"Insights Success has shortlisted, “The 10 Best Automotive Franchise to Open in 2019”,
who are redefining the automotive industry with their innovative solutions"
Apidays Singapore 2024 - Building Digital Trust in a Digital Economy by Veron...
The 10 best automotive franchises to open 2019
1. April 2019
www.insightssuccess.com
F R A N C H I S E S
The
10Best
to Open, 2019
E-mobility & SmartGrid
E-Mobility: Pioneering
Transportation with Smart Grid
A u t o m o t i ve
VOL - 04
ISSUE - 03
Editor’s Desk
Automobile Brand Slogans:
A Line Says It All!
2.
3.
4. E
t was 1908, when Henry Ford successfully started the production of the first Model T. Since then, there was no
Ilooking back for the company, it sold around 15 million Model T cars. Soon the production run of the Model T
became one of the longest in the history until VW Beetle surpassed it in 1972.
Since 1908, the automotive technology has evolved by multiple folds. Nowadays we can buy cars that can be driven
around without any human input, fuel efficient, powered by alternative energy etc.
Tesla is a very well-known badge when it comes to the fuel efficient and self-drive cars. With the release of few electric
and hybrid vehicles that can be driven around more than hundreds of miles in a single charge Tesla kick-started the
green revolution in the sector. However, due to the high production costs, Teslas were dream for many people around
the world. Thanks to a bunch of other manufacturers like Kia, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan and others, electric vehicles are
becoming more and more affordable with each passing days. As per various researches, by 2030 United States will see
20%-25% electric vehicles in its freeways.
On the other hand, autonomous driving technology has become a rage nowadays. However, while organizations like
Google and others are testing this technology on open roads, still we are quite a few miles away from widely adopting
fully self-driven cars. Organizations like Volvo are equipping their cars with semi-autonomous technology, which
includes blind spot warning, break assist, lane keep assist etc.
Driving towards fully Automated
Future
5. Like any other industry, AI and Machine Learning are playing a big role in the automotive industry. Slowly
manufacturers are integrating AI and ML in order to automate the process of setting up a vehicle. Nowadays, vehicles
can also be connected to smart devices and can take voice commands, changing the user interface. Predictive
technology also informs if the vehicle needs any service or of any safety hazards.
So, with great enthusiasm Insights Success has shortlisted, “The 10 Best Automotive Franchise to Open in 2019”,
who are redefining the automotive industry with their innovative solutions.
In this issue we have Green Shine, which is committed to providing vehicle owners with high-end products and
services, Green Shine strives daily to conserve water, eliminate contaminated runoff, and protect natural resources,
while exceeding customer expectations; Tommy’s Express Car Wash, which was built on 50 years of car washing
experience, beginning with a single car wash in Holland, Michigan in 1969; Velofix, who provides a consistent,
premium service experience direct to the customer allowing the customer to Save Time. Ride More.
Why to own your temporary requirements,
when they are available on lease?
“ “
Kaustav Roy
6. Maestro’s Insights
The Revolution of our
Roads: Driving the UK to
zero carbon transportation
10
24
34
38
Ar cles
Emission Regula ons
A Sustainable Shi
16
Editor’s Desk
Automobile Brand Slogans:
A Line Says It All!
26
Recharging Environment
Driving Towards a Greener
and Cleaner Environment
32
E-Mobility & Smart Grid
E-Mobility: Pioneering
Transporta on with
Smart Grid
36
Expert’s ViewPoint
The Rise of EV’s –
A Curse or a Blessing?
Maestro’s Perspective
Choosing the Right
Translator for
Internationalization
Mentor’s Standpoint
BEYOND AUTOMATION:
AI powered Autonomous
Factories of the Future
7. Contents
Green Shine:
An Ecofriendly Approach
in Automobiles
Tommy's Express:
Delivering Exemplary
Car Washing Experiences
Velox:
Do What You
Love…Ride!
14
22
30
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11.
12. Green number plates for electric
vehicles. Zero Emissions Zone
trials. Grants for any employer
installing EV charge points. Ideas and
initiatives for boosting the adoption of
electric vehicles (EVs) have
accelerated recently, in an effort to
make electric vehicles the norm rather
than the exception on UK roads.
In September, Theresa May announced
further support for the industry at the
very first Zero Emission Vehicle
Summit, outlining a plan to ensure
Britain “leads from the front” in the
widespread adoption of electric
vehicles, committing £106m in funding
for research and development into EV
technology. She also elaborated on the
2040 target to make all manufactured
cars emission-free, saying that this
should be reflected in all cars on the
road just ten years later.
Government backing
This government’s commitment to
electric vehicles is being matched by
an increase in interest from drivers, as
the perceived hurdles - including the
initial cost of switching to an electric
car, and the mile range compared to
traditional petrol and diesel cars - are
being cleared. Last month EVs
accounted for one in every 12 new cars
purchased in the UK.
That’s been attributed to a number of
factors, including the availability of a
range of cars that do at least 150 miles
on a single charge, EV drivers are
reducing their fuel spend by 90%, and
Fiona Howarth, CEO of Octopus Electric Vehicles,
Biography
Fiona leads the Octopus Electric Vehicle business - a
start-up from Octopus Energy. With a passion for
renewable energy, fantastic cars and using tech to create
great customer experiences, this is absolutely Fiona’s
dream job!
Having studied Engineering at Oxford University, she
spent her early career at Dyson and BMW - developing
efficient motors and hydrogen powered cars. She then
went on to work with major energy companies and
government while at Bain & Company, before joining
British Connected Homes start up AlertMe. A move to
British Gas, saw her take Hive, by British Gas, from a tech
pilot to a household name that today has more than one
million customers.
“Octopus EV is offering the electric vehicle equivalent of
Sweden’s famous baby box,” says Octopus Electric
Vehicles CEO Fiona Howarth
About the Author
The Revolution of our Roads
Driving the UK to zero carbon transportation
April 201910
Maestro’s Insights
13. with an increase in the number and
visibility of charge points and a
decrease in the cost of the electric
vehicles themselves.
There’s also been better proof of the
environmental impact of EVs, such as
a recent European Climate Foundation-
commissioned report which found that
EVs emit half the CO2 emissions of a
petrol or diesel car through the course
of their lifetime, and the overall effect
has now been shown to be positive.
A new breed of EV
One company is on a mission to help
drive the adoption of electric vehicles.
Octopus Electric Vehicles is pioneering
an ‘EV bundle’ which will give drivers
everything they need to make the
switch, for one monthly price. The
innovation has come from energy
supplier Octopus Energy, which is
driven by a mission ‘to make buying
energy as easy as buying cornflakes’.
Similarly, the team at Octopus EV
wants to help to make the switch to EV
as easy as possible, for as many people
as possible.
CEO of Octopus Electric Vehicles,
Fiona Howarth says: “For us, the EV
journey begins long before we start
talking about leasing options and
charge point installation. There’s a big
education job to do - many people still
believe that they’ll need to stop every
few miles to recharge and that the
range of models is limited. Our Drive
Day roadshow has proved enormously
popular, touring the country and
letting people come and see the cars
for themselves, as well as question EV
experts about exactly how it all works”
These events have not only
demonstrated the massive leap forward
that the industry has taken in the past
few years, but also provided people
with a chance to test drive the latest
models. From the sporty BMW i3 to
the family friendly Nissan LEAF, the
cars have been carefully selected as the
best EVs on the market, with each
offering at least 150 miles of driving
per charge.
