Thinking about buying an electric car?
It’s a big decision and one that requires something of a leap of faith.
What happens if the car needs charging and you don’t have access to a charger?
It’s called range anxiety, but a new app from Mercedes-Benz takes all the guess work out of making the difficult decision.
The new EQ Ready app helps motorists decide whether it makes sense for them personally to switch to an electric car or hybrid powered car.
The smartphone app can record real journeys made by the user, analyse his or her everyday mobility behaviour and compare it with numerous parameters of electric and hybrid vehicles.
And of course it will suggest which “alternatively powered” model from the Mercedes-Benz range best suits your driving behaviour.
The EQ Ready new app is available to Australian and New Zealand phone users and can be downloaded free of charge for both iOS and Android phones.
The smartphone records the journeys made by the user in their car (of any make).
This generates a realistic profile that is significantly more meaningful than a once-only test drive.
All users need to do is login to their Mercedes me account with name and email address and enable the tracking feature in the app.
The tracking feature records not only speed and acceleration but also stops or longer breaks, as well as ambient parameters such as temperature and altitude.
This makes it possible to calculate the range and energy consumption.
To optimise their virtual e-driving experience, app users can manually enter potential charging points, such as at home or at their place of work.
The personal mobility behaviour determined in this way is transmitted by wi-fi or mobile data to the Mercedes me server, where the relevant parameters of Benz electric cars and hybrids are stored.
Also in the case of a hybrid, the evaluation of mobility behaviour focuses exclusively on all-electric mode.
Developed by Mercedes-Benz, the software model for the app uses a host of vehicle-specific data, such as energy consumption, range, cd value, weight and rolling friction coefficient.
Based on the reference vehicle selected by the user, their personal values for range and energy consumption are determined and their mobility behaviour evaluated.
Privacy is a key aspect of the app.
To stop a journey being recorded, the user can disable the tracking feature at any time.
The app also regularly reminds the user that data are being recorded.
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