Bus Industry News, Charging Infrastructure, Electric Buses

Connect Source combines telematics with electric charging to make ultimate package

Connect Source has quickly built upon its strong foundations as an electric component manufacturer. Now, it’s combining telematics with cutting-edge electric vehicle charging technology to provide a unique combination to Australian operators.

The rise of technology in the bus and coach industry means telematics offerings are only growing and diversifying. When it came to providing innovative solutions for the growing electric vehicle market, Connect Source looked to cultivate a unique option for bus and coach fleet managers.

After specialising in electric component manufacturing during its 25-year history, Connect Source decided to start a technology business in 2016 that grew to a novel way of servicing the zero-emissions transition.

“We thought that the whole turnkey solution with telematics and electric vehicle charging was only going to increase in the coming years,” Connect Source national channel and customer experience manager Stephen Chapman told ABC.

“We know it needs to increase to meet Australia’s carbon emissions goals and we wanted to be a strong player in that space.”

So Connect Source took a gamble. Just last year, the leap of faith materialised in Connect Source becoming an authorised reseller of Geotab’s telematics solutions.

In a global market, Geotab provides telematics that monitors over-speed, braking and driving patterns to maximise the efficiency of vehicles.

Yet Connect Source’s main focus is not really on that side of telematics. Instead, Chapman says the company narrowed its focus on a unique part of Geotab’s catalogue.

“We were really wanting to get involved with a little electric vehicle suitability assessment tool that Geotab sells,” Chapman says.

“We already have partnerships involved in driver fatigue and distraction technology, as well as dashcams when our clients have requested them, but this was a new field for us.”

It would form the first step of what would eventually crystallise into Connect Source’s complete turnkey solution, starting with electric vehicle telematics and including electric charging infrastructure offerings in a unique concept for the bus and coach industry.

The Geotab electric vehicle suitability assessment tool answers the first query that a fleet manager will have when considering the electric vehicle switch in what vehicles are available and which models are best for their operation.

In the first step of Connect Source’s offerings, the Geotab electric vehicle suitability assessment tool allows fleet owners to do their own homework and make informed decisions about which electric vehicle models are the best for them. By plugging into the vehicle’s computer and running for a period of between 30 and 90 days, the system uses actual data to recommend an electric vehicle model based on comparisons with more than 210 different models in the system.

“This tool updates every month as new models come out and gives broken-down assessments to match the right electric vehicle with an owner,” Chapman says.

“Once they go and invest in the electric vehicle, we then use Geotab’s suite to provide the next step through the whole new game of telematics for electric vehicles.”

This is where Connect Source’s decision to become an authorised reseller of Geotab products comes in handy. After originally using the partnership to resell the electric vehicle suitability assessment tool and start a fleet manager’s zero-emissions transition journey, Connect Source then uses all of the leading features included in Geotab’s telematics solutions.

All of these tools provide a comprehensive offering for new battery electric bus owners, starting with a simple plug-in of the telematics device into the computer of the vehicle. From there, extensive reporting will help keep the bus efficient and as cheap to operate as possible.

When fleet owners then naturally progress to the next step of scaling up to more electric buses in their fleet, Connect Source can use the Geotab product to guide customers through the decision-making process of optimising their fleet.

“We can use the solutions to scale the electric side, optimise energy and meet carbon reduction goals that our customers want to achieve,” Chapman says.

“We’ve gone into reselling the Geotab telematics packages as we believe it’s a great tool that we can use to help fleet managers to manage the zero-emissions transition process really easily at any stage of the process.”

This technology and package isn’t a unique idea in the electric vehicle telematics market. What makes Connect Source’s solution so different and valuable is what it decided to do next.

After working with Geotab to provide a comprehensive suite of electric bus assessment and tracking technology for Australian operators, it didn’t rest on its laurels. Instead, Chapman and the Connect Source team moved right onto the next step – electric bus charging.

Around half a year ago, Connect Source announced a second partnership, this time signing a distributorship with Autel Energy to sell their MaxiCharger range of electric vehicle chargers.

It allowed Connect Source to offer a complete electric bus technology combination that puts it in rare air in the local market.

“We thought that if people moved towards the electric bus space and used the tools we provided to help select the right electric vehicles to begin with, then we needed to progress to supplying the right charging infrastructure to charge their fleets,” Chapman says.

“This new distributorship with Autel Energy allows us to offer the turnkey solution from woe to go that we desperately wanted.”

This wasn’t a quick process. Connect Source started this next phase of its evolution by investigating the complete range of electric vehicle charger brands and manufacturers in the Australian market before signing with Autel Energy.

Chapman says the complete and diverse range that Autel offers swayed Connect Source, with the energy company providing smaller 7.4kW at-home chargers for garages through to an impending release this year of a 480kW fast charger for heavy electric vehicles, as well as everything in between.

“They just released a 47kW mobile charger that I think will be ideal for every bus depot across Australia,” Chapman says.

“We also love how Autel’s chargers are modular – customers can add an additional 20kW modules into them to progressively increase the power in the charger as they scale up their fleets.”

Chapman says the quality of Autel Energy’s charging manufacturing also stood out, with the 36 and 24-month warranty offerings for AC and DC chargers respectively and their commitment to innovation reassuring Connect Source that Autel was the right company to partner with.

Yet it’s a visual factor that had Connect Source excited to showcase its Autel charging range at the recent Fully Charged LIVE show in Sydney.

Autel’s chargers have an LCD screen on it and can be carted around on wheels to be a mobile power source for electric bus batteries. It quickly became a hit for Chapman and the Fully Charged crowd.

“The launch at Fully Charged was very successful,” he says. “Lots of people commented on the LCD screen and loved that it was mobile. It’s such a slick looking charger.”

This combination of Autel’s new charger technology and the incredible depth of Geotab’s telematics information has made a wonderful match for Connect Source. Chapman says Connect Source always had a goal of linking electric charging with a telematics package to create a unique total offering.

He says it feels rewarding to have succeeded in going further as a company to benefit the local bus and coach market. But his team didn’t stop there.

After developing its own back-end platform, Momentum, for the Guardian fatigue management technology, Connect Source did the same with the integration of Geotab’s telematics. It then went a step further by replicating this process with Autel’s electric charger back-end systems, integrating them into the same platform to enable fleet managers to access an array of different systems in just the one platform. 

The end result is a modular system that can provide a world-class back-end platform for any fleet management, telematics or electric vehicle charger solution, meaning Connect Source can apply its complete electric bus package to a growing number of vehicles and chargers.

“We’re really excited with how everything is going,” Chapman says. “We’ve already installed a number of both AC and DC chargers in Australia and are on the preferred suppliers list with the Western Australian government.

“Our aim is to be on that list for every Australian state and territory. Seeing the uptake of electric buses in Australia makes us excited that we’ll follow other countries and experience an electric technology boom.”

Once upon a time, Connect Source was just an electric component manufacturer. Now, it has delved into the deep world of telematics and combined solutions with innovative electric vehicle charging infrastructure to provide sustainability. Chapman looks forward to seeing where the technology boom will take Connect Source next.

“It’s a really exciting time with how the electric bus transition is going, as the technology is only getting better and better,” he says.

“All indications tell us that there are a huge number of bus companies looking at changing fleets over to electric buses and we’re ready with our unique systems to capitalise on this trend.” 

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