Continues Howarth: “We’ve found that
people are often surprised at what an
electric car can do. I think there’s a
general misconception that the
technology and the pricing has stayed
largely the same since EVs came to
market a few years ago, whereas in fact
today’s electric car is almost
unrecognisable from its older
incarnation, and a hell of a lot cheaper.
Battery costs came down 80% in six
years – unlocking a better range of
electric vehicles at a fraction of the
cost.”
All-in-one EV solution
After education, the challenge has been
how to best help customers with the
changes needed to go electric. Here,
Octopus Electric Vehicles is pioneering
adoption with their ‘EV bundle’.
“We’re offering the electric vehicle
equivalent of Sweden’s famous baby
box, giving the driver everything they
need to make the switch” says Howarth
“and unlike babies, our vehicles come
with instructions!”
Fiona Howarth
CEO
Octopus Electric Vehicles
April 2019 11
14. As well as the monthly lease of an electric vehicle, Octopus EV organises the
installation of a home charge point and smart meter. The monthly lease cost can
also include insurance, service and maintenance, as well as help and support for
the duration of the contract.
There’s even a bespoke electricity tariff, designed specifically with EV drivers
in mind. Dubbed Octopus Go, it offers renewable electricity at just 5p/kWh
between the hours of 12.30am and 4.30am, allowing people to charge their cars
for just a fraction of the daytime cost for 70% less than a standard variable tariff
from a Big 6 supplier.
Octopus EV has also partnered with myenergi, to offer the innovative Zappi
charge point, which automates charging to take advantage of these prices.
Octopus can arrange the installation of
the Zappi via trusted installers that can
help unlock the £500 home charge
point grant from the government.
This world-first tariff is possible thanks
to Octopus EV’s relationship with
Octopus Energy. The supplier is
already taking advantage of the
potential of smart meters with the
Agile Octopus tariff, which lets
customers see the fluctuations in
wholesale energy prices and adjust
their usage accordingly. It’s just the
beginning of how the company intends
to use smart meter technology, which
allows them to measure and record
electricity usage in real-time and offer
cheaper electricity when demand on
the grid is low.
Fiona Howarth believes this will be a
landmark year for electric vehicle
adoption in the UK. “Tesla has
revolutionised the market and now all
other vehicle manufacturers are rapidly
bringing their EVs to the market. Think
of the switch from analogue phones to
smart phones - we’re in a similar
transitory phase. If the Government
can deliver on their EV plans, and we
think they can, the carpark of
tomorrow is going to look very
different to the gas-guzzling lot
of today.”
About Powerloop
How Vehicle-to-Grid is changing the game
Electric vehicles have been criticised for placing more demand
on an already overloaded grid. But a consortium of industry
experts is hoping that electric vehicles could be the solution to
the grid’s capacity issues, rather than a problem. Led by Octopus
EV and Octopus Energy, the consortium has won over £3m of
funding from Innovate UK (backed by government departments
DfT and BEIS) to test the viability of vehicle-to-grid charging on
UK roads.
The Powerloop project offers EV drivers the chance to help
balance demand by supplying the grid with power from their car
batteries during the peak hours of 4-7pm, before recharging in
the early hours of the morning while demand is lowest. In return
for plugging in their cars 12 times a month to supply charge
during the evening, Powerloop drivers will get money off their
monthly leasing cost.
April 201912
15.
16. Green Shine:
An Ecofriendly Approach in Automobiles
Everyone has the desire to purchase their dream car.
A car enthusiast always wants to keep his/her car in
top shape. To maintain cars in the always ready
condition, sometimes it takes huge efforts. Every car’s
surface is constantly affected by rain, dust, mud and water
spots which corrode the paint and metal sheet of the
vehicle. Green Shine a US-based eco-friendly car spa
company which is effectively preventing cars from losing
its beauty.
Green Shine is a new concept in auto care. The green and
organic market in America is increasingly popular, as
evidenced in the growth of Green Shine sales. Therefore,
the business idea is to provide a professional environment
in which to wash, deep clean, and wax the automobile. The
organization has targeted a specific market of individuals
who would like to maintain their cars, without going
overboard.
Inclusive Services
Green Shine’s focus always relies on improving its products
and services for the benefit of the customers and
franchisees. Its products are not only organic and cruelty-
free, but they are developed to not leave any stains or
scratches in the cars. This eco-friendly process also reduces
energy consumption and conserves 95% of the water that
other car washes and detailers would waste. With advanced
Nano ceramic, the services Green Shine provides are paint
restoration, glass, scratch removal, water repellant, and
leather and fabric hydration treatment and stain protector.
An Inspiring Leader
Green shine established with the vision to make a difference
in the automobile industry. Juan Sagastume, Founder and
President of the Green Shine is a car lover and maintained
his own vehicles in pristine condition. Juan Sagastume is a
highly driven and positive visionary. Juan believes,
leadership can be influential and through Green Shine, his
goal is to build leaders. He is constantly developing new
methods that can display the company’s full capacity. Juan
also has a great fascination for the environment so he
ensured that the company didn’t contribute to the chemical
usage and immense levels of water waste. He wanted to
create a business that centered on maintaining not only
vehicles but also the environment we are part of.
Improving with Challenges
According to Juan, since he was five years old, he was a
Tae Kwon Do practitioner. He trained professionally with
the Guatemalan national team and the elite Olympic team
until he retired at 27. For the most part, his life consisted of
training. He spent four years in training for a championship
that could have been lost in nine minutes. Essentially, all
the training helped him build Green Shine by teaching him
how to focus on goals and work hard.
According to Juan the selection of staffs is the biggest
challenge for him. After working with different people in
different locations, he learned that the best people to work
with were those who could represent Green Shine all
around. Those who embody the company not only share
their love for cars and the environment but are also
motivated to do their best and exceed customers’
satisfaction.
At Green Shine, the focus is on the client’s need and the
market. Juan has 15 years of experience that allowed him to
V
April 201914
17. understand what each sector needs in order to succeed with
the company’s current goal and international expansion.
This has led him to understand which strategies to
implement in order to improve teamwork and
communication. Showing the general passion for
innovation, Juan brings to the company ideas from his
previous experiences and Focusing on how to always be
environmental.
Exemplifying Novelty
Green Shine prides itself on its green car cleaning system.
The full line of products was carefully designed to both
maximize cleaning power and to be safe for vehicles,
humans and the planet. The company conserves 95% of the
water in comparison to other carwash businesses.
The most sustainable way to create value is to continually
invest in capabilities, both as an individuals and
organization. In Green Shine, employees are getting trained
regularly, which is helping them to develop new techniques
and products. This allows arranging the organization in a
way that leads to long-term value creation. The main focus
of the organization is delivering immaculate services in a
short time, creating a powerful guarantee on every service
performed, being a social business, creating a memorable
culture, and delighting customers by giving them more than
what it is expected.
Aiming for Get Large
Green Shine with its comprehensive services aims to
become the number one car detailer in the global market.
