Detect · Simulate · Assess
Others measure the battery.
I assess what your vehicle or storage system delivers in real-world use.
Whether it lasts, what it's worth, and why it failed, from real-world range to warranty validation. Independent, physics-based, and court-proof.
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Dr. Gerald Sammer
Founder and Managing Director
Interactive Range Simulation
One example of my method. Adjust the controls and see live how temperature, age, driving mode, and HVAC affect range. The same system simulation underpins all my services, from residual-value analysis to storage financing.
Case Study: Real-World Range Loss
A simulation-based analysis – step by step.
A fleet operator reports 40% range loss after 3 years
22 electric light-duty trucks in a delivery fleet in northern Germany. Drivers report drastically declining range since the second winter. The leasing company demands an independent assessment.
Is this normal? Is there a battery defect?
Analyzing charging history and usage patterns
OBD data and charging logs reveal: the fleet charges exclusively via DC fast charger. Average 1.2 fast charges per day, often at SOC <15%.
Modeling temperature × charging behavior × aging
The aging model is parameterised from cell chemistry and vehicle type, not from this fleet. All it receives from the fleet are the boundary conditions, namely the usage profile, the charging behaviour and climate data from Hamburg, and from these it predicts the capacity these vehicles ought to have under this duty. Only then do I reconstruct the actual capacity from the charging logs, energy charged against the SoC window, independent of the battery management system's own estimate.
What causes the 41%? A decomposition.
Simulation enables isolated analysis of each individual factor.
Fact-based clarification instead of speculation
The fleet operator receives a robust report with reproducible simulation. The leasing company accepts the result. An expensive dispute is avoided.
This is how I work. Do you have a similar case?
Discuss your projectServices
Six services built on one shared, independent system simulation. The differentiating core competence is the assessment of your specific duty scenario, not a single state value. Results are independent, physics-based and, as an expert, court-proof.
Residual Value & Warranty
Real system value of an electric vehicle from consumption, charging performance and degradation in actual use. The basis for residual-value and warranty products for leasing companies, fleets and insurers.
Storage Financing & Performance Commitment
Independent validation of throughput, efficiency and degradation over the entire service life. For financiers and operators of stationary storage, as a solid basis for financing and performance commitments to investors.
Software, AI & BMS Forensics
Court-proof root-cause analysis, including cases where control, AI or battery management malfunction due to software. Reinforced by the EU Product Liability Directive from December 2026.
Duty Scenario & Fleet Fitness
Can a vehicle or fleet handle the real-world duty, in winter, on gradients and under load? Feasibility, reserves and critical routes, assessed objectively.
Battery Passport Conformity
Independent verification of the values declared in the battery passport against an own physics-based model. For economic operators and market surveillance, ahead of the mandatory requirement from 18 February 2027.
Second Use & Second-Life
Remaining performance, remaining service life and safe operating window of used battery modules for second use. The bridge from the vehicle to stationary storage.
Stationary Storage (BESS)
Battery storage means large investments and long operating lives. I provide the independent basis for financing and performance commitments, drawn solely from your operational data, without any intervention in the plant.
- Validation of the financing basis and performance commitments for financiers and operators
- Degradation forecast across the entire operating life
- Optimising revenue against degradation in operation
- Second-life and remaining-useful-life assessment
- Expert opinion in disputes, operator versus manufacturer
Entry-Level Offers
Low-threshold, purely data-based, with a clear answer.
Range Plausibility
Is the claimed or measured range plausible? A clear answer, yes or no, with a traceable justification.
RequestDegradation Second Opinion
Does the promised warranty or degradation curve hold up against the model? An independent check of your assumptions.
RequestDuty-Profile Check
Can a given vehicle type handle its real route over its lifetime, even in winter and uphill? Calculated for your use.
RequestWho I work for
However different my clients are, the question is always the same: what the vehicle or the storage system delivers in real-world use, not which condition value happens to be displayed.
Lawyers & Legal Insurers
Independent, court-proof opinions in range, degradation or product-liability disputes, including software and AI.
Fleet Operators
Can the vehicle handle its duty profile over its lifetime, even in winter and uphill?
Storage Operators & Financiers
Financing, performance and degradation checks and assessment of asset risk over the operating life.
Economic Operators & Market Surveillance
Independent verification of the values declared in the battery passport, with the reporting duty from February 2027.
Second-Life Recyclers & Repurposers
Fitness, remaining performance and the safe operating window of used battery modules for reuse.
Insurers
Target range and plausibility in the disputed individual case.
Leasing Companies
Real residual value of the vehicle from how it behaves in actual use, not from a condition value alone.
Car Dealers
Data-based reports as a sales tool and for screening during purchasing.
Methodology
Others determine the condition of a battery at a single point in time, a value such as the state of health. For me, that value is the starting point, not the result. I assess what a vehicle or a stationary storage system actually delivers with it, in real-world use over its entire service life.
- Physics-based simulation as the framework, combined with data-driven calibration against measurement, test, and field data
- Systematic examination of usage profile, temperature, load conditions, charging history, and environmental conditions
- From the measured value to the real result: range, performance, aging, and residual value over the lifetime
- Reproducible analyses and transparent conclusions, independent and defensible in a dispute
About
I founded simotive.ai to answer one question independently: what does an electric vehicle or a stationary storage system really deliver over its service life, in range, performance, aging, and residual value? Assessed on the facts and traceably justified.
Before that, 27 years at AVL List GmbH, more than 20 of them in leadership, most recently responsible for the Electrified Powertrain business unit. Dipl.-Ing. in Telematics (TU Graz), with a thesis on artificial intelligence and machine learning, and Dr. techn. in economics with the dissertation "Success Factors for Automotive Testing". Plus training in batteries and electric mobility (TH Ingolstadt, 2022) and regular talks at international technical conferences.
I work as a technical expert for electric vehicles and stationary storage systems. In my analyses I use tools including AVL CRUISE M and Matlab/Simulink.
If you want to know what your vehicle or your storage system really delivers and what it will still be worth in a few years, let's talk.
Dr. Gerald Sammer
Founder and Managing Director, simotive.ai
Why now
From 18 February 2027, the EU Battery Passport will require mandatory lifetime and condition metrics for batteries above 2 kWh. These are exactly the metrics I assess and verify, ahead of time and independently. Already from December 2026, the new EU Product Liability Directive brings software and AI into scope with disclosure duties, immediately raising demand for independent technical experts. Add to that the residual-value wave from leasing returns, the growing debate around warranty and total loss for electric vehicles, and the boom in stationary storage across Europe.
Contact
Do you have a technical question about electric mobility? Let's discuss how simulation-based analysis can help you.
gerald.sammer@simotive.aiDiscuss your project