Thesis Abstract The global auto industry faces new challenges related to urbanization, supply and demand conflicts related to crude oil, and environmental concerns and global warming. In China, electric vehicles (EV) make up a sector of the auto industry which holds a deep capacity for innovation and growth. However, the weaknesses of the service capacity and charging experience are exposed during the long-distance trip beyond the EV cruising range. In this thesis, the author argues that a purely technical or current construction of charging infrastructure may not completely answer to the global demand for better and more accessible electric refueling system. Instead, there should be a holistic approach to increase optimal target audiences’ charging experience by addressing their range anxiety during the EV long-distance trips with the result of greater competitiveness for electric vehicles relative to gasoline vehicles and to boost people's confidence in the electric vehicle industry.
Keywords EV ! EV charging experience ! range anxiety ! EV long-distance trip ! charging pile
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Content Thesis Abstract Content
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Introduction Development of Electric Cars Industry in China 2001-2006: Government Macro Strategic Planning 2007-2015: Establishing Industry Access Rules and Comprehensive Subsidy 2016-Present: Post-subsidy Phase Challenges Facing the EV Industry Cost of Battery Cruising Range Charging Pile Configuration Private Charging Pile Target Audiences Electric Car Owners Electric Car-sharing Users Chinese City Tier System First-Tier Cities in China Moving in the city People in First-Tier Cities Profile of China’s Young Millennials in First-tier Megacities Quality of Life Consumption Habits Saving Habits Car-sharing in China Technology Trends in the Electric Vehicle Secondary Research Insights
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Primary Research Interviews Interviewees Profile Key Findings from Interview Conclusion and Insights of Interviews Survey Key Findings from Target Audiences Survey Conclusion and Insights for Target Audiences Survey Research Summary User Attitude User Behaviors Spending Lifestyle User Charging Behaviors Research Conclusion
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Idea development Problem Definition Mobile APP Current Electric Vehicle Charging Apps Design Solution Target Users Electric Vehicle Driver
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Private Charging Pile Providers Focus Group Mobile APP Main Process 1 Registration / Profile 2&3 Provider：Private Charging Pile Sharing Management & Charging Fee / Earning 2&3 Driver：Organized Big Data Trip & Charging Fee / Payment Before the Trip During the Trip At the Charging Pile After the charging 4 Reward Point System/ Rating User Scenario Usability Test Aim Method Sketch Wireframes Mockup Participants Test tasks Result analysis Driver - Planning Driver - Real-time Navigation Driver: Unlock the pile Provider: Post the pile Provider: Manage pile Provider: Earnings Participants Overall Comments
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Application Design About App App Working Process Driver – Before Trip: Sign Up and Trip Planning Provider – Before Sharing: Sign Up and Pile Management Driver - During: Real-time Data Navi and Charging Provider - During: Manage Sharing and Sharing Driver - After: Payment and Rate/ Reward Provider - After: Rate/ Reward and Earnings Business Model Value proposition Key partners Customer relationship Name of App App Logo UI Design Colors of Logo Colors of App Font of App App Promotion Interface Final Flow Map Register/Log in Provider’s flow map Driver’s flow map
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More Appendix Interview Questions Compare Charging Experience in Different Places Survey Questionnaire Focus Group Questions Usability Testing Usability Visual Report
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Introduction In China, the electric vehicle industry has been established and the innovation capability has been continuously improved. However, unbalanced economic developments in various areas in China have led to uneven distribution of EV charging stations. In the most developed urban areas in China (such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou) where 70% of EVs are sold, there are only 40% of public charging 1 piles , but it is the case that the infrastructure in these cities is relatively complete than other cities. In order to find the nearest suitable charging stations, electric vehicle owners have to apply for charging cards from multiple charging carriers and download multiple apps to meet long-distance or daily outdoor charging needs. Moreover, they have to bear the problems of charging pile failure and non EV occupying public charging parking spaces. These factors make it difficult for people to charge their electric cars in public spaces. The actual range of electric cars changes with different usage scenarios. EV drivers may frequently worried about the cars breaking down. They have to avoid to open air conditioners and to go through highway (It's congested during rush hour). Many people who use electric cars have “range anxiety�. In 2018, besides the increase in electric cars purchase costs caused by subsidies reduction in China, long charging time is still a major concern for alternative energy vehicle consumers. Battery capacity can be simply added, but the efficiency of vehicles energy replenishment may not be reduced by the expansion of battery capacity. In fact, this is not a unique situation as industry studies in other countries have named this trouble caused by car charging as "charging time syndrome". This problem is subtler than the range anxiety. In the past, regardless of product technology improvement or market demand, the electric car industry was largely the result of the direct policy. Now, the Chinese government has decided that subsidies cost will be reduced by at least 30% from 2019, and by 2020 the subsidies will end. Therefore, this thesis attempted to research what is the impact of policy tightening on real market charging demand, whether these needs have any relationship with the charging experience and the barriers for the electric car industry to solving the above problems. In addition to policy stimulus and above problems, what are the portraits of the main user groups of Chinese electric cars, the charging habits and living habits of those living in developed urban areas of China, their charging preferences and pain points, and how to meet their real charging needs are what this thesis would like to explore and discover. The aim of this thesis, it not only improves the charging experience but also boosts users' confidence for electric vehicles.