The company wants to become a synonym of the service it
provides. In other words, when people think of car cleaning
and detailing, they think Green Shine. Of course, those are
big, lofty goals. Disclosing its immediate plans the
company is looking to continue its expansion across the
United States and the Middle East As well, it is planning to
donate a percentage of the profit made by all Green Shine
franchises to an environmental cause; such as water
sanitation in a developing country.
Testimonial from the Clients
“I did not have much hope for the paint of my vehicle as
well as the interior of it. – The paint was without any shine
and full of marks and the interior was really dirty and
smelled like something died in it! My car came out fantastic
– it looks wonderful! My car smells clean and I will
definitely be using your service again and will be
recommending you to anyone asking about car detailing!
Thank you Juan!” K. S Miami Florida Customer
“After using Green Shine guys I will definitely never use
any other detailers again. At Green Shine they do so much
more than any car cleaners I know. I will recommend Green
Shine guys to everyone I know for sure!” – Peter C Atlanta
Georgia Customer
Our deepest
purpose as an
organization is giving
back to earth while
as offering our pristine
service to the clients
and their vehicles.
“
“Juan Sagastume
Founder & President
April 2019 15
19. ASustainable
Shift
marketing. This difficult balancing act where they have
to enhance their expertise on the account of billions of
dollars to be invested, and minimising the pass-on effect
to customers, has sparked vigorous discussions in recent
times.
An industry which has evolved astonishingly with
passing time will evidently respond to this universal call
towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Euro
Standards, the first and foremost emission regulation
ever formulated in the wake of astronomically growing
pollution across the globe, were initiated in 1991. On its
basis, California Air Resource Board (CARB), a primary
institute which governs all emission related rules in US
was made. CARB which works in tandem with
Environmental Protection Agency (EPAs) is known for
its stringent regulations which are adopted by most states
in the country.
Ultimately, the issue which remains is how are the
current automotive companies going to amend
Industries in their true essence are the systems driven
by technical excellence and customer satisfaction.
These two variables are the vital ingredients for any
organisation to thrive in this competitive domain.
Unfortunately, not all the time these dimensions prove to
be absolutely fruitful. Contingencies do strike! The
Automotive sector is no exception to that.
One such history-defining challenge in the form emission
norms had entered into the market back in 90s and its
latest version has caused automotive industry to disrupt.
Constantly rising air pollution made lawmakers to
establish few amendments for restoring the nature’s
balance. These amendments or regulations impose
constraints in front of the firms making them to upgrade
and update their tools.
To survive and succeed, automakers need to revise
policies and strategies on different fronts including
technology, infrastructure, recapitalization and
April 2019 17
20. themselves to match these norms and appeal customers
without tightening their budget at the same time? Thus,
they are analysing keyways to adopting these strict
emission norms and not losing their beloved customers
as well.
1. Technological Innovations
In the history of automobile, many revolutionary
changes have been made. Be it the discovery of Spark
Ignition or Compression Ignition engines, or the
development of Electronic Traction Control system
which employed a smooth integration of machine
intelligence into mechanical power.
In this need of the hour, technical perfection has to stand
up once again if automotive industries have to retain
their title of change-makers. Thanks to many bright
engineering minds, such ideas are kept surfacing which
will help to reduce emissions from automobiles and
simultaneously enhance fuel efficiency too. Higher
mileage eventually helps to achieve lesser vehicular
emissions.
Mechanisms like Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR),
Three Way Catalytic converter (TWC), Selective
Catalytic Reduction (SCR), Gasoline Direct Injection
(GDI), Variable Valve Train (VVT), Continuous Variable
Transmission (CVT), Turbochargers, Diesel Particulate
Filter (DPF), On-Board Diagnostics with oxygen sensors
and transmission-systems-provided-with-many gears can
help to trap and reduce Nitrous oxides (NOx),
Hydrocarbons(HC), carbon monoxide(CO) and
particulate matter (PM). Additionally they have proved
their prowess in enhancing mileage, realizing the dream
of highly fuel efficient futuristic vehicles with zero or
least emissions.
One more important aspect of these add-on systems is
that they operate with a prerequisite condition of high
graded fuel. Fuel quality of present days can hinder the
flawless working of above mentioned equipment. Fuel
with any amount of sulphur greater than 10 parts-per-
million is considered ill-suited for the current
infrastructure. Therefore, fuel refineries have to upgrade
their machinery to achieve the desired quality. Good
news is that Oil Marketing Companies have already gear
up the process to upgrade their refinery infrastructure.
2. Down-weighting is the key!
Many organisations employ a method where they opt for
unconventional size accompanied with lightweight
structure to fit in the regulations. For instance, instead of
hunk sized SUVs, companies nowadays launch many
SUVs having smaller sizes and much lighter in weight.
This can give them advantage in two ways. Firstly, with
less intrinsic load to propel, vehicles achieve better
mileage which is the most appealing factor for many of
the buyers. Second thing is, production costs associated
with shrunk size vehicles are proportionally smaller,
further shrinking the actual cost a consumer has to bear.
Needless to say, reduction in size and weight together is
merely a dream without materials having desired
properties. Fortunately modern material science has
blessed us with materials like Carbon fiber, Aluminium
Alloy, Magnesium Alloy, Hybrid material and Polymer
Composites which not only flaunt their lightweight
characteristics but also their durability and wear
resistance.
3. Green fuel powered vehicles
Automobile fraternity is facing a paramount shift in
terms of propelling power as newer, cleaner and cheaper
alternatives are being introduced. From its introduction
th
of SI and CI engines in late 19 century, they are a
popular choice among mass and technocrats. But their
environmental demerits are slowly pushing them towards
extinction. Solar vehicles, electric vehicles, hybrid
vehicles and gas powered vehicles can be the solutions
for growing environmental pollution and depleting crude
oil sources. As a wise has man said, “change is the only
permanent thing in this world ”, automakers have no
choice than embracing these changes despite of their
higher initial cost. However, the advantages it offers are
countless and unquestionable.
4. Unorthodox Designs
Until now people have used automobiles for
connectivity, comfort and the means of carrying goods.
Time has come to rethink over our expectations from
them since we are employing vehicle designs which
serve purposes commonly. An example where a vehicle
April 201918
21. widely used for intra-city connectivity is also equipped
with larger trunk spaces which could have been avoided
helping in reduction of overall weight and size.
Dedicated category of vehicles for dedicated purposes
employing unique shapes seems a distant dream for now
but certainly not impossible.
5. Spread the word!
Customers tend to have a problem in paying extra cash
unless they know the long-term benefits and payback
time of these accessories. A study shows that a EURO VI
norm car which costs about $1000 more than its EURO
V counterparts retrieves the investment within 2-3 years
for enhanced fuel efficiency.
Protecting our mother Earth from harmful effects of
pollution is a responsibility of every single individual to
assure a healthier and greener environment to our future
generations. Despite of initial investments which these
amendments demand, they are essential for the very
existence of this planet. An intensive marketing strategy
about making people aware of the benefits received at
the core can instil an appreciation of value over cost.
This can make the job easier for manufacturers.
6. Credit System: A tool for rectification
Credit system is a depository system where if an
automaker exceeds standards in early years, it can bank
credits to use in future years with stringer standards. An
interesting statistics revealed that last year, many
automobile giants like Mercedes Benz, Honda could not
mitigate the emissions to the level drafted by regulatory
agencies. However, thanks to their previous years' credit
points, they could manage to surpass the benchmark.
