TankTaler wants to Tesla up your tired old ride

It’s easy with the evolution towards cars that are not only connected but autonomous vehicles to forget that such technologically enhanced vehicles are preceded by cars that have operated with perfect functionality for many years despite their lack of technical prowess.

Up until now, the owners of such cars have been faced with two options: remain “disconnected” or upgrade to a new car. Thanks to a Munich-based IoT company called ThinxNet, car owners with model years from 2001 onwards can get some of the technological advances afforded to those with newer car models.

The system is called TankTaler, and includes a hardware dongle  — which includes a SIM card and GPS monitor — and a corresponding smart phone app. The dongle plugs into the OBD II interface,  the port located below the steering wheel that mechanics access to get diagnostic information about your car.

Once paired with the app, the car owner can get a range of information about the car, This includes battery and fuel levels, details of travel routes and driving behaviour, anti-theft protection and more. We spoke with Regina Werner at ThinxNet to learn more.

TankTaler concept actually came from the farm

TankTaler was launched in November 2015 after the ThinxNet founders pivoted from their original plan to use GPS technology to track the location of cow herd on large farms in the Alps or Argentina. The dongle and app are free for participants who additionally earn bonus points called TankTaler which can be redeemed in gift vouchers — from gas stations or retailers like Amazon around Germany with loyalty program with cash-back system.

The TankTaler device offers a range of functionalities, that interest different people in different ways.  Werner explained:

“Some users want really simple features, for example, people who live in the cities often do not have a private parking lot, hence they spend hours looking for a place to park their car – and thus always park at different sites. Additionally, they often share cars. This means they never know where their car is parked. Then there’s tech driven people  who are super interested in the statistics around the car such as the driving behaviour, how harsh they are breaking, how much they’re accelerating and the distances they’ve travelled. Then you have people that like using TankTaler as they like to save money”.

Currently, they have about 25,000 customers, “the largest private fleet in Germany,” mainly in Munich and Cologne. They generate revenues through partnerships with various companies including gas stations, garages, car dealerships, restaurants and retail chains; McDonald’s and IKEA are both partners.

Discount benefits…and reclaiming your data

That means TankTaler users get discounts and other benefits. You can imagine there being some attractive connections with car insurances also. However, ThinxNet’s work is underpinned with the idea of personal “sovereignty” over personal data. Werner notes that:

“Right now most car manufacturers are collecting data without drivers being aware of it and trying to earn money out of it. We believe that drivers should own their data and decide what to do with it, according to what will directly benefit them”.

It also benefits people who use their car for business. As Werner explains:

“When you use your car also for business you get tax deductions according to your mileage but you have to document your journey in a log book. Through TankTaler people can download all their trips as a spreadsheet. By comparison, a competitor’s product offering only this feature costs over €700”.

TankTaler also enables payments

The dongle works without the need for a mobile phone connection. This has meant that it is possible to track the cars location precisely and get help in the event of a break down or accident as the device is connected to an emergency call number. This is akin to the functions of the latest BMW motorcycles and is expected to be made mandatory in all new cars by 2018.

ThinxNet are working to join forces with automobile clubs to enable the tracking of broken down cars with the app able to send their precise location. As the dongle has its own battery, it can send data even if the dongle is removed by a car theft or the car battery gets disconnected in the case of a crash.

Perhaps one of the most innovative uses of the TankTaler is in one touch payments at gas stations. Users can fill up, tap the app, and get back in their car. They are then sent a monthly bill to pay. This is very innovative for Germany where you normally have to pay inside the shop and many retailers favor cash over other payment methods. Werner notes:

“Gas station owners are sometimes 60-plus (years old) and hard to explain the technology to, but when you show that people can pay through the app, people think that’s really revolutionary. Some owners are like ‘This is the biggest revolution in the last 40 years in the industry.'”

But perhaps some of the more indirect benefits of TankTaler are through big data analysis.

The device has the potential to track large groups of drivers throughout concentrated areas and thus is able to measure the popularity of driving routes and determine weak spots where a road needs to be repaired or there’s a spot with high rates of accidents.

This could potentially include information for smart city planners such as where to situate traffic lights and how to control them with the help of real time data to get a smooth flow of traffic. It can also help developers determine where gas stations should be built according to traffic flow.

ThinxNet intends on branching up to other parts of Europe in the upcoming months, paving the way for enter into other countries around the world. The irony of such an enterprise as this is that as connected cars become more normal, they will gradually be placing themselves out of a job, but for now, that time is a long way off.

Ford paid $200,000 for a Tesla Model X — $55,000 more than the normal price

Ford Motor Co. paid $199,950 — $55,000 more than the sticker price — to buy one of the first sport utility vehicles made by Tesla Motors Inc. so it could test and examine the electric SUV.

