Product information for new electric taxi

London taxi drivers need easily accessible information about their cabs’ features. Moreover, service technicians need to be able to service the vehicles efficiently. As an exclusive partner to London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC), Aleido has provided product information that helps to maximise utilisation and enhance the user experience with the world’s most advanced electric taxi

As a partner to LEVC, a wholly-owned Geely subsidiary, Aleido’s role has been to create, translate and digitally distribute all product information for the new TX eCity. Easily accessible information describing its features for the driver, and efficient servicing of the vehicle for service technicians, are key success factors maximising utilisation and enhancing the user experience with the TX. Aleido has reused aftermarket information in this project to support several target groups in a unique way.

The technical documentation customised for the TX electric taxi has far surpassed our dealer’s expectations. Aleido has given us a very rounded and comprehensive solution for our new and future vehicle lines.
Paul Squance, Commercial & Technical Engineering Manager at LEVC

Animation made by Aleido explaining the air conditioning unit of the new TX eCity.

Product information solution

The project has involved a core team of more than 50 product information experts from the UK, China, Sweden and Hungary. Aleido’s responsibilities throughout the project have included:

defining information guidelines,
creating all service and repair information for mechanical elements, body and trim, including labour times for warranty repairs
developing an Electronic Parts Catalogue (EPC) with VIN number content filtering and search functions; a shopping cart and outputs suitable for third-party parts ordering systems and dealer management systems; and zoomable hot-spot graphics to aid identification of the correct parts
creating a service portal to provide dealers with easy access to all product information
providing driver information on-board and via an app where content is collected continuously from a cloud-based distribution solution
developing embedded eLearning courses, end user training packages that provide information on how to utilise key features of the vehicle, and incorporating these into the operator’s app

working on Service Bill Of Materials (SBOM) development to support the logistics supplier
compiling service bulletins and automated bulletin notifications
designing a service record module to capture the vehicle’s age and distance since the last service. This then produces a check sheet specifically for the input parameters. The module also provides the dealer network and customers with the service history of the vehicle
creating an administration module so that the customer can maintain dealer and user credentials for the portal, and enabling skill levelling; that is, restricting access to data if the technician does not have the right qualifications to work on certain systems, such as the high voltage system

It has been a pleasure to collaborate with LEVC. Not only because of the iconic brand that it is, but because it has been a true partnership from beginning to end, where we have been able to deliver a comprehensive and contemporary experience.
Rob Kember, Business Manager with Aleido Aftermarket Information in the UK

One key success factor for the project involved Aleido’s use of its proprietary Content Management System (CMS) for content creation purposes. With this, the team was able to get started with more or less no lead time for system setup and training. The integrated labour times module made it possible to develop service instructions and labour times simultaneously, using CAD data provided by LEVC. The close collaboration between the technical writers and the skilled graphics and animations team meant that it was possible to incorporate large numbers of illustrations in the product information alongside the text elements. An automatic translation management interface in the CMS meant that Aleido was also able to handle all translations and has initially provided all product information in English, as well as Dutch and simplified Chinese. Additional languages, including bi-directional languages, are planned as the new TX is launched around the globe.

Three digital interfaces

Aleido’s Content Delivery Platform is being used to distribute the various information types. Lodges is used to export aftermarket information from the CMS for LEVC and deliver it to three different digital interfaces.

The first digital interface is the web-based service portal used by LEVC dealers. This portal includes service repair information, system design and functions, the Electronic Parts Catalogue, the service record module and the learning module.

The second digital interface is a customised mobile app that includes the LEVC driver’s handbook, containing everything the driver needs to know about how to operate the vehicle. The mobile app also includes a learning module that provides a structured guide to main vehicle functionality and controls. Notifications are sent to the app when an update is available. Download app: App Store, Google Play.

Thirdly, Lodges also distributes information to the on-board driver’s catalogue, which can be accessed via the TX’s built-in infotainment system. The on-board app uses the same data as the mobile app, allowing a single source to be maintained within the CMS but with multiple outputs. The same source is also used to produce the printed manual and an online PDF if so required.