WORK PROJECT | PRODUCT DESIGN | HMI DESIGN
Powering the Long Haul:
Revamp EV Charge Planning for Seamless Journeys
MY ROLE
Sole UX Designer
TIME
May 2024 - Now
TEAM
Navi Product Line (PLM, UI, FO, PO)
Maps Supplier Team (Baidu Maps)
TOOLS
Figma
TL;DR
What is Smart Charging Planning (SCP)?
Smart Charging Planning is an in-car navigation feature that helps electric vehicle drivers take longer road trips with confidence. When activated, it will offer to add charging stops along the navigating route if the vehicle's range is insufficient to reach the destination.
Mobile EV Brand APP
NIO
What was the problem?
Ever since the delivery of SAIC-GM's first BEV rollout, Cadillac Lyriq, in Sep 2022, the SCP feature has received critical feedback over several usability concerns. Low engagement metrics and poor user satisfaction suggest this feature is both hard to find and difficult to use.
My role & design outcomes.
As the sole UX designer on the team, I took the initiative to undertake onsite benchmarking, involving 9 key competitor models. I facilitated and proposed a solution.
I also led the UX design, boosting task efficiency by 30%. 🎉
  • By working with 1 product line manager, 1 UI designer, 1 function owner and dev team.
  • A good many others remain completely unaware that the feature even exists, as is validated by the low engagement metrics.
The project is currently at the stage of supplier labor evaluation and commercial quotation. It'll be live soon!
**NDA NOTE GOES HERE**
DESIGN SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS
UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT
Range anxiety: slightly eased, hardly eradicated.
Despite the faster charging technology and the denser charging infrastructure, the average charging experience
increase in the number of electric vehicles has led to more vehicles charging at popular stations. As a result, the charging experience for long trips remains highly unstable.
Different charging use cases gave rise to different product forms.
Two Charging Planning Logics Determine Two Product Forms
Two Charging Planning Logics Determine Two Product Forms
SCP: the future of electromobility, maybe?
SCP
PROBLEM SPACE
A static approach inevitably fails a dynamic problem.
An initial round of quick online competitive analysis already began to
UX Walkthrough
Ever since the debut of SAIC-GM's first BEV rollout, Cadillac Lyriq, in May 2022, the Smart Charging Planning feature has been criticized for several usability issues.
  • A good many others remain completely unaware that the feature even exists, as is validated by the low engagement metrics.
  • Some users have accused the feature of being unreliable, having lengthy steps, and "leading them astray" to overcrowded or sometimes broken charging stations.
The project is currently at the stage of supplier labor evaluation and commercial quotation. It'll be live soon!
BENCHMARKING & PROBLEM ANALYSIS
In search of the best practices.
Smart Charging Planning is an in-car navigation feature that helps electric vehicle drivers take longer road trips with confidence. When activated, it will offer to add charging stops along the route if the vehicle's range is insufficient to reach the destination.
Knowing that SCP, I skipped interviews & surveys. I paid visits to 10+ showrooms of various EV brands and did quick UX walkthroughs of in an attempt to summarize the best practice.
Not only the least efficient, but also the most hidden.
SCP is one of the early customized maps feature for SAIC-GM's initial BEV models, including Buick's E4/E5 and Cadillac's Lyriq/Optiq.
Ever since the debut of SAIC-GM's first BEV rollout, Cadillac Lyriq, in May 2022, the Smart Charging Planning feature has been criticized for several usability issues.
  • Some users have accused the feature of being unreliable, having lengthy steps, and "leading them astray" to overcrowded or sometimes broken charging stations.
  • A good many others remain completely unaware that the feature even exists, as is validated by the low engagement metrics.
The project is currently at the stage of supplier labor evaluation and commercial quotation. It'll be live soon!
Anyone asked for a manual search?
Among the 10 systems evaluated, SGM was the only one that downgraded the automatic Smart Charging Planning (SCP) to a manual search-along-route process when only one charge was needed to reach the destination. Users anticipating the automated experience are forced to manually select a charging station from a list. Talk about bait and switch!
Sample Text goes here
WHAT IS CHARGING PLANNING
SMART CHARGING PLANNING is an in-car navigation feature that helps electric vehicle drivers take longer road trips with confidence. When activated, it will offer to add charging stops along the navigating route if the vehicle's range is insufficient to reach the destination.
WHAT IS CHARGING PLANNING
SMART CHARGING PLANNING is an in-car navigation feature that helps electric vehicle drivers take longer road trips with confidence. When activated, it will offer to add charging stops along the navigating route if the vehicle's range is insufficient to reach the destination.
View full case study
WHAT IS CHARGING PLANNING
SMART CHARGING PLANNING is an in-car navigation feature that helps electric vehicle drivers take longer road trips with confidence. When activated, it will offer to add charging stops along the navigating route if the vehicle's range is insufficient to reach the destination.
The benchmarking findings revealed a shockingly huge gap between our current approach and industry best practices.
As I dug deeper, I realized this wasn't just a UX facelift we were dealing with. There were deeper issues that needed attention from everyone on the product line team. To get everyone on the same page, I put together a detailed benchmark report and presented it to the product team.
//不仅仅是交互问题；向产品线做benchmark报告，拉产品入局
This was a turning point – what started as a design-driven initiative transformed into a full-blown overhaul of the entire function. I collaborated with the PM, translated the xxx into specific design requirements, and prioritized them based on urgency and ROI.
//跟据体验影响和ROI，对产品设计需求进行优先级排序，以此决定一期/二期需求
Chop chop, time to get down to the pixels!
WHAT IS SMART CHARGING PLANNING
SMART CHARGING PLANNING is an in-car navigation feature that helps electric vehicle drivers take longer road trips with confidence. When activated, it will offer to add charging stops along the navigating route if the vehicle's range is insufficient to reach the destination.