Overview

I got inspired while speaking to one of my friend's experience of driving an electric vehicle with her family on a stormy snowy day during Christmas. The drive was from the Bay Area to LA. She mentioned it was a nightmare because she was not able to locate a hotel or charging station because of a power outage. Most of the EV charging stations were closed and hotels were full.  

This led me to think of a solution for long-distance EV commuters to guide them to locate shared charging and stay locations.

Research & Findings

A robust research plan is important at the beginning of the project.

A research plan is a way to start conversations with users in a systematic direction and taking note of comments and valuable insights. I started the research plan by identifying research objectives and statements. Overall, this research plan is a document that outlines the where, why, who, how, and what of the project. The methodology I followed during my 1:1 user interview was Five Whys.

In-person user interview

An in-person user interview is key to get user insight. I conducted a few user interviews with both EV owners and prospective buyers at the showrooms and via online surveys. The goal was to understand each user's needs and to get their most specific requirements and expectations.

Recruited participant

The participants interviewed were mainly current EV owners who frequently use their vehicles for both longer multi-stop commutes. I also interviewed a few prospective owners. These prospective buyers helped me to understand their aspirations connected to owning EV.

Here what I learned from my Online user survey 

Ideation

I used Affinity Mapping to organize data and ideas

I find Affinity mapping a great way to organize information into groups with Key similarities. I started with chunking the data which falls under a similar situation. The way I started here is with a brain dump from an interview and survey.

Think & feel, See, fear, and say & do of Empathy Mapping

The followed step is empathy mapping to represent the empathetic dimension of multiple users. I find this one pager helpful to socialize and discuss user research with UX colleagues.

Here the important findings that will impact the future persona are pain points and gain.

Persona 

After researching, data collection, and consolidating I came up with a user persona that describes the best demographic of the target market for EV App. It ranges from a single owner to a 3-4 member family. Something I would like to add here is persona creation is very important, as it constantly reminds us of the user’s needs, wants, and importantly pain points while working on the project.

Impact Statement

Elevate the driving experience of electric vehicle traveler to feel confident in long commute and explore a remote destination, assessed by charging station access at remote locations and quarterly app download analytics.

“How might we....” statement

How might we enhance the long-distance travel experience of electric vehicle travelers so that their drive and stay both are free from range anxiety, assessed by charging station access at remote locations and quarterly app download analytics.

“Point of view” statement

We found that there is a void in the EV app space that allows long-distance multi-stop EV travelers without worrying about range anxiety and "live” en-route guidance for charging stops. This new end-user application will accommodate the needs of EV drivers and provide them a seamless driving experience even in remote locations.

Ideation & brainstorm through “Dot voting”

IL/ IW/ WI ideation methodology designed to organize the feedback we received during user interaction sessions. “What if” section of this methodology allows us to brainstorm and put the wildest ideas together in one board.  The important findings that will impact the feature prioritization through dot voting are here but cautions, this includes some wildest ideas. Overall three focused areas that came are comfort, new app features, and accommodation priorities.

Here is Value Proposition for EV EVER app

EV-EVER is developing an application to provide a unique experience to EV travelers like charging stations with stay and also to locate en-route charging stops with listed facilities to reduce range anxiety and comfortable ride. We are better because we’ll provide first in market EV driving experience. We’re believable because of our partnership and in-depth research findings.

User Journey Map

Next is to create a “User experience journey map”  which is a visual representation of user experience. The key here is to consider the holistic view of the user's feelings, needs, and pain-points during usage of the product.

Competitor Analysis

Understanding the EV app market is important because many new startups are working on similar ideas. I conducted an industry benchmarking on plug types, amenities at charging stations, stay options, and trip planner. After researching both direct and indirect competitors in the EV app and hotel/ shared accommodation gave us a good idea of what's available to customers now, and what we can do to make things better

Prototyping

Wireframe sketch started with Task and User flow and further digital flow chart

I started with task flow which is a linear and non-branching representation of isolated tasks. This gives a very macro-level understanding of the User flow which helps in building wireframes.

Wireframe sketch 

In this phase, I started to tend to layout the items that should be on the page based on user needs. Here Emphasis is on usability over aesthetics and application structure.

Digital wireframe & task flow analysis 

The visual mockup and structure of the app wireframe is a fairly simplistic element which is used to block out each piece of content and UI element. The strength of the wireframe lies in simplicity because it can be easily iterated and approved before moving on to a higher-fidelity prototype.

Guerrilla Usability testing plan 

I planned user testing using the wireframe to understand the user's reaction to 'navigation usability' and 'product features'. This also made me understand where we stand with the user's expectations. The method I used here is Guerrilla usability testing which involves rapid testing without recruiting users in advance. I approached users in the parking lot and supermarket to get real-world actionable feedback. Interestingly I also get perspective and opinion on visual design, layout, and color themes. I noted all the insights, actions, and expectations to iterate the design for the next phase. 

Iterating User flow after a usability test

Based on all improvements, the final design is the combination of the best option with incorporating clarity and friendliness. I put a lot more focus on creating an enhanced user onboarding experience.

Hi-fidelity iOS wireframe

Based on task flow and user flow analysis, and then further refining initial ideas. I created Lo-Fi wireframes with the best option to cater to the user needs. I created a prototype in Figma for user testing. This initial prototype allowed us to test the navigation and usability in real-life scenarios with users. This also helped us in building an understanding of our design language and how components and layouts should look.

Conclusion & future opportunities

Key Learnings

The importance of user testing– I learned conducting usability testing with real users at various stages helped me to identify and rectify the major pain points which I consider roadblocks. 

Research methodology– The beauty of the research methodology is to help designers to build an important base for product design. It helped me to produce important data and insights. Proper research methodology makes our effort more effective and valuable at every stage of the design process.     

Identifying the right persona – I think a deep understanding of the right persona is fundamental for creating a high-quality product. Persona also helps us to find the answer to the most important questions.