Sustainably connected

The Challenge

Green mobility for all   

Car sharing, electromobility, smart logistics: the shift towards new forms of mobility has brought about a noticeable change on our roads in recent years. More and more charging points can be found in car parks, innovative car designs buzz almost silently through the streets and even electrified commercial vehicles are no longer an unusual sight on our roads. 

However, the switch to electromobility poses new challenges for fleet managers and fleet operators. Applications such as real-time data acquisition, charging high-voltage batteries or localising vehicles require intelligent, networked solutions. At the same time, modern fleets are becoming ever larger and more complex. 

The Company

Start-up with a vision for the future  

The idea for the start-up EVUM Motors was born at the Technical University of Munich. The project was initiated by Sascha Koberstedt and Martin Šoltés to test a new type of commercial vehicle: the aCar, one of the world's first all-wheel-drive electric commercial vehicles. Their vision: affordable and sustainable e-mobility for everyone.  

With its intelligent concept, the vehicle is ideal as a helper in agriculture, trade and industry, for municipal use or for tourist applications and delivery transport. The aCar is also ideal for factory transport as it is emission-free.

As these areas of use require applications such as fleet management, localisation and battery monitoring, EVUM Motors offers these services for the respective customer groups. The company works together with Vodafone for the complete fleet solution and networking.

The Solution

Networking thanks to telematics 

The "My Vodafone Fleet" portal allows companies to manage their fleet more efficiently. The charge status of the high-voltage battery, the localisation of the vehicles and other usage data are displayed.  

Vodafone's EV Suitability Assessment (EVSA) tool also shows the company the potential savings that can be made on fleet costs, while at the same time making a relevant contribution to protecting the environment. 

And this is how the networked reality works: a telematics unit is installed as a module on the vehicle's OBD interface directly during production of the aCar. It contains a mobile radio modem with an IoT SIM card and a GPS module for localisation. The read-out vehicle data is forwarded from the SIM card to the cloud via the Vodafone network.

The GDSP Dashboard (Global Data Service Platform) provided by Vodafone makes provisioning and managing the SIM cards particularly easy and convenient for EVUM Motors. "We decided in favour of Vodafone because the fleet management including IoTSIMs is designed as a genuine plug-and-play solution," reports Sascha Koberstaedt, one of the founders and Managing Directors of EVUM Motors. "The collaboration has quickly developed from a supplier partnership to a more extensive cooperation, including in areas such as marketing and joint technology innovations."

The Advantages

At a glance

This makes applications such as a Green Fleet Dashboard possible, which provides commercial or public users such as municipalities with current data on the realized CO2 savings. The data collection can be tailored to the needs of the respective customer in order to comply with data protection and labor law requirements. Anonymized data analyzes also help the manufacturer to better understand the requirements and terms of use of its customers.

Das aCar von EVUM setzt neben einer einfachen und robusten Konstruktion auch auf smarte Lösungen für ein intelligentes Flottenmanagement. Das sei ein entscheidender Vorteil für das aCar, sagt Sascha Koberstaedt. Wir haben mit ihm darüber gesprochen.

Hello Sascha! Why did you decide to take the step towards digitalisation with EVUM Motors? 

Sascha Koberstaedt: Even though the focus during the development of our vehicle was on simple and robust technology, it quickly became clear to us that many aspects of sustainable use of the aCar could only be solved by digitalising and thus networking the vehicles.

What do you see as the greatest opportunities arising from digitalisation? 

Sascha Koberstaedt: We see clear benefits such as a green fleet dashboard or a quick overview of charging statuses and vehicle conditions. In the future, there will be further opportunities such as commercial vehicle sharing or predictive maintenance.

What are the biggest risks if a company sleeps through digitalisation? 

Sascha Koberstaedt: In our case, there is a risk that the concept will not work in the overall context because important information on sustainability and vehicle utilisation is missing. We are convinced that ambitious CO2 reduction targets are practically impossible to achieve without digitalisation.

What advice would you give to other companies that haven't dealt with the topic much so far? 

Sascha Koberstaedt: Of course, it depends on what the company is actually doing. But ultimately, there is probably untapped potential for reducing climate-damaging emissions in every industry and in every business model. Digitalisation can help to improve this.

Based on the experience you have already gained: What three tips would you give a company in the same situation? 

Sascha Koberstaedt: The overall concept and the solution architecture must come from the company itself. But when it comes to designing the solution, and even more so when it comes to designing and scaling it, it makes sense to work with experienced partners - such as Vodafone when it comes to networking.

Dear Sascha, thank you very much for this interview!

The growing daily demands on logistics and mobility make this clear: Digital fleet management is now indispensable for the efficient and sustainable management of a vehicle fleet. With Business Fleet Analytics, Vodafone has therefore developed a modular solution to meet the needs of its customers and partners in this area.

The application provides real-time data on the driving behaviour and condition of all vehicles and enables users to comprehensively monitor their entire fleet. This allows routes to be planned and coordinated more efficiently, saving time and fuel - and reducing environmentally harmful emissions. Even creeping defects that lead to increased consumption and, in the worst case, to vehicle breakdowns can be recognised at an early stage thanks to predictive maintenance.

Whether it is a classic company fleet, logistics or commercial vehicle fleet, the solution is suitable for a wide range of applications and industries. It also ensures the protection of employees and vehicles by supporting compliance with applicable safety and efficiency requirements in a wide range of industries.

Remote diagnostics – worldwide and in real time

Smart utilisation of all company vehicles is made possible thanks to telematics: IoT technology is combined with the digital fleet management solution Vodafone Business Fleet Analytics. A telematics unit from Vodafone Business is retrofitted in each vehicle or pre-installed as a module during production. The unit contains a mobile radio modem with an IoT SIM card and a GPS module for localisation. The vehicle data is then forwarded from the SIM card via the Vodafone network to the cloud and then to the fleet management system. 

The IoT SIM cards are connected via the Vodafone mobile network and also support national roaming for optimum network connectivity. The vehicles and their telematics units can also be used in other countries thanks to global roaming. The GDSP (Global Data Service Platform) provided by Vodafone makes provisioning and managing the SIM cards particularly easy and convenient.

Telematics and electromobility – enablers for the green future

However, digital fleet management can do much more. More and more companies are turning to electric vehicles to make the transition to a more sustainable fleet. Their operation is emission-free and local CO₂ emissions can be reduced enormously, especially for commercial vehicle fleets. With their special requirements in terms of charging points and charging times, electric fleets offer an excellent area of application for telematics applications. 

With the "EV Suitability Assessment" (EVSA), Vodafone therefore offers an additional tool that supports companies in the transition to electromobility and shows how fleet costs can be reduced thanks to telematics solutions. At the same time, Vodafone's digital fleet management solution and IoT optimise fleet utilisation - and are therefore important building blocks for sustainable business.