Some experts even call this credit score mechanism a
daunting loophole which is compromising the serious
efforts of environmental protection. However, while
tightening the grip on vehicle pollutants, stricter
emission standards like EURO VI, CARB and BS VI had
to provide a breathing space for organisations.
Entrepreneurs can exploit this situation to some extent in
case they fall marginally short of meeting the norms.
7. Lower profits with higher number of customers
A prime hurdle while employing these technical
modifications is that their cost is undoubtedly reflected in
increased vehicle prices. This can discourage people
from purchasing new automobiles resulting overall
slowdown of the industry. After all, people pay vehicle
producers for horsepower and not for environmental
protection.
That being said, we should also face the reality check
where bearing the whole cost isn’t possible for any
organisation. So, passing it on to the customers is the
only way manufacturers have. But a chunk of those costs
can be swallowed by lowering the profit margins. This
strategy can make businesses survive without losing their
customers.
Undoubtedly, emission regulations are the need of the
hour with millions of vehicles rolling out in the market
worsening the pollution issue globally. Conforming to
them is of prime importance when considering the noble
virtues of the efforts making this planet a better place to
live. But succeeding and surviving in this transiently
modifying world of connectivity, automobile industry
has to adopt some changes and strategies. An industry
with a history of marvellous inventions and a potential to
shape the future will surely be on the driving seat while
experiencing this sustainable awakening.
April 2019 19
22.
23.
24. Tommy's Express:Delivering Exemplary Car Washing Experiences
C
ars are one of the most valuable assets people
are concerned about. They spend a lot of time
tending to its maintenance needs. And, the
essential thing they consider a priority is the cleanliness
of their car, as it is a low cost way to protect value and
maintain appearance. Considering all these factors,
Tommy’s Express felt the need to provide exemplary
car wash services, and thus commenced with a single car
wash outlet in Holland, Michigan in 1969.
Tommy’s Express has been in the business of building
the best systems and processes to create outstanding car
washes for 50 years. There are currently 7 corporate
stores with an 8th breaking ground in 2019. 20 years
ago, the company began an innovative equipment and
building company, which has since built and/or equipped
hundreds of car washes around the world. In 2016, they
launched the Tommy’s Express Car Wash Franchise
business, which currently has dozens of stores open or
under construction, with well over one hundred in
development.
Customized Offerings
Tommy’s Express has got the tools and the expertise to
keep its customer’s car clean, inside and out. Its wash
packages include customized services, which enables
customers to pay for the services they want. As front-
runners in the car wash industry, its facilities use the
most modern equipment to ensure a clean car including
the round arch design tunnel systems, Tommy
Transporter Belt conveyer system, and its easy chem
detergent management system.
Besides these features, the company also has the Tommy
Club app-based membership club for its customers.
Users can download the Tommy’s Express app on their
mobile devices and select their wash package and
monthly payment options. In addition, its license plate
Ryan Essenburg
Co-owner & President
April 201922
25. recognition software automatically
matches their vehicle to their
account. The cameras positioned
behind their vehicle scan their license
plate and detect the license plate
number in seconds.
The Lead Visionary
Ryan Essenburg is the Co-owner
and President of Tommy’s Express.
Ryan began his love of car washing
as a young child spending time at
work with his father. In college he
began dreaming of a new car wash
building design, which paved the
way to the current wash design and
building model. He is considered a
leading expert in the car wash
industry and is a featured speaker at
conventions. He continues to be the
lead visionary for the company, with
a keen understanding of every aspect
of the wash and business processes.
Ryan’s sister, Mandi, manages the
corporate stores and was recently
awarded Small Business Person of
the Year by the local Chamber of
Commerce.
Industry-leading Innovation
Tommy’s Express is a family owned
business and has been operation for
50 years. It has evolved as an
industry-leading innovator through
its exceptional facilities including
energy-efficient wash equipment,
iconic design, water reclamation
systems, perfect layout, open
concept, POD system, and dual
house vacuums. In the year 2017, it
set a record of 515,000 cars through
a single tunnel express wash. Apart
from this record, its unmatched
marketing practices make the
company standout from its
competitors. Besides, Tommy
Express also provides world class
training in car wash management.
Committed to Second-to-none
Guest Experience
Since the inception of Tommy’s
Express, the Essenburg family has
been committed to a second-to-none
guest experience. The company
believes that a car wash is not just
about a clean car, but is about
helping every guest leave with
improved self-identity and
confidence. Simply put, we all feel
better about ourselves when driving a
clean car. The company is committed
to providing that experience in the
most effective, enjoyable, and
efficient way possible.
Tommy’s Express sees itself as the
stand alone leader in car washing in
the near future. The company is
dedicated to being the fastest
growing and most well run car wash
operation in the United States and
beyond.
Online Reviews
“Awesome staff, very friendly. Also,
the line moves very fast and the
works wash is the best!”
“Awesome staff.. and outstanding
deals.. free unlimited vacuums!! My
absolute favorite carwash!”
“The Works wash package is what I
decided to get knowing my car’s
body, wheels, and tires will look
shiny after the wash just like it did
when I drove it off the New Car lot.
The person in the vacuum area
approached me to ensure my wash
exceeded my expectations! It was
completely unexpected for I noticed
she was cleaning out the trash bins.
What great customer service at a car
wash?! I’ll be signing up my family’s
vehicles!”
“We LOVE Tommy’s Express! We
have an unlimited wash membership
and we can go through the wash
daily if we want! I work in
construction and I like to keep my
truck clean. THIS IS THE BEST! I
always have the nicest truck on site
because I can wash as much as I
want. Highly suggest.”
Committed to a
never-ending
pursuit of
excellence.
“
V
April 2019 23
26. Every week there is yet again a new big natural disaster or
influence of climate change hitting us. The voices are
swelling towards taking faster and more tangible actions
towards a decarbonized energy system to hopefully not get to an
un-changeable and very costly tipping point in our global eco-
system.
Green energy production “plants” are increasing and the way the
underlying economics of the energy system works this is
pushing out more and more stable base-loads like gas and
nuclear which in turn increases the volatility of the system.
System failures and lack of power at some points in time where
not known in the Western world already quite a long time but
are now coming back.
On the consumption side EVs are at a rise too and predictions
are adjusted every quarter to higher percentages of total car sales
and each time earlier in time and with more OEMs providing
more models. Soon we will hit the point that EVs are from a
total cost of ownership better than their competitive “fuel
brothers”, but the true inflection point will come when the
purchase price parity is hit on the common car-model types. At
that time also the range anxiety will have been taken away with
most people due to higher electrical battery capacities, more
abundant available (semi and fast) charging points and in
general good feedback from the earlier adopters.
However with the increasing grid/power problems the
general public also starts thinking that EV’s are a
bad evolution because “we already have electrical
energy problems now”. It is fundamentally
important that these voices are informed well
about the reality and the positive effects
EV can have and thus don’t hamper
growth of EV due to half
information/knowledge.
The Rise of EV’s –
A Curse or a Blessing?
