As a data nerd I was fascinated by how gargantuan an infrastructure, the sophistication of the algorithms, the machine learning and artificial intelligence, and the data processing capabilities Tesla had to have in order to process the data being downloaded from their vehicles around the world in real-time. The realization of this made it clear to me that Tesla was not a car manufacturer, but a data company masquerading as an automotive manufacturer selling cars to gather data on energy consumption and usage. This not only put them so far out ahead of the other OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers – GM, Ford, etc.) in many ways but also that they were playing a completely different game than the others. Of all the successes that Tesla has had, perhaps the best one is that they have and continue to convince people that they are a car company.
The Answer is in the Data
For the next couple of years, I just enjoyed driving my Tesla. However, in 2019 that changed as I began traveling on business and realized how difficult it was to find a Tesla rental. Recognizing the opportunity to be first as well as the realization that electric vehicles would be the future of transportation I invested in and launched ZEROCAR, the first exclusively Tesla Car Rental and Car Share service in North America in January 2021. This experience has proved to be invaluable as both an owner and driver of Teslas as well as an operator of a company with a fleet that at one time consisted of over 70 Teslas between Car Share and Rentals.
As a Tesla business customer, I began to see how the immense amount of data that was being collected and accessed could be of benefit to potential buyers, existing Tesla owners, as well as address the growing misinformation about driving an electric vehicle.
As the owner of a Tesla, my first was a 2016 Model X P100D, I shared all the concerns about range anxiety, cold weather charging, the breadth of the supercharging network, and slow chargers. On the business side I faced these questions every day as many of those renting a Tesla or using one for car share in the early days were experiencing their first electric vehicle and were similarly intrigued by Teslas. As a Tesla business customer, I began to see how the immense amount of data that was being collected and accessed could be of benefit to potential buyers, existing Tesla owners, as well as address the growing misinformation about driving an electric vehicle. It is not to say that Tesla was not and is not doing a good job of addressing each of these areas, but as the data being collected is the key to the future of self-driving (FSD) and its deployment for so many other potential use cases for the company, it is the one thing that I don’t expect Tesla to share.
That said, as a Tesla business customer we had access to an unofficial API that gave us ideas on what data was available coming from our fleet of vehicles. So, throughout the summer of 2021 we began internal discussions to scope the opportunity. I should state with full transparency that in no way am I technical enough to understand or write software code, but I understand and can see where opportunities exist. As the owner of two other start-up companies, a data analytics software company as well as a digital advertising agency, both filled with incredibly smart and much more technically capable individuals, I knew we had the resources and capabilities to create a solution that could benefit other vehicle owners and fleets.
The Build Process
In October 2021, we pulled together a team of developers and a software architect to formally scope out a solution for what we now call ZEVA and by January of 2022 we had completed the architecture of the platform. In the early days the focus was the benefit a solution such as ZEVA would have for fleets in the commercial transportation space. However, as the ups and downs of the market and discussions about the issues of electric vehicles grew it was clear that we also needed to have a product for consumers. Whether as a driver or a fleet manager, the issues of range anxiety, battery degradation, battery health, and charging management exists for both so it was clear that if we helped address them for one it would apply for both.
Yet, while Tesla’s OTA (Over-The-Air) software capability is bi-directional in both pulling data from the vehicles and pushing updates to them, it was obvious to us that just exposing the data and metrics would not be sufficient to address the issues if it was not done in a manner that would make it meaningful to vehicle owners and fleets. Unlike conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that contain over 2,000 moving parts, Tesla’s have only about 20 making the battery the single most valuable and largest component.
Did you know?
40%
The battery of a Tesla is approximately 40% of the cost of the vehicle making it the single most important item that must be understood to ensure its fidelity, longevity, and future value. Yet, this is the least understood area of an electric vehicle.
This insight more so than any other inspired us to learn as much as we could about batteries and the multitude of variables that impact them and how by surfacing this data for owners and fleets, they could make better decisions about how to optimize their vehicles for maximum performance, safety, maintenance, and future value.
Meaningful Innovations
At each stage of the development process, we were, and continue to be, constantly challenged with the question of how do we make the data meaningful and of sufficient value to address the concerns of potential buyers, existing owners, and fleets. As stated, just because the data exists doesn’t mean it has value if it cannot be applied to solve a problem. And while we do see there is value in surfacing some of the massive stream of data that comes from Tesla vehicles, our mission has never been to recreate or replace the Tesla app but to build a compliment to it that enhances the connected driver experience. It should also be said that we were conducting all this development without the assurance that Tesla would permit such a third-party product as we were using an unofficial developer API. However, the clues were there along the way that this was a direction the company would go in and fortunately in late 2022 Tesla shared that they would be announcing a Third-Party App Developer program. Within two days of the program being announced we applied and were granted approval as an official Tesla Third-Party App developer allowing us to see a path forward for the work we had been quietly doing for two years.
For Owners, By Owners
Finally, after two and a half years of development and innovations we are pleased to release our ZEVA platform via desktop and mobile apps. Yet, while we celebrate the milestone of bringing this product to market, we see that now is when the real work begins. We see the possibility for so many more innovations through the interpretation of data into new features and functions that will inform the connected driver experience for owners and fleets. Our journey begins with Tesla’s fleet of vehicles from the best-selling Model 3, Model Y, to the new Cybertruck and up to the Tesla Semi. However, our ambition is much greater as we see that while Tesla is and will continue to be a leader in electric vehicles, we believe that drivers of all electric vehicles across all OEM’s, consumer and commercial, around the world will benefit from the innovations we have and will continue to introduce. The road ahead is electric and our mission is for ZEVA to be your partner along that journey regardless of the brand of electric vehicle you own or use for personal or commercial purposes.
Sincerely,
Raymond Reid – Founder | CEO ZEVA Global Inc.
