App helps decide on switch to electric or hybrid

The new Mercedes-Benz EQ Ready app helps motorists decide whether it makes sense for them to switch to an electric car or hybrid.

The smartphone app – now available for download free for IOS and Android – can record real journeys made by the user, analyse their everyday mobility behaviour and compare it with numerous parameters of electric and hybrid vehicles.

This makes it possible to try out e-mobility in a virtual yet realistic way.

The EQ Ready app also shows which alternatively powered model from Mercedes-Benz best matches the user’s individual behaviour.

The new app is now available to Australian and New Zealand app users.

Mercedes-Benz customers were not the only ones involved in the development of the new app in its pilot phase. Daimler’s board of management members also let their usage behaviour be examined for e-suitability.

“The general conclusion is that electric cars and hybrids in e-mode are much more suitable for everyday use than most people believe. Following their personal reality check with our app, even sceptics discover that an electric car or hybrid would satisfy their mobility needs,” Daimler & Mercedes-Benz Cars Strategy head Wilko Stark says.

User just need to 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 profile. 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 stations, such as at home or at their place of work.

The personal mobility behaviour determined in this way is transmitted by wifi or mobile data to the Mercedes me server, where the relevant parameters of Mercedes-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. Based on the reference vehicle selected by the user, their personal values for range and energy consumption are determined and their mobility behaviour evaluated.

“Congratulations! All your journeys can be made electrically without additional recharging,” is an example of the analysis.

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 is being recorded.

The first series-produced model of the new EQ product brand, the EQC, will be shown for the first time in September 2018.