Stefan Lodeweyckx
Founder & CEO
Enervalis
April 201924
Expert’s ViewPoint
27. To start off, the current EV penetration is so small that the
energy usage is marginal in comparison with an overall
country’s usage. Looking at the mid-term (2030) would
give lead to an overall modest % of EVs (100+ Millions
worldwide) which would still only on average consume
4-6% of the overall electrical production which again is a
marginal step-up of what we have now. So far seemingly no
issue but here looms the real danger … electrical grids need
to be in balance and a key balance period on EU level is
15min in which supply and demand need to be in
equilibrium. One can easily imagine that if worst case all
EVs would charge at the same time there can be a
significant increase in energy need on 15 minute level. This
relates to typical human/societal group behavior and e.g. the
current approximate 1million + EVs can realistically give
lead to 1,2GW of instantaneous power need. This equates to
about 3-4 gas fired power plants or nearly 2 nuclear power
plants.
As an analogy a country like Belgium on average would
need about 8-10GW of power and thus if all these EVs
would be concentrated on that single country one can easily
see that this causes a significant problem. Coming back on
the 2030 targets, the 100 million+ EVs would pose an
average 10% extra power requirement which is also not
insignificant anymore, but overall there are no real national
level issues to be expected the next 10+ years with the EV
introduction. The real shorter-term issues will (and are
already) arise within concentrated EV deployments (e.g. a
group of 100 houses with 5-10 EVs can worst case already
impact the power peeks up to 20% which is the danger-zone
of typical dimensioned normal low-voltage network). Here
smart EV charging technology can become a blessing to
spread out the charging process over a longer period such
that the local grid nearly does not see any power issue and
hence again no issues are expected because the increased
energy demand is relatively low.
Another value is that these EV-drivers typically work for
employers which are becoming increasingly aware of the
need for sustainability and also have solar panels on their
business’ roof which with smart charging technology again
can be absorbed nearly fully avoiding peek-injection of the
solar panels and lowering the charging costs by means of a
lower cost of own produced green energy versus net-energy.
Finally imagine that all the above mentioned 1M+ EVs in
EU would be bi-directional and thus would be able to also
provide the network of energy when there are high periods
of need of energy during short periods of time. This
situation does realistically occur (recall more volatility on
the green production side) and at that point in time the EVs
could avoid the need to use 3-4 gas-fired power-plants
which more and more are still kept alive for these short
imbalance periods. This would save 100’s of millions of
euros only of these type of power plants using latent
available EV batteries.
This seems far off, but currently in small scale it is already
running in projects fully automatically proving the viability
of advanced AI technology to perform this type of charging
without discomforting the EV driver who needs to get to his
next location.
To summarize, EVs are not at all a curse for the electrical
grid, but rather a blessing when combined with advanced
smart EV charging algorithms. The result will be a more
stable, greener and cost-effective energy grid which is what
we are striving for, so let’s all embrace and positively
stimulate the EV growth to help save our planet and make a
better world for our children.
Stefan Lodeweyckx, Founder & CEO of Enervalis is an internationally
experienced and an all-encompassing manager in the technology sector with hands-
on and managerial knowledge ranging from start-ups, business development,
engineering, operations, change to customer service and product/project/people
management/planning.
His professional experience is endorsed by a solid educational blend of engineering
and business degrees (MSc/MBA). Apart from being the Co-founder of Ego-LogiQ,
which focuses on the mental aspect of individuals to increase their personal and
professional performance, Stefan’s Enervalis is a high tech start-up company which
provides smart grid software, service and solutions. He is also the Managing Director
at Ubisin, a consultancy rm in the high-tech sector on various domains such as
business development, project and product management, strategy, and overall
management.
About the Author
April 2019 25
28. A Line Says It All!
A
company. It is a short set of words
which delivers a memorable phrase
about a brand’s core values. It is
evident that a portion of crowd gets
attracted towards a particular brand
because of the brand’s creative
catchphrase. So here are taglines of
few globally famous car-making
brands.
Ÿ Aston Martin: Power, Beauty
and Soul.
The slogan of this British cultural
icon perfectly personifies its
incredible products. Power for
performance, beauty for aesthetics
and soul, reflects the company’s
determination to strive for
excellence.
Ÿ Audi: Vorsprung durch Technik
(Being ahead through
technology).
This German stalwart has kept it very
simple and to the point, focussing
more on technical perfection.
However, people are also fond of its
state-of-the-art designs.
Ÿ BMW: Sheer Driving Pleasure.
Bayerische Motoren Werke or BMW
is one of the leaders of the luxury car
market. This Germany based giant
has shifted to this catchphrase from
its classical one i.e. The Ultimate
Driving Machine, both showing its
outlook in this segment.
Ÿ Ferrari: We are the
competition.
Ÿ This power packed machine
manufacturer overtly expresses
dominance through its tagline,
setting the benchmark to a level
difficult to reach.
Ÿ Ford: Go Further
Ÿ This US legend has set a slogan
not only for customers but also
for itself, inspiring to keep
moving forward.
Ÿ Jaguar: The Art of
Performance.
People love cars. To be honest,
they are mad about them.
Cars are the spellbinding
aspect of the vastly spread
automobile industry. They are the
mixture of poise and aggression
reflecting your personality traits. As
Alexandra Paul said, “The cars we
drive say a lot about us.” Therefore
everyone is so individualistic about
the choices and the brands they opt
for. Thanks to some auto-makers, the
standards of car-making have been
raised so high that for fulfilling
customers’ expectations, companies
need to be top-notch in Performance,
Aesthetics and Service (PAS). Any
company meeting these norms will
definitely be the customers’
favourite.
Certainly, ‘PAS’ parameters are the
most important ones, but one cannot
deny the fascination of a catchy
tagline any automobile brand
possesses. A tagline or a catchphrase
reflects the ideology and vision of the
utomobile Brand Slogans
April 201926
Editor’s Desk
29. Jaguar, known for its powerful and elegant cars, has
exactly resonated this ideology with its tagline, crafting a
beautiful blend of performance and beauty. However,
many of the Jaguar lovers admire its previous
catchphrase, Grace.Space.Pace.
Ÿ Lamborghini: We’re not supercars. We’re
Lamborghini.
The ’Automobili Lamborghini’ has made this Italian
brand, a worldwide phenomenon when it comes to
supercars and luxury SUVs. Previously, it had a classical
slogan stating, Follow your ears.
Ÿ Lexus: Experience Amazing.
This luxury vehicle division of Toyota has truly
conveyed its opulence through this catchphrase.
Witnessing its marvellous cars is an amazing experience.
Ÿ Mercedes-Benz: The Best or Nothing.
Probably the true leader of the luxury cars segment,
Mercedes flaunts its superiority through this incredible
tagline replicating its passion about perfection.
Ÿ Nissan: Innovation That Excites.
This prominent automobile brand from the land of rising
Sun recently shifted from its vintage slogan Shift to the
aforesaid newly introduced one.
Ÿ Porsche: There Is No Substitute.
Thanks to this creative marketing catchphrase, people
don’t need any explanations. If you want to be unique
and different, you have no alternative than a Porsche.
Ÿ Renault: Passion for Life.
Renault’s newly launched slogan replacing the previous
Drive The Change brought a bright, modern take on its
historic virtues resonating spirit of automotive
revolution.
Ÿ Toyota: Let’s Go Places.
A world leader in automotive production, Toyota is
probably the only company having hundreds of taglines,
different for different countries. Its US domain slogan
Let’s Go Places is among the most popular ones sharing
the honour with taglines like Start Your Impossible and
Quality Revolution.
