart charging even on AC-charged, non ISO15118 vehicles. 
• ZapMap goes for a £7m Series A as it launches Zap Pay.
• GridServe announces new electric forecourts and Gatwick airport.
• Expect a rush of installs as the £350 OZEV grant disappears in March
• Tesla Semi pre-production units start to emerge 
• Flashback to EVs 50 years ago.

Smart Energy

• "10 years into a green revolution" is our latest Smart Meter publication and it's chock full of both bouquets and brick-bats from leading industry figures.
• The largest UK utility so far succumbs to high energy price woes: Bulb goes into administration.
• This months' Delta-EE webinar on Home Energy Management revealed the challenge of joining-up the interfaces between hundreds of vendors of chargepoints, batteries and heat pumps
• Useful summary of experiences with heat pumps so far in the UK and Ireland.
• As Murata starts production, are solid-state batteries finally on the way?

IoT

• The number of IoT platforms has levelled-off, according to IoT Analytics, with many vendors moving into alternative business models such as solutions, specific verticals, or specific propositions.
• The Thread IoT standard hits 100 certified devices - a drop in the ocean but everything has to start somewhere
• Jan Geertsma of Signify (aka Phillips) discussed the challenges of configuring IoT devices in the home securely.
  • Having dealt with these issues in my AlertMe days, I believe we should accept that home networks are no-longer secure, so all devices must have end-to-end security.
• AWS “TwinMaker” offers easier digital twins, as does Waylay's Digital Twin service which (like DevicePilot) works seamlessly with Salesforce.
• UK operators confirm they’ll remove Huawei by 2027 (else face fines of £100k/day!), sunset 2G & 3G by 2033 to leave space for 5G, and work on opening-up the RAN.
• And finally, just in time for Christmas:
  • That Fisher Price telephone you had as a baby? Now it has Bluetooth.
  • Please help out if you spot any robots stuck in the snow

The DevicePilot team wishes you and your team a great holiday season.

We look forward to helping you deliver fantastic customer experience in 2022. 

-Pilgrim

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