sharecharge story
One day I got a knock on my door from a neighbour in my apartment block. She asked me if she could use my designated car park spot as she needed to charge her car and run the cable from the car into the window of her apartment. I immediately thought, there must be an easier way for apartment dwellers to charge their electric vehicles. As I was walking out of my estate I noticed that some houses had ev charging points in their drive ways completely idle.
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Why cant others use these chargers too?
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What is the current solution for apartment dwellers?
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Could the private charging network be opened to a wider user group?
This is where the idea for Sharecharge was born.
ShareCharge offers a solution to ev owners who do not have access to a home charge point or a public charging station and aims to bridge the current gap in Electric Vehicle Charging infrastructure.
Upon completion of my ShareCharge project I entered it into the Accenture Sustainability Innovation Challenge and finished in the top 20 ideas out of 360 submitted worldwide and had the top project submission from Ireland.
the project
SHARECHARGE, opening private EV charging to the public.
With ShareCharge, electric vehicle (EV) owners can offer their own private home charging points up for use by other ShareCharge
members. As a member I can set my chargers availability on the ShareCharge app so other ev owners can utilise my home charge point.
Timeframe: 2 months
Client: Accenture Sustainability Challenge
Individual Responsibilities: UX Research & UX/UI Design
the problem
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With the world pushing towards the transition from petrol/diesel powered vehicles to electric, the infrastructure to support this change is far behind the initiative. European Parliament passed a law banning the sale of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035, which will result in a halt to sales of petrol and diesel.
According to SIMI, to meet Irish demand over the coming 8 years, we need to install 100,000 fast-charging points. This will be a struggle considering we only have 1,400 public chargers, at 800 locations nationwide. Just 33 public EV charging stations have been approved under a scheme announced 3 years ago, which aimed to develop up to 200 charge points annually.
In apartment blocks across the world there is no option to charge electric vehicles from home unless there are EV chargers installed in the estate which are rare. This lack of infrastructure and apparent difficulty in owning and charging an electric vehicle will delay the change from petrol/diesel cars to electric thus stall worldwide climate goals.
Research
existing solutions
Home Chargers - Charging an electric car at home is the most convenient way for ev owners to charge their vehicles. A home charge point can be installed in most homes with grants options available. This is a viable solution for owners who have access to a driveway/area to charge their electric vehicle. The current number of home chargers in Ireland is unknown but sales of electric vehicles have been growing over the last few years.
Public Chargers - Charging another option for ev owners is to charge their vehicles at one of the public charging points located across the country. There are currently approximately 1400 public charging points in Ireland with 1000 of them in the Republic. This number is minuscule compared to the number of petrol stations in the country and needs to be rectified if the Irish Government wants to meet ev infrastructure demands. Public chargers are often busy in high demand areas as the current public infrastructure is lacking behind the present and future demand.
Existing Apps - There are many different apps for electric vehicle owners to avail of. Many of them have similar features such as locating public charge points, giving updates on current charges and vehicle diagnostics. I took note of what some existing apps did well and features that I could utilise in my design phase.
interviews
User Interviews - one to one sessions with current electric vehicle owners gave me a great insight into their charging habits and what life is like driving an electric car. I also conducted interviews with current petrol/diesel car owners and questioned them on if they would buy one in the future and what the current barriers to this would be. For the purpose of my research I omitted the cost of purchasing an electric vehicle from the equation.
Analysis
infrastructure issues
It is clear that the infrastructure is behind the initiative when it comes to electric vehicles for the coming years.
Target groups affected by the lack of charging infrastructure:
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Prospective EV owners who wish to buy an electric vehicle to reduce their personal carbon emissions but are put off by poor home charging options.
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Current EV owners with no home chargers who have to leave their vehicles in public charging locations as they cannot charge their vehicles at home.
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Governments across the world who plan to tackle their countries c02 emissions and meet their climate goals with the reduction of internal combustion engines on the road.
Extent of impact: Failure to meet climate goals worldwide, more engines on the road due to delay in electric vehicle uptake which results in more C02 emissions.
Storyboard of current ev infrastructure issues for apartment dwellers
research & analysis conclusion
From my research and analysis it is clear that the current options and infrastructure for electric vehicles in Ireland is severely behind the incoming demand. There is a disparity between the goals relating to ev numbers on Irish roads and what current numbers dictate. Individuals currently living in apartments or other rental properties have no option to charge an electric car, one of the main deterents from buying one in the first place. The key questions I will focus on in my ideation phase are:
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How will the infrastructure catch up to meet the higher ev numbers in the future?
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What is the answer to the lack of public chargers in Ireland today?
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What is the charging solution for apartment dwellers who wish to purchase an electric car?
Ideation
mind map
I began to explore all possible avenues of approach when it came to solving the main questions left after my analysis.
Viability of ideas did not come into play at this stage as I was only beginning the explorative ideation phase.
I focused on the existing private network and how could this be utilised by other ev owners who do not have access to their own home chargers.
function & features
I took some of the main features from the existing electric vehicle apps into consideration for my design.
Functions and features from apps such as "Free Now" and "Uber" intrigued me as they allow users to search for a taxi/lifts quickly and with ease.
I focused on how a similar service could work for searching for nearby private electric vehicle chargers.
Design
low to medium fidelity
Wireframe sketches helped me to visualise what was needed at each stage of my idea. I then moved to figma and produced medium fidelity screens.
The home page was kept simple, only giving the user the option to look for a charger or host a charge.
Upon search for a charger selection above, the user is brought to the search screen.
Again only the minimal requirements for finding a charger are needed. A preview image of the map and charger locations is displayed based on users current location.
When an ev charger is found, the user can either reserve that charger based on previously entered information or search for a new one.
The nearest suitable charger to the location entered will be the first one displayed and available for booking.
Reservation is confirmed with details: price, time allotted, address and directions to charger destination.
Edits can be made or charge can be cancelled at this stage.
Prototype
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I focused on developing a flow for ShareCharge users to search for an ev charger near to their current location.
Each screen has a main focus and call to action to avoid drifting from the primary task.
The examples of UI shown would be after the user account has been setup.
key decisions made
I followed a conventional path of searching for an ev charger that is similar to that of existing apps such as free now.
The UI was kept simple with no unnecessary additional extras to confuse the main flow.
The user can reserve a charger in less than 10 clicks.
Main actions are available for selection only when mandatory fields are filled in.
conclusion
ShareCharge offers a solution to ev owners who do not have a home charger and opens the private ev charging network to the public. The goal of this project was to create a result that did not rely on major infrastructure changes and contributed towards the move towards electric vehicles in the future.
The next steps for ShareCharge would be to develop the flow for ev owners who are hosting a charge and create the wireframes/screens for account setup. I look forward to seeing where this project goes.