EcoCharge
A unified EV charging experience spanning in-vehicle HMI and companion app — route with confidence, charge without friction.
/Overview
EcoCharge reimagines the electric charging journey as one continuous flow from planning to plugging in. The in-vehicle HMI and mobile companion share a single design language so drivers never lose context.
/Business Challenge
Range anxiety and fragmented charging networks made EV road trips stressful. Drivers juggled multiple apps, inconsistent pricing and unreliable availability data.
/Research
We interviewed 24 EV owners and shadowed 6 real charging sessions across urban and highway contexts.
- Availability uncertainty was the #1 anxiety driver.
- Drivers wanted charging planned into the route, not bolted on.
- Payment and authentication friction caused mid-session abandonment.
/Competitive Benchmarking
We benchmarked six leading charging and navigation products against discoverability, trust and speed-to-charge.
- Native OEM navigation
- Third-party charging networks
- Consumer map apps
/Personas
Predictable, fast top-ups near work and home.
Confidence that chargers en route will be free and working.
/User Journey
From "will I make it?" during planning, through "is this charger free?" en route, to "am I done yet?" at the stall — we designed reassurance into every moment.
/Information Architecture
A three-pillar structure — Plan, Navigate, Charge — keeps the mental model consistent across vehicle and phone.
/Task Flow
The critical path from destination entry to confirmed charging stop was reduced from 9 steps to 4, with smart defaults for preferred networks.
/Wireframes
/High-Fidelity Designs
/Design System
A token-based system with energy-state color semantics, shared across AAOS and mobile, integrated with the release library.
- Energy state color tokens
- Adaptive map components
- Cross-platform typography scale
/Accessibility
High-contrast charging states, large touch targets for gloved hands and voice-first flows for eyes-on-road interaction.
/Developer Handover
Specs delivered with component states, motion timing and edge cases; paired with engineering during AAOS integration.
/Results
- 38% reduction in charging session drop-off.
- 4.7★ average rating for the companion app.
- Adopted as reference pattern across two additional brands.
/Reflection
Designing for a moving, energy-constrained context taught us that reassurance beats information density — say less, but say it exactly when it matters.
Personalization Platform
Software Defined Vehicle