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Integration Guide

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EV smart, managed and monitoring charge

Integration Guide

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0 mins to read

Learn how to pull and utilize Geotab vehicle data collected from Electric Vehicles (EVs) to support Smart, Managed, and Monitoring charge platforms. The largest value of using telematics data is live vehicle State of Charge (SOC), which allows integration Partners to work with vehicle-side battery levels to improve the accuracy of their platform.

For Geotab Software Partners and Integrators

Introduction

This guide aims to help MyGeotab integration partners pull and utilize Geotab vehicle data collected from Electric Vehicles (EVs) to support Smart, Managed and Monitoring charge platforms. The primary and largest value proposition of utilizing telematics data is live vehicle State of Charge (SOC). This allows integration partners to work with vehicle side battery levels to improve the accuracy and smarts of their platform.

If you have any questions regarding the information in this document, or would like additional clarification, please connect with your Geotab Point of Contact (POC), or email evsoleng@geotab.com.

Getting Started

In order to get started, follow these steps:

Complete the initial decision to integrate with Geotab telematics data.
Work with a qualified Geotab Reseller (or with your Geotab POC) to determine a feasible test environment. The test environment should consist of GO devices installed in EVs that will receive charge during development.
1. The GO devices should be a GO9 device if charging energy or charging power is desired (GO9 is required for these readings).
2. The EVs should be supported as per the Electric Vehicle Make/Model Support Reference.
Review the Global Integrations: Software Technical Toolkit.
Review the Electric Vehicle Data Diagnostics and API User Guide and the MyGeotab SDK Reference to determine the pieces of information that provide value to the software. See the Key Data Elements section for more information.
Build the integration.

✱ NOTE: For aid with development, Geotab provides an open source community platform for discussion topics as well as articles written by Geotab experts through the MyGeotab SDK Community.

Key Data Elements

The following elements are determined to provide the most value for EV Smart, Managed and Monitoring Charge. Supplementary data elements can be found in the Electric Vehicle Data Diagnostics and API User Guide and the MyGeotab SDK Reference.

✱ NOTE: The StatusData object type is used to pull the Live SOC, Live Electric Vehicle Charging State, Live Charge Power Rate, and Driving Energy diagnostics mentioned below.

Live SOC

Link to Diagnostic Information

The link to this information can be found here.

Description

The vehicle side live battery level is extremely valuable to improve the accuracy and smarts of Smart, Managed and Monitoring Charge platforms. The GO device provides battery SOC at 1% increments while driving and charging (Level 1, Level 2, and DCFC). Live SOC can be extremely valuable to know the current vehicle's battery level during Alternating Current (AC) charging.

Live SOC is also valuable for both AC and Direct Current (DC) charging, when planning power/energy requirements while the vehicles are out on trips, prior to the vehicles returning to the charging station and plugging in.

Live Electric Vehicle Charging State

Link to Diagnostic Information	The link to this information can be found here.
Description	This indicates when a vehicle begins and ends receiving charge, and what type of charge is occurring (either AC or DC).

Live Charge Power Rate

Link to Diagnostic Information	The link to this information can be found here.
Description	This is the vehicle side live charge power rate. The diagnostics for charge power can be available at the EV’s on-board charger inlet, at the EV’s on-board charger outlet, and at the High Voltage (HV) battery for AC charging. For DC charging, the charge power is only available at the HV battery.
AC Charging
The three power diagnostics mentioned above for AC charging are supported on most—but not all—EV vehicles. Some may only have an on-board charger outlet and HV battery power. Whereas others may only have HV battery power. To properly cater for all vehicle make/models these are the options: Utilize power readings at the HV battery. Although this is the simplest implementation, the downside is that battery power is the furthest down the line away from the actual charging port. So, the data at the battery may be less aligned to the charging station power in comparison to the on-board charger power. Create logic that checks for power at the on-board charger inlet, then at the on-board charger outlet, and finally at the HV battery. ✱ NOTE: Utilize the highest data points in the order mentioned above.

Live GPS Location

Description	This is the live vehicle location. This can be used in conjunction with SOC to determine the course of action for vehicles requiring charge.
DeviceStatusInfo
The link to the object information can be found here. This describes the current status of the vehicle. It includes GPS Location, isDriving, isCommunicating, Exception Indicator, and In Zone Stop Identifier.
LogRecord
The link to the object information can be found here. This is a breadcrumb trail of the vehicle’s GPS location. It should be used with the GetFeed method to get a complete history of the vehicle’s GPS as well as the current location.

Driving Energy

Link to Diagnostic Information	The link to this information can be found here.
Description	Historic vehicle energy is used. It can be used to better calculate charging requirements through a vehicle's on-road driving energy needs.

