FOMM and Fujitsu in Alliance to Create a New Mobile Society

FOMM Corporation, a specialist in mobility-related R&D to realize unique technologies, and Fujitsu Limited today announced their agreement to commence a partnership aimed at creating a new type of mobile society.

The two companies will develop and popularize new mobility infrastructure as an environment that provides the data and electrical energy sources needed to use electric vehicles (EV), and move forward on joint development. In order to build FOMM’s Battery Cloud Service, which has functionality for integrally managing EV driving conditions, battery conditions, information on the vehicle user’s battery usage, replacement battery inventory quantities, and other info, as well as for supporting operations, the two companies are applying Fujitsu Mobility Solution SPATIOWL, Fujitsu’s location information utilization cloud service.

Electric vehicles have entered a period of practical usage globally, and are becoming increasingly diverse. It has become common for two- and three-wheeled EVs used for short distance travel, particularly electrically powered assisted bicycles, to use a small replaceable battery. By making it possible to run four-wheeled EVs with replaceable batteries, and by putting in place a new system in which individuals need not buy their own batteries but in which they can easily switch in new batteries anywhere and anytime, the partners will further grow and expand this market.

Through their partnership, FOMM and Fujitsu will utilize their experience and technology to develop Battery Cloud Service as new mobility infrastructure. This will enable vehicle users to charge their batteries at home as well as exchange them at service station, and because the service will give users a constant awareness of their remaining charge, charging or replacing batteries can be made efficient. Also, service providers will be able to grasp changes in battery characteristics by managing battery status records.

FOMM is equipping an ultra-compact four-wheel EV, developed in-house, with replaceable batteries and will support with its Battery Cloud Service. In December 2018, this “FOMM 1.0” will begin mass production in Thailand, in tandem with the launch of Battery Cloud Service operations.

Roles of the Two Companies

FOMM

1. Based on the Battery Cloud concept and plan FOMM has been working on since its founding in 2013, FOMM will not only realize the concept of an ultra-compact four passenger EV featuring a replaceable battery, leading to the provision of the actual service, it will also deploy the replaceable battery exchange stations that form the core of the service.

2. FOMM will plan and develop the battery exchange stand equipment and the building of the charging system, as well as the design and development needed to connect them to the cloud.

Fujitsu

1. Fujitsu will provide a cloud environment for managing batteries, incorporating into SPATIOWL technology that can track the charging, degradation, and deployment status of each individual battery, developed in a trial managing batteries for two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles⁽¹⁾, as well as incorporating the experience gained in that trial.

2. Using high-dimensional statistical analysis technology⁽²⁾ through Fujitsu Human Centric AI Zinrai technology, Fujitsu will model the impact on the vehicle and the battery from both geographic features, such as slopes and curves, and from the traffic situation, including congestion, to provide advanced estimates of trends in energy consumption, battery operation, and degree of battery degradation.

Future Plans

Through this partnership, the two companies plan to further develop and expand the mobility infrastructure they are aiming to create. In addition, they will be at the forefront of the creation of a new type of mobile society based on EVs, by analyzing and using the information gathered through Battery Cloud Service to create breakthrough services that support the popularization of EVs and increase user convenience. Moreover, the two companies will continue to advance as innovative companies by both expanding these efforts for mobile infrastructure around the world and by creating an ecosystem through connections with other industries.

Related Websites

FOMM Corporation

Fujitsu Smart Mobility

Fujitsu Mobility Solution SPATIOWL

Fujitsu Human Centric AI Zinrai