TWAICE - The Digital Battery Twin
How would you describe your business idea to a potential investor?
TWAICE was created to act as a strategic partner to industrial clients in order to make digital twins reality. TWAICE’s understanding of digital twins means merging domain specific knowledge with IoT. First, TWAICE offers a product combining real-time measurements and parameter determination with a proprietary online analysis software to solve downsides of lithium-ion batteries like e.g. unknown and short lifetime.
The Digital Battery Twin analyzes, predicts & optimizes battery health along the whole lifecycle continuously from cell up to system level. By optimizing operating strategies, charging processes and system limits, a significant lifetime extension of the batteries can be achieved. Thus, TWAICE can save battery and electric vehicle manufacturers time and money. For operators of electric fleets, the battery TCO can be reduced up to 25%.
What problem do you want to solve, what is your goal?
In times of electrification, the demand for lithium-ion batteries increases continuously. Each electric vehicle has a battery system, which contains a large number of small lithium-ion cells. Lithium-Ion battery packs require extensive development, costly testing and still face issues with lifetime, since the lithium-ion cells degrade with increasing age and operation. In addition, cell degradation is non-linear and depends on cell selection, battery configuration, vehicle design and use cases.
How did you come up with your idea/concept?
From the beginning of our Ph.D. at the Institute of Automotive Technology of the Technical University of Munich we worked together on various research projects. One addressed the Second-Life of retired electric vehicle batteries. Thereby, Michael focused on the technical challenges impeding a broad establishment of Second-Life storage systems, namely aging uncertainties and high testing efforts after the vehicular use.
To solve these problems, Michael initially came up with the idea of a model-based battery twin in the cloud. We quickly realized the potential of the approach for other areas and industries and therefore initiated the idea to start a company. Now, two years later, we are about to make that dream come true and enter the market with TWAICE.
What is your business model?
TWAICE makes money by partnering with companies such as electric bus manufacturers, which then use the software by themselves and sell it as a service to their customers. TWAICE takes a portion of the revenue and doesn’t have to build a big sales force itself. After a first opportunity assessment with our clients, we implement our different products and train the users. Therefore, TWAICE receives an initial application fee while the digital twin per battery pack is distributed as SaaS per year.
What is your USP?
TWAICE is the first company building digital twins by merging domain specific modelling knowledge with IoT and artificial intelligence. We created this software driven company to act as an independent strategic partner for companies of all sizes in order to make digital twins reality and enable or accelerate certain topics like e. g. electrification with them.
What are your entry markets?
We focus on niche applications first. This means electric buses, industrial vehicles and all new electric vehicle manufacturers.
Why did you decide to work with XPRENEURS?
XPRENERUS helped TWAICE to be market-ready and develop a scalable business model and offered great guidance and network. Throughout the program we met successful startup founders and gained insights into legal, sales and business development topics required to build TWAICE.
Get more information about TWAICE on their website.
You want to become part of the XPRENEURS incubator program as well?
Get more information and apply at https://xpreneurs.io/.