Ÿ Volkswagen: Das Auto(The Car).
This gigantic German group is well known for its
perfectly crafted and engineered vehicles. Historical
‘The Car’ slogan could be the only catchphrase that
could portray Volkswagen’s vastness.
Ÿ Volvo: For Life.
This Swedish automaker through its slogan has
expressed two important elements of the brand; loyalty
for life and safety of life. Needless to say, this makes it
one of the best taglines ever created.
After reading all these creatively crafted taglines, one
can easily get an idea of how powerful of a marketing
tool they can prove to be. After all, influencing
someone’s choices isn’t an easy job. In this world of
advertisement, many claim that along with performance,
aesthetics and service you need to have incredible
marketing tools like that of brand slogans. Without these
it is really hard to draw the attention of customers who
are equipped with vast number of choices nowadays.
Certainly, in this regard, taglines have proved their
importance and comprehensiveness.
April 2019 27
30.
31.
32. Velox: Do What You
Love…Ride!
Have you ever been in a situation where your bike
needs an immediate repair or service or any cure
for that matter, and you don’t have enough time to
visit a regular shop where your bike can be repaired. Don’t
know about you, I have faced this issue number of times, be
it laziness or any other reason sometimes it become quite a
cumbersome job to leave my bike to a store from where I
will have to pick it up after few days. Meanwhile during
this period I have to live my life without the bike, which
disturbs my normal routine. It is absolutely fine with me but
it may not be for many people that need bike for their day-
to-day travelling.
With a vision to eradicate this problem Vancouver based
Velofix came into existence. Since its inception, the
organization has disrupted the way consumers service and
buy their bikes. The company is unique with its mobile
concept in the industry that still depends on brick and
mortar shops for service and delivery of bikes. Thanks to its
innovative idea and its worth, currently velofix has
corporate clients like Microsoft, Google, Tesla, Facebook
and Starbucks.
Cycling without any Worry
When it comes to providing service, velofix offers wide
range of services including:
· Last Mile Delivery and Bike Building: The professionally
trained and certified mechanics of velofix provides delivery
onsite bike building services for every type of bike.
Whether your need a bike building for a road, mountain,
triathlon, city, electric or kids bike, velofix got you covered.
· Road, Tri and Cyclocross Services: It doesn’t matter if
you are a beginner, or an elite cyclist who competes in
races, triathlon, or occasionally participates in a Gran
Fondo velofix is always there for help.
· Mountain Bike Services: If you like to ride your bike
through trails, the safety of your bike becomes a major
concern. velofix also has a service package for your
mountain bike, which will fit your diverse needs perfectly.
· Commuter Bike Service: Currently, many people around
the world use bikes as a primary mode of transport. If you
are one amongst them, then don’t worry velofix is there to
V
April 201930
33. make sure your bike stays in perfect condition in order to
get you from point A to point B.
· À la Carte Bike Services: The organization also provides
all-inclusive À la Carte Bike Services that includes almost
every service mentioned in previous packages.
· Bike Rental: velofix is slowly planning to launch its bike
rental services in multiple cities. However, for now it is
only available at velofix Kona.
· Bike Fittings: The organization also wants to make sure
that your bike is properly fitted so you can enjoy your ride
· Bike Boxing Services: Going out of town on a trip and
don’t want to leave you bike at home? velofix offers rental
of bike bags and a bike pack up for travel
· Corporate Services: In this case, velofix’s mobile bike
shop comes to your office to serve your employees’ bikes.
· Fleet Management – velofix offers complete service of
your Corporate Bikes
Other than all these Bike services, the organization offers
Ski and Snowboard Tuning and waxing
Cyclist at Heart
Back in 2012, Chris Guillemet, Boris Martin and Davide
Xausa felt that brick and mortar stores were unable cater the
growing needs of cyclists. Hence, they set out to create a
Mobile Bike Shop. Chris already had the much needed
management expertise gained through various companies.
Davide Xausa provided with all his financial expertise and
Boris brought the bike industry expertise
Dedicated to their vision they started in Vancouver, which
already had much more bike shops per capita than the rest
of North America. Their efforts soon transpired into
success, and eventually proved that velofix’s model offers
the much needed convenience which a brick and mortar
shop can’t provide, From launch in 2013 to almost 150
Franchise sold in North America.
Building Largest Fleet of Mobile Bike Shops
velofix provides a consistent, premium service experience
direct to the customer allowing the customer to Save Time
and Ride More. The organization has been formed with a
core principal of focusing on innovation and looking for
alternative ways to deliver a premium customer experience.
The organization envisions building the largest fleet of
Mobile Bike Shops around the world and plans on
expanding its business on a global level. According to
velofix, the traditional service model is outdated,
inconvenient and not sustainable. As more bikes are
purchased online, the demand for a last mile delivery
service will increase and consumers will expect service at
their home or office.
We offer a convenient
Mobile Bike Shop
experience at your
home or ofce.
““
Chris Guillement
CEO & Co-founder
Davide Xausa
President & Co-Founder
Boris Martin
VP & Co-Founder
April 2019 31
34. With the environmental damages from the fossil fuel electrics cars have seen a steep rise in its demand. A
growing number of countries, including Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Denmark, Portugal and Spain, have
recently set targets on electric vehicles sales. Also countries like UK, France and India are looking to
completely shift towards all electric vehicles by the end of 2040.
According to petroleum giant BP, global oil demand will witness its peak demand in 2030, which will eventually
increase the demand of electric vehicles by quite few folds.
When it comes to leading the way with electric and hybrid engines, Norway and China are one of the prominent
facilitators. In case of Norway more than half of the new cars sold fall in to this category. China is also a big and a
leading market for electric and hybrid engines and power trains. Back in 2017, more than 600000 electric vehicles were
sold in China, which was whooping 71% higher than the previous year.
So, the question arises, how it will impact the consumers and governments?
When it comes to individuals, electric vehicles reduce monthly travelling costs drastically. However, there’s a catch;
Driving Towards a
Greener and Cleaner Environment
April 201932
Recharging Environment
35. electric vehicles come with limited range of fuel
efficiency which means one has to plan his/her trip
according to route with ample number charging stations.
Also electric vehicles are much cheaper to maintain than
an internal fuel combustion engine.
The impact of electric vehicles on environment is quite
clear. More than a quarter of greenhouse gases produced
in the United States of America are a result of
transportation which eventually contributes to the rising
pollution levels. On the other hand, electric vehicles
come with no gases and sounds, leading to a clean
environment.
However, the wide use of electric vehicles also has some
demerits if we consider the government’s perspective.
Thanks to these vehicles, various governments will lose
billions of dollars of revenue from taxes on fossil fuel.
So, soon we might have to shell out higher direct or
indirect taxes, or the vehicle taxation system could be
changed completely. Also, electric cars need 30% lesser
time to produce. So, a complete switch to these green
vehicles might also lead to reduction of workforce in the
automotive industry. Switching to green vehicles would
also mean drop in employment levels in petrol bunks, car
repair garages, etc.
Vehicles are not only going electric, Norway plans to
start 1.5 hours short haul flights using electric planes.
Also, the aircraft manufacturer company Airbus, engine
manufacturer Rolls Royce and Siemens are developing a
hybrid model which will probably make its maiden flight
as early as 2020.
