LIVEBluedot - charge, shop and earn.
Bluedot is digital banking for drivers to make EV driving, charging and payment experience seamless and easy. The utilization of charging stations is increased by enabling payment for EV chargers across different providers using Bluedot's mobile app. Bluedot is helping consumers use their car as payment identity at any electric vehicle charging station. It enables consumers (drivers) to earn cash back everywhere they drive, link their accounts to track all their driving activities, and get exclusive deals nearby businesses.
What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?
Climate and Environment
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
Central LA
East LA
South LA
West LA
County of Los Angeles
City of Los Angeles
In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?
Expand existing project, program, or initiative
What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?
Currently in CA, charging stations' utilization rate is around 5-10%. Increasing utilization is the key metric to ensure efficient infrastructure deployment as more charging stations are built to fulfill electric vehicle demand. The low utilization in charging stations results in $3M lost revenue per day by charging station operators. Bluedot aims to increase utilization in charging stations by at least 20% and helping charging station companies to increase their engagement, customer satisfaction, and revenue by $3.2B annually (with over 6 hours of daily usage)
Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.
Bluedot is a mobile app that helps increase utilization in charging stations while offering a seamless, open, easy way to charge in public spots. We do this by 1. Real-time location and status update of all EV charging stations (currently doesn’t exist) 2. Integrated payment across different charging providers (which doesn’t exist) 3. Integrated benefits with commerce partnerships ex. 10% off WholeFoods walkaway (doesn’t exist) 4. Discounted & free charging offerings powered by brands ($32 CPM, doesn't exist Volta is the closest one)
Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.
Along with the Bluedot services, EV charging stations will become accessible for everyone in Los Angeles County and these services shall support the improvement of the accessibility, availability, and working conditions of EV charging stations and further make the payment experience easy and enjoyable. At the same time, with the opportunity to have access and pay in all charging stations brands and being able to charge for %10 less, being able to claim special offers in nearby businesses, own your data and track your expenses, and the possibility of earn reward everywhere you drive along with the attractive. Its surrounding areas further increase the usage. By not establishing its own infrastructure and individual networks compared to its competitors, such services will add to the ecosystem in a positive way with the structure of EV charging and will aim to serve the society in general while not being discriminating and further supporting the existing future LA projects.
What evidence do you have that this project, program, or initiative is or will be successful, and how will you define and measure success?
We have targeted electric vehicle users and nearby locations. While we aim for electric vehicle users to use idle charging stations more, we aim for them to contribute economically to local businesses during their time at the charging station. In our pilot study in San Francisco, we contributed to 5000 electric vehicle users, more than 10000 charging stations, and 1348 local businesses in 5 months.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?
Direct Impact: 62,158
Indirect Impact: 124,655