Ford bought the 64th Model X — a white Founders Series version — in March 2016. Spied recently in the Detroit area with Michigan manufacturers’ plates, it originally belonged to a California coin dealer who bought it as part of Tesla’s customer-referral promotion.

Automakers often buy cars made by competitors for road testing and for “tear-downs” to reveal components and materials and how they’re put together. But it’s unusual to pay such a high price — almost $212,000 after Michigan sales tax and title — for such an early model.

“Wow, I hope that investment pays off in some good intelligence,” Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for researcher Autotrader.com, said of the premium Ford paid. “If you’re going to be one of the early buyers, you’re probably going to pay well over list. But that’s significant.”

Krebs suspects other major automakers, such as General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., are also among early buyers of the Model X. Automakers are looking for ways to make highly profitable SUVs more fuel efficient as they race to meet a federal mandate to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Ford is investing $4.5 billion in electrified vehicles and will add 13 electric cars and hybrids by 2020.

Future SUVs

“We’re going to definitely see more electrification and light-weighting,” Krebs said. “Those are the things I suspect Ford would be taking special note of as they develop their sport utilities of the future.”

Krebs said she hopes Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields and Executive Chairman Bill Ford —as well as the automaker’s top engineers and designers — get some seat time in the Model X.

“Everybody should be exposed to one of your hottest competitors,” Krebs said.

One Ford executive spotted driving the company’s white Model X was David Woodhouse, chief designer of the automaker’s Lincoln luxury line, according to a person who saw him. Woodhouse oversaw the creation of the Lincoln Navigator concept SUV that debuted at the New York Auto Show last month. Like the Model X, the Navigator concept featured gull-wing doors, though Ford said that feature won’t be on the production version of the SUV. Ford declined to confirm who is driving the car.

Tesla’s first Model Xs are limited-edition Founders Series —fewer than 100 of them were made — that typically go to board members and close friends of the company like Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Those are followed by the Signature Series models, which require a $40,000 deposit from customers and start at $132,000. According to vehicle registration documents obtained by Bloomberg, the window-sticker price on the all-wheel-drive Model X P90D that Ford purchased is $144,950, including the $10,000 Ludicrous Speed Upgrade that boasts a 0-to-60 miles per hour time of 3.2 seconds.

Original owner

The original owner of the Model X that was ultimately purchased by Ford was Wayne Skiles, 71, who owns and operates the Carousel Coin & Jewelry Exchange in San Bernardino, California. Skiles owns a Model S sedan and participated in Tesla’s Model S referral program. Customers who referred at least 10 friends to purchase a Model S were able to buy a Model X Founders Series for a base price of $116,700.

“I sold 11 Model Ss. So I got a Founders Model X and immediately flipped it for a profit,” said Skiles in a phone interview. “The car never came to California. I flew to Chicago, took physical delivery of the Model X and immediately drove it to a dealer in Chicago and sold it.”

Ford bought the vehicle from Corporate Auto of Auburn Hills, Michigan, according to the documents.

“It is a common industry practice among many automakers to buy production vehicles for testing as soon as they are released,” said Ford in a statement. “Sometimes, this means automakers pay more than sticker price to acquire them as quickly as possible.”

Quality concerns

Tesla officially launched the Model X at a splashy event in late September, years after the vehicle’s early 2012 unveiling. The company announced that it delivered 2,400 of the SUVs in the first quarter as it continues to ramp up production. But early models are not without flaws: several customers have reported issues with sensors on the “falcon-wing” doors that open vertically. Consumer Reports on Tuesday published a report about quality problems on early models. Tesla shares slipped 2.6 percent on Tuesday before rebounding 2.3 percent Wednesday to $253.09 at 1:48 p.m. New York time.

“We are committed to making the world’s most reliable cars,” said Tesla in a statement Tuesday. “While we have seen some issues with early Model X builds, the issues are not widespread, and we are working closely with each owner to respond quickly and proactively to address any problems. We will continue to do so until each customer is fully satisfied. This commitment is one of the reasons why 98 percent of our customers say they will buy another Tesla as their next car.”

Earlier this month, Tesla issued a recall on 2,700 Model Xs made before March 26 to repair the third-row seats after strength tests done by the automaker found a potential defect. Tesla has advised customers not to let anyone sit in those seats while the car is in use.

Musk has said that the Model X’s unique features were difficult to engineer and relied heavily on parts suppliers. Tesla said this month that Model X deliveries missed first-quarter expectations because of parts shortages stemming from “Tesla’s hubris in adding far too much new technology” to the Model X.

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This article originally published at Bloomberg