According to a major Swiss bank, by the end of 2025
electric vehicles will account for 14% of total car sales
globally. Back in 2017, the figure was just 1%.
Also thanks to the rapidly changing market and growing
innovation this timeline can eventually shift backwards.
As an example, the batteries are constantly getting
cheaper and much more efficient. Nowadays one can
cover a distance of 1000kms with a single charge. With
the improvement in battery technology costs are slowly
cutting down and it’s being predicted that the total cost
of ownership of an electric vehicle will be on par by
2025.
So, it’s all good for the drivers and the owners, who will
be able to buy and maintain electric vehicles at
reasonable prices. But jobs will be lost, countries that are
now thriving due to petroleum will face scarce demands.
However, new jobs will be created, and countries which
have Lithium deposits may have their chance of success.
Above all we will get a planet that is much greener,
cleaner and quitter.
April 2019 33
36. In the 21st century, the main focus has been making the
world more connected, and entrepreneurs are no
exception. All entrepreneurs aim at increasing their
customer base, and going international is one way to do it.
To achieve this, the business world opted to merge with the
technological sphere to ensure the physical boundaries from
state to state are not a barrier to the exchange of goods and
services. The biggest barrier to business over the years has
been language. Most entrepreneurs use English on their
websites, which is a huge drawback especially to the native
language speaking clients. Changing the world can be an
impossible task to take up, instead the business world took
an adaptive approach through internationalization.
Internationalization is the process whereby the producers
strategize on products that are acceptable and appealing to
people in as many countries as possible. In case the
producers have a website, they design it in such a way that
people speaking different languages can translate the
content on the site to their own language. Transactions done
in one’s native language are as personal as it gets. This trail
of logic has been backed by studies that show 55% of
clients have a preference of online shopping in their local
dialect. Using their native language makes the process
easier and the producer/seller becomes more trustworthy.
That’s a good indication which lets us know that
localization helps with business growth, but there’s more to
it. Investing on an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
system that has the option of localizing language is of
benefit to both the entrepreneur and the customers
considering that 56% of clients confess to value the use of
their local languages more than the price of the product
itself!
Coming to translations on the website, all the critical
contents and documentation should be translated. To get the
most accurate and honest translations one has to vet the
CHOOSING the
RIGHT TRANSLATOR
for INTERNATIONALIZATION
Rilind Elezaj
Digital Marketing
Specialist
April 201934
Maestro’s Perspective
37. translator and ensure they are familiar with the native
language. Investing on the best translation services and
translators will help avoid poor translations which lower the
business’ level of professionalism. Even the marketing and
branding should be localized depending on the culture of
the setting. Some holidays and discounts may simply not
make sense to the locals. With the right local specialist or
translator you will know the kind of marketing and
branding that works for the specific community. The
specialist will come up with the best translation for the
slogan, the best colors and even give tips on the peak and
off-peak seasons of that particular community.
To get the best translations, ensure that you have the best
ERP providers who will make sure the localization details
are well taken care of. To achieve all these, one has to
ensure they have the best language service provider for
their organization. The organization has to consider whether
the translator is a native speaker or not, because it will be
advantageous if they are natives so that they translate
accurately. In case the materials to be translated have a
specific format or subject matter that can only be handled
by professionals in the area, then specialists must be hired.
All translators must provide proof of relevant education or
previously translated work to show they are well acquainted
with the task and most important they must be within the
budget.
Other than the hiring issue, the organization has also to
consider the number of languages the organization needs to
have translated. If the languages are few and the
translations minimal then they can get small language
service providers like freelancers, but in case the languages
are numerous, then it is advisable to use one language
service provider. One service provider is also an easy and
convenient contact person in doing follow ups unlike
dealing with various small service providers. To maintain
the brand, one translator is suitable, as all the documents
will be written in different languages but in one voice
unlike a variety of small service providers who will all be
speaking in their different voices and in different languages,
in which case the aspect of uniformity will be lost. It is
advisable to use one provider who will develop a deep
understanding of the business and can be a long-term
translator for the organization bringing about consistency
and uniformity.
To ensure consistency of the multilingual platform, the
organization has to ensure they choose the right web control
and management solution (WCMS). WCMS enables the
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rilind Elezaj is an
experienced a Digital
Marketing Specialist with a
demonstrated history of
working in the marketing and
advertising industry. Rilind
possesses a strong
entrepreneurial mindset and
has devoted his career to
enhancing the sphere of
digital marketing. In his
methodological approach,
Rilind integrates web
development and other
digital marketing solutions to
create hybrid strategies that
bring the best results.
organization to manage international websites and ensure
they have the capacity to modify the content on local sites.
It should also have an automated translation workflow, this
will help reduce time wasted when launching new sites
within the website. The minute new information is posted, it
is translated to all the languages through the service
providers. Pseudo-localization is another aspect to look at.
Language may have a specific font of writing, or direction
of writing. This is sorted out by the pseudo-localization
which presents language in its most original form. A
fallback location should also be put in place to go back to
the original language in case the client speaks a language
that is not available.
All these features have been brought together to ensure the
best localization experience in entrepreneurship wherever
one may be and grow the business sector to the highest
possible heights, internationally.
April 2019 35
38. E-Mobility:
Pioneering Transportation with
Smart Grid
The electric automobile is associated with the
integration of transportation, which is resulted
according to the customer needs. Customer
demands are initiated towards renewable energies in terms
of a zero-emission and sustainable mobility. The “Smart
Grid” could be a hypothetic methodology with electrically
collected from vehicles that run on renewable resources.
However, E-mobility consequently specializing in customer
demands and build an effective source of energy through
mobility.
Electro mobility or E-mobility suggests clean and
environment-friendly transport through electric vehicles. It
conjointly delivers climate-friendly technology with
massive growth potential. In the automotive industry,
electricity suppliers and government influencers are also
pushing e-mobility within the field of standardization. For
sequencing to the perfection, utilities and network operators
are heavily investing under development of ‘intelligent’
electricity distribution systems.
Smart Grid Communication for economical E-Mobility
In smart grid, smart energy network depends upon
comprehensive communication with integrated charging
stations. The communication with the smart grid is
incessantly measured and controlled through an IP-based
connection. It additionally permits load compensation with
the assistance of interconnecting charging stations.
Additionally, vehicle-to-grid communication makes it
potential to integrate special charge models and supply new
services. Moreover, in future the vehicles connected to the
smart grid unit expected to perform batteries for storing
extra energy as needed.
Rendering ahead with Smart Grid
The move towards a low-carbon society would require
progress in renewable energy production and in e-mobility.
The success of e-mobility is connected to smart grid
development that helps intelligent charging infrastructure
for big scale acceptance of electric vehicles. The
dependency works both ways in which comparable to
massive scale acceptance of e-mobility helps massive scale
infrastructure investments to be profitable.
Functionalities of E-Mobility
There are two different kinds of plug-in electric vehicles,
such as plug-in hybrid vehicle and pure electric vehicle.
Were plug-in hybrid vehicles are equipped with a
combustion engine and pure electric vehicle encompass
pure electric connectivity. The proper electricity-production
drastically reduces CO2 emissions compared to traditional
combustion engine cars. From the perspective of the
electrical grid, people’s habits and daily schedules can
probably cause peak demand at certain times of day, which
may cause electricity network congestion or voltages below
normal.
