According to research carried out by Pike Research and reported by Cars21.com, there is a vast market opportunity for telematics within plug-in electric vehicles. Sales of telematics for these vehicles are forecast to reach a little over one billion Euros worldwide by 2017. Telematics may play a very useful role in providing information regarding the charge state of the battery, the price of electricity (in conjunction with smart grids) and the location of the nearest charging points. It is also anticipated that suppliers from outside the automotive industry will want to take advantage of this new opportunity.