| | AUGUST 20209E ERGYTech Reviewcapacity than needed, resulting in an inefficient allocation of resources that ultimately results in higher costs for all parties.The problem here is that neither the energy perspective, nor the transport perspective considers the total problem. But in principle, it is possible to do so. Those managing fleets (either logistics, maintenance, private hire etc.) have a wealth of historical data available from on board telematics and scheduling systems. Effectively, technology can help predict with a good degree of accuracy the future demand (in terms of miles to be driven) for each of their vehicles.Equally, networks have increasing amounts of data regarding network capacity, which again varies depending on both time and geography.By collaborating and sharing this data, we can phrase this as an optimisation problem. We have our primary constraint: energy supply must equal energy demand (the energy required to move the vehicles according to their schedule). Then every other parameter (network and charging infrastructure, charging schedules) are variables that we can optimise, to minimise cost and carbon. Now, in order to realise this system, we may depend on those technologies that I dismissed earlier. But now the technologies are deployed as required to deliver a specific, quantified outcome with a positive business case. Additionally, the customer may not even be buying an IoT platform, or AI forecasting system. Instead, in this example they may buy a vehicle charging service, priced on a per mile driven by the vehicles, which internally leverages technology to achieve the highest value outcome.Such business models are becoming increasingly attractive, since customers procure directly the outcome that they require, and avoid the risks of technology failing to deliver the promised value.For suppliers, the best solutions will be delivered by those who collaborate and tie together different industry silos. In the evolving landscape, this could include utilities, technology companies, public sector or a host of others. Increasingly, innovation will be defined not only by the sophistication of your technology, but by how it knits together with other players and how the combined business model creates additional value. Time to put those hammers away and look at all the tools available to us. We need to focus on outcomes rather than our own specific product offerings
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