Revolutionary Trends of Electrical Grid
In an electrical grid, the energy system becomes
progressively relied on renewable energy sources. The
wants to the electrical grid are ever-changing with latest
trends. The alternative energy is generally non-controllable,
suburbanized and unsteady. E-mobility brings purposeful
technology which reinforces the transportation medium and
efficient method.
April 201936
E-Mobility & Smart Grid
39. Flexible property of E-Mobility
E-mobility may be a versatile electrical transportation
medium immensely capturing client demands. The
flexibility of e-mobility helps to reduce costs of network
investments and electricity bills with grid operators. The
network has the flexibility to deal with worst case situation.
It additionally reduces energy and absorbs excessive energy
generation, and additionally things and voltage issues.
Nissan Integrates E-Mobility with Smart Grid
The well-known automobile brand, Nissan is introducing its
own electronic vehicle or e-mobility vehicle with smart grid
technology. Nissan additionally proposes to introduce
technology and business ties between electric driving and
smart grid. Moreover, Nissan is on the point of introducing
energy storage for a vehicle for domestic usage supported
second-life batteries. Nissan’s is aiming to provide
concerning one hundred electric vehicle charging stations
for each non-public and business purpose. The automotive
users are ready to offer the battery capacity to vehicles and
to create energy for grid. Hence, Nissan drives its
e-mobility vehicles effectively with unified consumer
experience.
Confronting Future with E-Mobility
The future of electric vehicles is remodeling within the field
of energy and quality happening in the fields of energy and
quality. E-mobility is influenced by market factors and
forthcoming trends that are nearly unbeatable. The
conjunction of e-mobility and smart grid is a chance for
many automobile industries. Through automobile,
businesses have many possibilities to head in the market.
Henceforth, e-mobility delivers significant solutions to
automobile industry comprises with a smart grid. It’s a
revolutionary step towards automobile segmentation
comprises with electric transport mobility solutions.
April 2019 37
40. BEYOND
AUTOMATION:
AI powered Autonomous
Factories of the Future
Rise of the industrial robots in 1980s led to a
major evolution of Henry Ford’s assembly line
concept. Routine tasks that were being handled
by factory workers started to be performed by robots with
greater accuracy and efficiency. With the spread of
device-to-device communication and IoT protocols,
robots started taking a serious amount of responsibility
from factory workers. This movement was initially led by
th
German high tech firms that branded this shift as the 4
industrial revolution. On the opposite side, there was
China, taking advantage of their access to low cost
human labour as an alternative to automation. Very
recently, a few years ago, China flipped their strategy 180
degrees, becoming the biggest advocate of automation by
starting to invest aggressively on buying robots and
developing their own robotics know-how led by
government initiatives. So the technology won. There is
no question about the need for automation anymore and
major manufacturing companies, including the ones in
China, Germany and rest of the world are racing to
automate their industrial processes to increase
productivity.
Everything that can be automated will be
automated, according to Zuboff’s law.
However, some things are more difficult
to be automated than other things.
Those are non-repetitive tasks which
require higher level of cognition and
ability to adapt into unknown
conditions. These tasks can be
defined as the last mile in factory
automation. Tesla, the electric car
manufacturer, was recently
criticized by analysts for
automating their assembly line
more than necessary. The
reason of the criticism was the
fact that the cost of
automation exceeded the cost
of a human led assembly
Daghan Cam
Co-founder & CEO
Ai Build
April 201938
Mentor’s Standpoint
41. line. This may be a valid argument for
today but the solution should be found
in increasing the bar for commercially
viable automation and not by going
back to lower levels of automation.
So if we are moving towards full
automation and lights-out
manufacturing, how can the last mile
in factories be automated without
overspending and over engineering?
Autonomy seems to be the answer,
therefore Artificial Intelligence…
There is a slight but important
difference between Automation and
Autonomy. Autonomy is the state of
being able to make independent
decisions in situations that were not
experienced before. By definition,
autonomous systems are always
automated, but the other way around is
not always the case. A system may be
fully automated but not autonomous.
“Blind Automation” is the term we use
for this category.
Systems that are blindly automated are
based on hard coded rules, as in expert
systems, and they tend to be very
difficult to be reconfigured if the
conditions or requirements change over
time. Autonomous systems, in contrast,
generalize the rules for decision
making in different scenarios by
allowing a higher level of abstraction
in their programming.
For example, in the blind automation
scenario, a robot may be programmed
to go to coordinates x, y, z in order to
pick up an object. This will work
without problems as long as the object
is found precisely at coordinates x, y, z.
However, if for any reason the object is
positioned at a slightly different
location, the robot will still go to x, y,
z, fail to pick the object up and
continue executing the rest of its
commands without noticing this
problem. Eventually every step
subsequent to this failure will also fail.
A better strategy for performing the
same task, is using a robot with vision
sensors, and programming it to go to
the object’s position (as a variable) to
pick it up. Regardless of where the
object is positioned, robot will localize
it using its sensors and successfully
pick it up. This difference between the
two programming paradigms; “go to x,
y, z” and “go to an object’s position”
makes a big difference in making the
system less prone to making mistakes
in unexpected conditions which is
crucial for last mile factory
automation.
Robots making hundreds of decisions
every second and receiving hundreds
of measurements from the environment
and from other devices also require
massive computation and storage
capabilities. Despite the popularity of
cloud computing in most applications
today, a decentralized compute power
is necessary for most robotic
applications and for IoT devices in
general. The throughput between the
edge and the cloud through internet
connectivity is simply not enough to
process all data generated by sensors
and make sensible decisions in real-
time. So edge computing, or fog
computing - dedicated servers on
premise as a layer between individual
devices and the cloud - will likely be
the norm in autonomous factories of
the future unless we experience a
breakthrough in science that leads to
infinitely fast and reliable internet
connectivity. However unlike compute
power, storage of important data, that
is filtered on the edge, should be
centralized in order to achieve the best
decision making models at every
location.
As a summary, a few conclusions and
predictions about the future are:
Ÿ We are moving towards an
autonomous black-box factory
model where the factory robots are
operated by themselves without
human intervention.
Ÿ These factories will be powered by
the data that is generated by
themselves and their productivity
will increase over time exceeding
human performance in every
process involved in manufacturing.
Ÿ Factories will compute on-premise /
on-edge and they will push
important data to cloud for
benefiting from a shared pool of
data with other factories.
www.ai-build.com
In this scenario where robots make
autonomous decisions by using real-
time sensor data, a feedback loop is
established between physical and
digital environments. The constant
flow of information from physical to
digital and vice versa create immense
amounts of structured data which is the
fuel for AI powered autonomous
factories of the future. Such action-
measurement-action strategies allow
the systems to self-improve over time,
creating a data network effect in
manufacturing. The more one process
is executed, the more efficient it will
get. This allows super-human
performance in almost every domain
given enough data.
Daghan Cam is the Co-founder
and CEO of Ai Build, a London
based startup developing
Artificial Intelligence and
Robotics technologies for the
construction industry. He is also
a visiting lecturer at University
College London doing research
on robotic fabrication, large scale
3d printing and parallel
algorithms with GPU computing.
His work focuses on developing
intelligence for automating
complex tasks in design and
manufacturing by using
computer vision and machine
learning techniques.
About the Author
April 2019 39