J.D. Power Expands EV Reach Buying ZappyRide

The Beatles once sang, “They say you want a revolution …,” well the auto industry’s in the early stages of one, moving from internal combustion to battery electric, and J.D. Power made sure it’s keeping on top of the change with its acquisition of EV data company ZappyRide.

ZappyRide, which was formed in 2018, is an EV data company that builds white-label software and tools for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), electric utilities and other green tech companies. Essentially, the company looks to knock down the barriers to EV adoption through the use of data.

The shift to EVs means Power, one of the world’s pre-eminent research and data firms, is making the transition as well.

“ZappyRide is positioned at the center of that interconnected ecosystem, delivering the software and solutions that all EV stakeholders need to make,” Dave Habiger, the president and CEO of J.D. Power, said in a statement announcing the sale on Tuesday morning. “By adding these capabilities and key relationships to our robust offerings in automotive and utilities data, analytics and consumer intelligence, we are strengthening our leadership position in the EV intelligence space.”

Boldly going where everyone is going

The ZappyRide acquisition is part of the J.D. Power E-Vision initiative, the company noted in the release announcing the deal. The program focuses on maximizing the company’s industry-leading EV data, analytics, insights and solutions.

“I could not be happier about joining forces with J.D. Power to help drive the EV transformation,” said ZappyRide CEO Olivier Pinçon.

The J.D. Power E- Vision initiative will encompass a broad range of J.D. Power product lines such as ZappyRide, EV syndicated studies and other exciting products that will be announced this quarter. The purpose of the E-Vision initiative is to make it easier for the broad range of companies focused on the EV sector to leverage J.D. Power’s industry-leading portfolio of products in a seamless and integrated way.

Everyone knows the trophy

Power was founded back in 1968 by James David (J.D.) Power III. A former auto analyst working for Ford Motor Co., he launched J.D. Power and Associates working at the family’s kitchen table in April 1968. The associates included his wife, who helped crunch data, and children, who stuffed envelopes with survey forms sent out to vehicle owners.

Power’s big break came when he identified problems with Mazda’s then-new rotary engines. They were failing catastrophically and threatened to put the company out of business.

Within the next few years. JDPA became one of the most widely known automotive research firms in the U.S., with works like the annual Initial Quality Study widely quoted and closely followed by both manufacturers and the public.

But the company has also expanded into a variety of other fields, including telecom and health care, and even provided guidance on quality control to NASA following the space shuttle Challenger disaster. It also launched an insurance and financial services venture in 2017.

On the other end of the stick

Power making an acquisition puts it on the other end of the transaction as the company’s been part of several sales since Power himself sold the company to McGraw Hill Financial in 2005, staying on in an advisory role for the next two years before fully stepping down. Power passed away in January 2021.

In September 2016, S&P Global Inc. — which had taken over the McGraw Hill operations — sold J.D. Power to the XIO Group for $1.1 billion. In March 2018, Harbiger was named president, replacing Finbarr O’Neill, a former Hyundai Motor America lawyer and CEO and 10-year Power chief executive.

The changes kept coming. In 2019, Power was acquired by Thomas Brava, a Chicago-based private equity firm. And it was then merged with Autodata Solutions, a company that provided data and other automotive services.

The company is now based in Troy, Michigan, less than an hour from the Detroit Big Three automakers, moving from its longtime home in the northern suburbs of Los Angeles.

Plugging into the EV Revolution

Power continues to produce more than 200 annual studies, including the well-known IQS, the Vehicle Dependability Study and a series of relatively new reports focusing on electric vehicles and advanced vehicle technologies.

The latter work appears to be closely aligned to the research conducted by J.D. Power’s new acquisition, New York City-based ZappyRide.

That company was founded in 2018 and according to the release announcing the purchase, it “has been a pioneer in the development of EV-specific software designed to empower OEMs, utilities, government agencies, fleet companies and rideshare companies with the data and services they need to navigate the fast-moving EV landscape.”

Looking forward

The timing of the deal coincides with one of the most significant changes to sweep through the auto industry in over a century. What some have dubbed the “EV Revolution” has seen sales of battery-electric vehicles begin to grow rapidly. EVs accounted for barely 1% of the U.S. market in 2019, jumping to more than 5% last year.

“The U.S. market saw approximately 20 new EV models launched in 2022 alone, and with roughly one-fourth of Americans now indicating that they are ‘very likely’ to consider an EV for their next purchase or lease, it has become clear that that the world as we know it is changing quickly,” said Craig Jennings, president of J.D. Power Autodata Solutions.

Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this article.

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• Source: https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2023/01/holy-data-transfer-j-d-power-sold-to-zappyride/