Sumitomo Electric and EV Safe Charge team up to create app providing comprehensive EV road trip experience

Sumitomo Electric Industries and EV Safe Charge announced collaboration on a new mobile app to enable electric vehicle (EV) drivers to experience the optimal road trip.

During any journey, the EV Safe Charge app, powered by Sumitomo Electric, will provide users with never-before offered features and specialised travel coordination.

The pertinent features being developed for EV drivers will go beyond mapping chargers and provide data about when to charge based on altitude, weather, and other factors to alleviate “range anxiety” - the fear among consumers that an EV has insufficient range to reach its destination, which is cited as an obstacle to widespread adoption of all-electric vehicles. Key to the collaboration, the companies are beginning to work with automotive OEMs to integrate these app features directly into EV models as well.

By combining the leading-edge of technologies of Sumitomo Electric with the firsthand EV consumer insights from EV Safe Charge, the companies will fill the need for an elevated EV experience during short and longer range trips.

“We are excited to work with EV Safe Charge to create an app that will give EV drivers peace of mind and unique offerings when traveling,” said Koichi Washimi, General Manager, Systems & Electronics Division at Sumitomo Electric. “The new world of ‘Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric' (CASE) is creating a dramatic shift in mobility and accelerating EV driver demands. For our part, we want EV drivers to be able to leverage our technology to improve their on-road experience throughout the United States, where the app is initially launching and much of this CASE innovation is happening.”

Sumitomo Electric has invested significant R&D resources into the EV domain for many years, applying know-how in energy management, charging solutions, and route guidance to continually make driving more comfortable for EV owners. Sumitomo Electric has more than 50 years of experience with traffic control systems in Japan, helping make roads safe in some of the most crowded driving environments in the world.

The company also develops Cloud-based telematics services that so far have been used globally by over 20 million drivers through their in-vehicle navigation systems or smartphones. These services are built on various technologies the company has for generating high-precision traffic information and for predicting traffic conditions.

“Sumitomo Electric is an ideal technical partner with its world-class team, a rich history of innovation, and vast experience in automotive systems and integration,” said Caradoc Ehrenhalt, founder and CEO, EV Safe Charge. “The development of this app is another milestone for our emerging company, which is well-positioned to capitalise on continued EV hypergrowth.”

As a pioneer in EV charging solutions, EV Safe Charge has been committed to enhancing the EV driver experience from installation to mobile solutions. In February 2018, the company introduced EV Charge Mobile, the industry's first comprehensive rental service to offer Level 2 and DC Fast Charging for temporary on-site EV charging at events or any location.