EcoGuru – A system for the integrated management of electrified mobility systems

Abstract

Ecological and social reasons, e. g. CO2 emission or living quality in cities, enforce new holistic solutions for mobility. The use of electricity in the drivetrain is seen as one of the key success factors for establishing such solutions. While operating costs of electrical vehicles are satisfying, total cost of ownership (TCO), due to high prices and limited lifetime of batteries, are still a formidable challenge. Company fleets of vehicles handled as a holistic mobility solution allow considerable improvement of the situation. This can be achieved by implementing suitable enterprise fleet processes in real time and creating integrated value added services (IVAS). EcoGuru is a real-time capable software for holistic enterprise mobility system management which was developed by the application center KEIM. It offers integrated value added services (IVAS) like vehicle booking together with charging scheduling. The application center KEIM, a division of Fraunhofer IAO, has a specialised focus on the development and research of information and communication technology (ICT) systems and interfaces to find out best practices for future mobility systems. EcoGuru successfully passed its proof of setup in the ″Living Lab eFleet″ (LLEF). The Living Lab eFleet contains one of the biggest electrical vehicle fleet and charging infrastructure in Germany, located at Fraunhofer Campus in Stuttgart. This mobility system contains electric vehicles (EV) and charging stations which can be monitored and controlled in in real time. In the year 2015 this hardware should be extended by a Micro Smart Grid (MSG). A local photovoltaic and wind plant in combination with local energy storages should allow the usage of local produced electrical power for charging the EV. The reference architecture of EcoGuru, the realised IVAS in relation with their benefits found out in the LLEF together with the purpose of game mechanics to influence the user behaviour and the mobility system dynamics (Gamified Corporate Carsharing) are presented in the following chapters. 218