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RFID with NGV
(The Nation (Thailand) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Gas stations get to know wirelessly all about their customers
Don't be surprised if, in the future, when you drive into a natural-gas vehicle (NGV) station to fill up, the station knows who you are, how much gas you need, and even when your car engine needs a check-up.
With the advent of a new technology called radio frequency identification (RFID) deployed in NGV stations, NGV drivers will soon receive customised service designed especially for each individual.
Nuttachat Charuchinda, PTT's executive vice president of Natural Gas Vehicles, said the company hopes to make NGV stations more intelligent, and is studying how to deploy RFID technology to enhance services at the stations.
Under the concept, NGV vehicles will be embedded with an RFID tag. Once a vehicle enters the gas station, the station, which will be equipped with an RFID reader, will read information stored on the tag related to the vehicles, including the licence plate number, the machine's number, driver information, and the price. This way the station will know who the customer is.
He said the company was considering two models of RFID deployment: one-to-one wire line RFID, and one-to-many wireless RFID.
One-to-one wire line RFID embeds the RFID reader at the nozzle, while the RFID tag is on the car's gas pipe. When the service attendant puts the nozzle into the car's gas pipe, the RFID tag will be detected immediately by the RFID reader wirelessly.
One-to-many wireless RFID has the RFID reader embedded in each NGV station, while the RFID tag is on the car's windshield. Once the car enters the station, the reader will automatically detect and identify the customer.
He said both models would allow the station to know the customer, and which types of NGV gas each customer uses.
Normally, PTT offers two different prices for different kinds of customers - Bt12 per kilogram for NGV cars with the machine modification cost subsidised by PTT, and Bt8 per kilogram for the normal NGV car whose owner independently paid for the modification.
The company has not yet finalised which model they will implement. He said the RFID system must not be so sensitive it could lead to an explosion. "We have to prove that RFID passes in terms of practical use, security, and technical tests," said Nuttachat.
PTT is now in a trial period for the RFID system. The company began a trial on both RFID models in three pilot NGV stations in September, and plans to finalise the model and expand the scale of the trial to more NGV stations this month. The trial period will be until the end of this year.
The commercial launch of RFID in NGV stations will start early next year. At that time, there will be 120 NGV stations, an increase from the current 76 stations.
"Our plan is to increase the number of NGV stations to reach 200 stations within the first quarter of next year, 320 stations by the end of next year, and 740 stations in the next five years," said Nuttachat.
Besides implementing RFID in the NGV stations, it will also encourage NGV vehicles to embed the RFID tag. It aims to encourage 500,000 NGV-cars to be embedded with an RFID tag in the next five years.
Potential NGV vehicles include corporate cars, taxis, shuttle buses, public buses, local buses and private cars.
"Ten per cent of the 76,000 taxis in use today are NGV enabled. We expect to encourage 30,000 more taxis to become NGV vehicles by the end of next year. By next year, there will be 2,000 new NGV-public-buses who will be our customers," said Nuttachat.
A benefit of RFID is it allows the company to better know its customers, and to have their information and NGV consumption record. With this data, the company can develop new and customised promotions specifically for its customers. It can also utilise recorded data to enhance its management purposes.
"Once we complete the implementation, Thailand will have the largest RFID network in gas stations in the world. There are only three other countries - Germany, Brazil, and Russia - who have already deployed RFID in gas stations," said Nuttachat.
If the deployments of RFID in NGV stations work, it is possible that the company will extend the idea to vehicles which consume oil.
Asina Pornwasin
The Nation
Copyright 2006 The Nation Publications (PVT) Ltd. Source: Financial Times Information Limited.
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