Did you know that Toyota has a scientific subsidiary called the Toyota Research Institute? This outfit, with offices on both U.S. coasts, studies things like robotics, advanced materials, and, apparently, social sciences. It’s currently studying how to get people to charge their EVs more effectively through what’s essentially gamification.
TRI, as it’s known, is piloting something called the “ChargeMinder” app that is designed to make people charge their EVs at more optimal times, and plug in PHEVs at all. Practically speaking, it’s an app that reminds you to charge your car. But researchers are trying to maximize its effectiveness by digging into individual user psychology using vehicle usage, driving telemetry, app interactions, and other sources.
Finally, an example of automakers guzzling your data for something other than jacking up your insurance rates.
Toyota promises that ChargeMinder’s data is anonymous, for what it’s worth.
TRI pitches this scheme as “behavioral science [that] can unlock more carbon reductions from electric vehicles.” More straightforward phrasing might be: “If people will let us tell them when to charge their EVs and PHEVs, they’ll use less power.” I’m ribbing them a little, but I actually like this idea a lot. We have a super high energy bill at my house, and I know there are ways to optimize power use by charging things at off-peak hours, but frankly, I never remember to think about it.
If I had an app on my phone that gave me specific guidance on when to charge my car, with insights explaining how much I could save, I’d appreciate that and use it.
Since it does have access to your travel data and charging behavior, Toyota’s hoping to leverage that to deliver an intelligent reminder app that’s more effective than a simple phone alarm. But I have to admit, now I’m also curious about what kind of human behavioral studies a car company might be commissioning.
Know about any other interesting applications of behavioral science in the auto industry? Drop me a line at andrew.collins@thedrive.com.
Automotive journalist since 2013, Andrew primarily coordinates features, sponsored content, and multi-departmental initiatives at The Drive.
