Redesign Plugshare Trips and deliver an improved user experience.
Project Duration
80 Hours
Role
UX/UI Designer
01. Why Plugshare?
While owning an electric vehicle has many advantages, running out of charge without a charging station nearby is not of them. To assist drivers with this problem, Plugshare created a locator app with a complete database of all the public charging stations across the US. It also helps users plan trips along long routes where they may not be familiar with nearby charging stations.
Plugshare features over 400,000 electric car charging stations, with smart filters that let you see only the stations that are compatible with your EV. The app features station overview, real-time availability, ratings and user photos. A user can also pay for charging right in the app using "Pay With PlugShare."
02. Research
Study the landscape and dynamics of the EV market and the different apps catering to its 1+ million consumer base in the US.
Understand how consumers are using the locator apps for EV charging stations and what are their needs and pain points while using the app?
Investigate similar trip planning features in other apps and what learning can be applied to improve Plugshare?
“By 2030, the number of EVs in US will reach 18 million, requiring an excess of 9.6 million charging ports.”
Market Research & Competitive Analysis
I created a chart for Plugshare’s five main competitor apps and mapped out their key features and services through market research and competitive analysis. Among other things, I wanted to find out which apps also offer trip planning and how it’s implemented and received by the consumers.
Focus Group
As part of my research plan, I wanted to set up a focus group of potential users for their opinion on EV apps in general and trip planning features in particular. But due to time constraints and COVID-19 limitations, I wasn’t able to do that. So I improvised and was able to get user feedback by conducting a (socially-distanced) field research trip at my local charging station.
What are the users thinking?
I asked EV owners to share their experience of using their favorite EV charging locator apps. I was curious if they had any experience using Plugshare and if so, had any feedback or feature wishlist. These were the key findings from my interviews.
Major Pain Points
Unreliable charging station information
Limited number of charging stations
Long wait times
Hard to use UI
Wants & Needs
Automatic Trip Planning: All participants wanted the Trips tab to auto select charging stations and make route planning more straightforward.
Reliable Information: The participants wanted the app to occasionally review and feature only up-to-date information to avoid any difficulties on the road.
Better UX Design: The current Trips tab design is not easy to use and doesn't display information in an easy to understand way. Participants preferred design to be similar to Google Maps or Route Perfect.
Advanced Filters: With multiple different options available for various EVs, users require more filters to be able to view only the stations that cater to their specific needs.
Following the user interviews, I created a user persona and an empathy map to help me develop a better understanding of Plugshare consumers and map out the project requirements.
03. Define
A redesign of Plugshare Trips to provide users with an innovative UX experience. The new design will include automatic selection of charging stations on the trip route, list of amenities nearby (hotels, restaurants, rest stops etc) and the ability to find parking at the destination.
High Level Requirements
For creating a Trips MVP, I’d need to design the following screens:
A screen to get trip and vehicle details
Hero screen that displays:
Trip route with “auto-selected” charging stations
Charging station details: Overview, Features, Reviews, Photos
A toggle to display “all” charging stations on the route
A screen that lists “auto-selected” charging stations on the route
A screen to save trip
A screen to show smart filters: Network, Price, Amenities, Parking etc
Creating the task flows
After defining the key requirements for the redesign, I picked a few task to check how users would interact with the new design.
04. Design
The design process was initiated by creating high-fidelity wireframes based on my sketches post market and field research. I decided to drive inspiration from Google Maps, Uber and Routeperfect for the design patterns in the new experience.
Redesigning the User Interface
The wireframes and the Plugshare visual language provided a great foundation to kick off the UI design process for each of the individual screens. Because I was redesigning an existing feature, I wanted to make sure it works well with the current app design. I particularly focused on keeping a cohesive visual tone, new icons for locations and charging stops as well as an immersive charging station information panel.
Prototype and Usability Testing
To test the new trips design, I conducted usability tests of the prototype with a few participants. They were asked to complete three tasks:
Task #1: How would you create a new trip?
Task #2: How would you customize an existing trip?
Task #3: How would you start a trip?
Some of the notable recommendations (for future direction) included:
Ability for reviewer to share information about their vehicle
Ability to up/down vote reviews
Ability to use voice commands for trip directions
Ability to share Trips
Added a “Share” option (for saved trip) to enable users to share their trip routes with other plugshare users.
Upgraded “charging stops list” to display station features
Added “charging capacity, plug type and amenities” to the charging station information.
Overall, the participants felt that the redesign was intuitive and well-integrated into the existing pattern library of Plugshare. I was pleasantly surprised to find that all users completed the given tasks with little to no misclicks.
05. Conclusion
With the fast-growing popularity of EVs and locator apps like Plugshare, the project's goal was to suggest UX design improvement in one of its significant features - Trips. This project was an incredible learning opportunity, and researching it helped me appreciate many of the innovative ideas and apps in the EV domain. The redesign further proved that there is always room for improvement in every design, and a few small changes can help elevate a user's overall experience.