Charge Events

Link to Diagnostic Information	The link to this information can be found here.
Description	This summarizes historical charge events. It can be used to analyze historical charge needs.

MyGeotab Zones (Geo-fence)

Description

MyGeotab is equipped with a fully customizable geo-fencing system. For a charging integration, there is value in being able to identify which vehicles are currently in a charging location, in order to plan and execute on charge requirements.

Zones can be created through the UI or through the API.

Determine if a Vehicle is in a Zone

Here are a couple of methods to determine if a vehicle is in a zone:

Using the MyGeotab Rules engine: You can create a Custom Rule that generates MyGeotab Exceptions when entering, exiting, within and/or stopped within a Zone. The exceptions can be accessed by pulling ExceptionEvents, checking the exceptionEvents property of DeviceStatusInfo (if the rule criteria are within or stopped within a Zone), or sending web requests on event generation.
Using MyGeotab generated Stop Exceptions in DeviceStatusInfo: If the MyGeotab Zone has mustIdentifyStops set to ‘True’, MyGeotab generates a ZoneStop rule that can be pulled through the Rules API. Once you have the ZoneStop Rule ID, cross-reference that with the Exceptions in DeviceStatusInfo to see if the vehicle is currently stopped in the zone.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What methods should be used to pull the Key Data Elements?

Affiliated Links	These links are for both Rate Limits and Result Limits.
GetFeed
These are the links for both the Method Information and the Data Feed Information. The GetFeed data feed method is generally used for constant polling of a specific object. We recommend it be used to pull live GPS location. It can also be used to pull live diagnostics from the Key Data Elements (SOC, Electric Vehicle Charging State, Charge Power Rate, Driving Energy). However, there are some limitations: The search filters are applied after the result limit amount of data is returned, and Only 1 diagnostics can be included in the search per GetFeed call. We recommend using GetFeed for diagnostics if many diagnostics for most vehicles on the database are desired. In this case, no search filters should be applied in the call, and the data should be manipulated and filtered on the receiving end. Alternatively, multiple GetFeed data feeds with 1 diagnostic specified can be utilized, or simply the Get method with the proper search criteria.
Get
This is the link for Method Information. Simulating the Data Feed The Get method is used in conjunction with search parameters. To poll for specific diagnostics or specific vehicles, the fromDate and toDate must be adjusted on each iteration of the call. We recommend delaying the calls for this method by a few minutes, to ensure data delays due to cell coverage do not affect the data feed significantly. Long delays in data due to poor cell coverage (greater than the amount the feed is delayed) will still be missed. For this reason, the Get call should be used as a last resort. For the Current Status There are methods where you can access the current status for specific StatusData diagnostics. If you are interested in going down this route, please reach out to evsoleng@geotab.com.

How do we know which vehicle is plugged into which charging station?

The following table is not an exhaustive list. The best way to prevent incorrect pairing would be to use a combination of the following methods:

Method	Description
Correlating Charge Start Time	Comparing the Live Electric Vehicle Charging State diagnostic from the vehicle to when the charging station begins emitting power (charge start).
Monitoring the Charge Power Rate	Continuously comparing the vehicle side Live Charge Power Rate with charge station power.
Controlled Adjustments of Charge Power Rate	Dipping the charge station power and monitoring the vehicle side Live Charge Power Rate for this dip.
GPS Matching	Matching the vehicle to charge station based on live latitude and longitude of the vehicle. This should be used in conjunction with other pairing methods. View the GPS Precision Summary for information about the precision of our GPS for each presented log in our system/API.
NFC Tagging	This would involve a NFC tag either associated with the Charging Station to be tagged to the vehicle, or a NFC tag associated with the vehicle to be tagged on the Charging Station. The Device Comment property in the UI and API can be used to associate a Charging Station RFID card to a Vehicle and be queried through the MyGeotab API.

What happens when a device stops communicating Vehicle Data?

Geotab GO devices can lose connection and stop communicating vehicle data. This can occur due to poor regional cellular coverage, or devices being knocked out of place by impact. This should be properly considered in order to prevent the use of stale vehicle data.

The DeviceStatusInfo object isCommunicating property can be used to determine if the vehicle is currently communicating. In the situation where the device is not communicating, there is fallback logic to assure the vehicle still gets charged.

Does Geotab support SSO Capabilities?

Yes. We promote the use of SSO for a better user experience. See the SSO Capabilities section of the User Experience Guidelines for more information.

Glossary

Term	Description
EV	Electric Vehicle
EVSE	Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment
GO Device	Geotab Telematics Device
GO9	Most recent iteration of the GO device
SOC	State of Charge
AC	Alternating Current
DC	Direct Current
DCFC	Direct Current Fast Charger
HV battery	High Voltage Battery
NFC	Near-Field Communication
GPS	Global Positioning System