How is Digital Signage, Vision, and Voice AI Revolutionising the EV charging Experience?
Salwa Al-Tahan
08/06/2023
As electric vehicles (EVs) become more affordable and have become the go to choice for eco-conscious drivers, the demand for convenient and user friendly EV charging stations is growing. While most EV owners charge their vehicles at home, public charging stations are crucial for longer trips and for drivers without access to a private charger. However, charging convenience remains a major concern for drivers. In fact, many drivers are known to have ‘charge anxiety’ – concerns as to whether they can find a nearby charge point that is actually available and functional. Other commonly noted pain points include long wait times and confusing or outdated information, as well as lack of available staff. So, while we love going electric, it’s understandable that we all want the charging experience on the road to be more convenient, enjoyable and hassle free!
Revolutionising the Charging Experience
To address these issues, the EV charging infrastructure needs to embrace the latest in AI and technological advances- namely dynamic content on digital signage, voice, and vision AI. These technologies not only enhance, but truly revolutionise the overall user experience. Without doubt each of these technologies have their own benefits and will make significant improvements, but it is when they are integrated together that the charging process can be better streamlined, enhancing the customer experience and providing new revenue opportunities for businesses.
Below we’ll take a look at the individual solutions, but first let’s address driver concerns on finding an available charging station whilst on the road. A practical and simple solution would be to leverage the use of digital signage strategically placed throughout streets, motorways and public facilities. By implementing dynamic driven content, geospatial analytics can be provided on charging station locations as well as direction prompts so that drivers can get real-time updates and plan accordingly- reducing levels of ‘charge anxiety’.
Digital signage with Dynamic Content
On premise, digital screens with great dynamic content are not only eye catching and engaging, but they can provide many benefits to both business and drivers.
If we consider that the average dwell time for cars is approx 25-40 mins, and for trucks it can be many hours. This presents a golden opportunity for businesses to use digital signage to promote on-premise services such as the convenience store. By encouraging customers to make food or beverage purchases, offering recommendations, highlighting in store promotions and other facilities/services such as the restrooms while drivers are waiting for their EV to charge, it becomes easy to increase revenue and ROI.
The screens can also be used to help reduce frustration with long queues by displaying estimated wait times and directing drivers to less congested or available spots as they become free. Outdated, boring, static content can be replaced with real time dynamic content. Allowing businesses to provide up-to-date information such as payment options, rates, live weather, news and traffic feeds. And reminders on charging status can be displayed to encourage drivers to move their vehicle once fully charged so as not to occupy a station longer than necessary. Screens can also be used to promote location based content- such as nearby points of interest or local events for drivers to explore during or after their charging breaks making the content very rich.
Taking it one step further, designated charging stations for example for trucks can use their digital screens to offer training courses or educational content for truck drivers to improve their skills or learn about new technologies and trends during their downtime. Imagine having designated areas with kiosks showing personalised wellness and relaxation content, such as guided meditation or stretching routines to help drivers unwind during charging breaks. And how about incorporating gamification elements? Rewards or challenges can be promoted to encourage drivers to participate in energy saving practices or community building activities. All of these suggestions are really not that far fetched and they not only add value, but increase brand loyalty and provide better engaging customer experiences.
Vision AI Technology
Integrating vision AI at the charging station can further enhance the charging experience by detecting the vehicle’s make and model as the vehicle approaches. Once the Vision AI recognises the specifics, it can also intuitively select the appropriate charging protocol and adjust the charging speed for efficient and safe charging. Such use of AI technology can really streamline the charging process and make it far more efficient and less time consuming for drivers, as well as offering opportunities to provide additional revenue by promoting charging related accessories, for example charging cables or adapters to drivers.
If customers have signed up to loyalty programs the technology can make customised recommendations based on their preferences and previous usage patterns. For example, if a customer always uses a certain charging speed or buys a particular snack, the technology can offer suggestions based on that information. It can even make recommendations for the driver to get a coffee if they have been driving long distances, or suggest they utilise their downtime with stretches or a nap.
So, we have great dynamic content and are speeding the charging process up with clever vision AI. Let’s take a look at how combining these with voice technology can really push forward to create a frictionless and immersive customer experience.
Voice AI Technology
By allowing drivers to interact with kiosks using their voice as an alternative to touch commands, and utilising the AI’s conversational features the technology can offer drivers a hands free experience. This is not only faster to navigate but is beneficial to those not comfortable with using touch controls.
The friendly, near human-like interaction can also reduce the workload on staff, as drivers are able to speak to the kiosk and ask for navigation support, frequently asked directions, charging updates or even order food and drinks with their voice commands. Voice AI assistants, offer a far more natural, immersive and hygienic experience and includes the added benefit of multilingual support- catering to drivers from diverse backgrounds, enabling them to access content and information in their preferred language. Kiosks can also be used to gather feedback from drivers about their experiences and preferences, allowing for the optimisation of services and improving overall customer satisfaction.
Conclusion:
As you can see, by embracing the latest innovation in AI and implementing advanced digital solutions, EV charging stations can be transformed into more engaging and immersive experiences for customers, while reducing wait times and workload for staff. And as electric vehicles become more popular and more charging stations are being built, adopting such technology will prove beneficial not just for drivers but also for businesses by increasing revenue opportunities, improving brand loyalty, and positioning such charging stations at the forefront of the industry.
To learn more about how Sodaclick can help you bring immersive experiences to life with dynamic content, voice AI, and vision AI, please contact us today or download the pdf in our resource centre for more information.
Sodaclick Ltd. London, UK
Sodaclick is a digital signage platform specialising in dynamic content and voice AI experiences at every touchpoint
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