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TomTom Integrates Coulomb's Charging Map: We Have Concerns

 
513 views Jul 19, 2011
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Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint

Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint

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Consumers and automakers both know that range anxiety is a huge barrier standing between shoppers and electric vehicles. But soon, EV owners will have yet another tool in their anti-anxiety toolkit, and it comes from a partnership between GPS heavyweight TomTom and charging station manufacturer Coulomb Technologies.

The gist of the deal is simple: in the near future, TomTom's database will include a complete list of Coulomb charging stations. What's more, TomTom users will be able to reserve a charging spot right from their dashboard. And of course, TomTom will calculate the quickest route to help drivers reach that destination.

The technology is on display this week in Raleigh, North Carolina at the Plug-In 2011 Show. There's no word from either company on when it'll roll out to TomTom users, but since deployment would seem to be primarily a database issue, we'd hope to see it sooner rather than later.

Our take

Mapping the charging infrastructure is crucial -- especially now, as greater numbers of EVs flood showrooms, meaning that greater numbers of shoppers are considering them. For their service to the EV field, TomTom and Coulomb deserve some praise.

However, from the press release, it sounds as if TomTom's maps will only show Coulomb-branded "ChargePoint" stations. If that's the case, other charge points for EVs will be left off the map entirely, which could mean unnecessary panic for EV drivers who might be near a charging station and not know it. Furthermore, the TomTom/Coulomb project doesn't seem to improve much on Coulomb's existing app for smartphones.

Until final details about the project are released, we prefer the much larger, more inclusive EV-charging map that's being developed by Google and the U.S. Department of Energy. Not only does it include a wide range of charging options, but it's also free to use. True, it's only available via a web browser at the moment, but the data is downloadable to a range of GPS devices. If someone were smart, he/she would draft an app to put that data on smartphones -- and allow users to book charging time, too. (Consider that a hint, developers.)  

[MarketWatch]





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Comments (3)

  1. ZanDubinScott avatar Zan Dubin Scott Posted: 7/20/2011 9:00am PDT

    TomTom may not be the answer, but EV drivers are using a number of terrific, free EV charger-finder apps, such as Recargo, that include a wide range of chargers, regardless of network of manufacturer. Recargo also has the industry’s only real-time comments section, crowd-sourced from drivers for chargers coast to coast, photo sharing.

    Also-we beg to differ. Range anxiety is not a "huge barrier" to EV adoption. It's something to be worked through, partly with the help of EV apps, but thousands of EVs are flying out of showrooms, and only two OEMs have vehicles on the market. Just wait til next year....
     
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  2. fb_1089324431 avatar Tom Saxton Posted: 7/20/2011 9:44am PDT

    This is the very first deal between a GPS navigation manufacturer and a charging network, and hardly constitutes a lock-out for other charging stations. EV owners will pick the best tool for finding charging stations. Navigation providers will adapt or lose market share.

    Right now the best EV charging station map is Recargo, which has an iPhone app. The Google map is currently useless. (I have no affiliation with any map or charge station provider, I'm just an EV driver that uses the products.)
     
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  3. fb_791204304 avatar Yoann Nussbaumer Posted: 7/21/2011 7:02am PDT

    We are working on a website and a mobile app : http://fr.chargemap.com. For the moment, we provide chargepoints only for France and Germany, but we will soon cover the USA, with ALL chargepoints.
     
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