The Best Use Case for Connected Vehicles: Fuel and Electricity
Connected vehicles have a ton of potential to reshape the way we travel and experience the world. With connected vehicles, any number of everyday tasks can be automated — from paying tolls to ordering take-out.
But the best use case for connected cars is even more basic than that: paying for fuel (or electricity, in the case of electric vehicles.)
Here are four reasons why connected vehicles can and should be used to help automate payments for fuel and electricity:
1. There is a high volume of fuel-related transactions.
For OEMs, deciding what connected vehicle features to include can be a difficult decision. There are many possibilities, but what features will drivers actually pay for?
It is possible to avoid tolls and paid parking spaces. But every vehicle needs fuel or electricity, providing the perfect opening for connected vehicles. If every transaction is monetized, that adds up to a steady stream of income for automakers.
2. Fuel (or EV charging) is an essential need for drivers.
Although connected vehicles offer any number of possible new services, many of them could be a tough sell for drivers. That isn’t the case for fuel. If we can provide a more convenient system for drivers to pay for fuel, this adds real value.
Unlike other connected vehicle services, which can seem frivolous or redundant, the need to pay for fuel is obvious. If automakers can offer drivers a better way to do something they’re already doing, they will be willing to pay for it.
3. The fuel and EV charging markets are consolidated.
The idea of using your own vehicle to pay for drive-thru service sounds great, but there are some practical barriers to implementation. With so many different vendors offering drive-thru, developing a unified payment system can be a challenge. That means a consumer might not be able to use the system at every restaurant they might choose.
Because the fuel market is much more consolidated, this isn’t as much of an issue. Once the handful of fuel vendors and electricity chargers are on board, it’s easy to develop a universal payment system.
4. Electric vehicles are emergent, offering opportunities for payment systems.
The market for electric vehicles is projected to grow by more than 20% annually over the next ten years. To accommodate so many new electric vehicles, we will need to rapidly develop an infrastructure that enables drivers to charge their EVs at their convenience. By using connected vehicles for EV charging, we can reduce the costs of setting up this infrastructure.
The emergence of EVs will open up many opportunities. Since the market is so new, it will be more receptive to technological innovation. The old ways of paying for fuel just don’t apply to EVs. We should establish the norm that a connected electric vehicle can directly pay for its own recharging (just like Tesla has been building around their Supercharger infrastructure).
As we enter the new era of connected vehicles, we need to start by giving drivers a new and improved way to perform old functions. Fuel and electric charging are obvious places to begin.