Lightning eMotors Telematics Solution Passes Data Milestone

Lightning eMotors announced that it has passed the 10-terabyte (TB) database milestone for its Lightning Insights telematics system utilizing Tessell DBaaS (database-as-a-service) running on Amazon Web Services.

Lightning Insights, purpose-built for monitoring and managing commercial electric-vehicle fleets in real time, tracks up to 156 data points every second. Over eight years, more than 600 deployed vehicles and more than 5 million miles, Lightning Insights has amassed more than 10 TB of data, according to the company, “providing operators unprecedented access to real-time information about vehicle location, driver habits, state of charge, energy usage, efficiency and much more.”

“Having this quantity of data on how commercial electric vehicles operate in the real world provides us with a great opportunity to not only help customers make better decisions for their fleets, but educate the market as well,” said Lightning eMotors’ vice president of marketing and sales operations Nick Bettis. “Providing honest information that counters some of the unrealistic claims in the market today is something we are passionate about.”

In addition to providing access to critical operational data, Lightning’s customer-support team also uses Insights data for real-time alerts on vehicle-health exceptions, allowing operators and service technicians to plan for and complete any necessary repairs before they become critical.

Lightning transferred its internal MySQL database at the heart of its Lightning Insights system to Tessell’s DBaaS running on AWS in September 2022. In less than one year, thanks to accelerating vehicle deployments, the database has reached more than 10 TB and is growing at the rate of about one-half TB per month, according to the company.

“When we evaluated the Tessell solution, we were extremely impressed with the resiliency and scalability it offered,” said Tim Reeser, co-founder and CEO of Lightning eMotors. “Along with Tessell’s vision, which aligns with our own commitment to relentless innovation, the robust solution has allowed us to scale and support our telematics capabilities quickly and affordably to meet the information needs of our growing customer base.”

SEMA member companies and automotive enthusiasts have come out in strong opposition to the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) “Advanced Clean Cars II” (ACC II) regulation that would ban the sale of new internal combustion engine motor vehicles by 2035. Specialty aftermarket businesses and industry supporters sent over 5,000 letters to the U.S. EPA expressing opposition to the agency providing California a Clean Air Act waiver, which is required for ACC II to take effect. Industry and enthusiasts alike have united in opposition to California’s Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate that they said would adversely impact automotive businesses, their employees and millions of automotive enthusiasts.