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source: New Energy Cars Insight Report, Nielsen & Yiche.com, 2017
Development of Electric Cars Industry in China 2001-2006: Government Macro Strategic Planning From 2001 until 2006, the future of China’s alternative, no-crude oil operating, vehicles was somewhat indeterminate. the technical route of China's alternative energy vehicles was not completely determined. At this point in time, China, like other countries, focused on hydrogen fuel cells vehicles. There were few government policies related to alternative fuel vehicles, and those that did exist were mainly macrostrategic guiding policies, focusing on the planning and development goals of alternative energy vehicles. Only in 2005 did the Chinese central government introduced policies to optimize the structure of the vehicle industry, promote the development of clean energy vehicles and electric vehicles, and proposed policies for the development of electric vehicles for the next 5 and 25 years.
2007-2015: Establishing Industry Access Rules and Comprehensive Subsidy During this time China's developers of new energy vehicles made major breakthroughs in key technologies. Since 2007, 3 new energy vehicle products have been independently developed, the battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles. The government began to refine alternative fuel vehicle policies and established the industry's access conditions and corresponding norms and standards. A series of financial subsidy policies were introduced, which laid a solid foundation for subsequent industry growth.
2016-Present: Post-subsidy Phase In the past several years, the Chinese Government has made a series of adjustments to the subsidy policies, including investigating fraudulent behavior of some Chinese car companies, increasing standards of subsidized vehicles and introducing long-term mechanisms such as “the administration of the average fuel consumption and new energy vehicle credits� to guide the transformation and upgrading of car companies. Since 2016, government policies have further clarified the incentives for high cruising range and high energy density vehicles. These policies force electric car companies to upgrade and produce good quality electric cars with longer cruising range. The subsidy for electric vehicles with more than 300 km cruising range will increase.
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Challenges Facing the EV Industry 2
In 2016, UBS Evidence Lab released a report selecting 10,000 consumers in the world's six major auto markets to question whether the main concerns of battery electric vehicle consumers are high selling prices, limited cruising range, the insufficient number of charging stations, and short battery life for battery electric vehicles. Among these concerns, the high price was the primary reason why most people are not willing to buy electric cars.
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A survey conducted by Goldman Sachs in 2016 also found that 50% of global consumers believe that the high price is the main factor affecting the purchase of electric vehicles, followed by limited cruising range and insufficient charging locations. 4
Consistent with the concerns of foreign consumers, a 2018 survey of Chinese domestic consumers shows that battery life and battery price, the cruising range and charging pile configuration are the three most worrying factors for consumers.
Cost of Battery For battery electric vehicles, the battery and powertrain systems account for up to 50% of the total cost, while for fuel vehicles, the engine and powertrain systems account for only 15% of the total cost. This cost structure difference is the main reason why the current cost of electric vehicles is higher than that of fuel vehicles. The rapid reduction in cost through technological advancement and efficiency have become the primary factors affecting the popularity of electric vehicles. This has also led Chinese consumers to be sensitive to the concerns of battery life. Chinese customers who purchase electric vehicles and meet certain conditions can get a green license plate. However, following the institutional arrangement of “one car with one plate�, all freely issued green licenses plates will be scrapped when the electric car cannot be used and the consumers cannot apply again which meaning battery is important for EV owners. On the other hand, in the case of the same external conditions such as vehicle weight and temperature, the cruising range of the electric vehicle is mainly determined by the battery capacity. The higher the battery capacity, the longer the cruising range. Cost and technology and material are the current 2
Report about consumer acceptance of electric vehicles, UBS Evidence Lab, 2016.9 Electric Vehicle Boom, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, 2017 4 The consideration for Chinese consumers to purchase electric vehicles, A brief development history, challenges and prospects for the electric vehicle industry, Tsinghua-Evergrande Research Institution, 2018 3
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problems. With current technology, there are still some old electric vehicles that are difficult to charge because the battery power does not match the power of the charging pile. 5
It is expected that around 2025 , the battery components will be reduced to half and the total cost of ownership for EV users will reach the "oil level price."
Cruising Range Many people's "range anxiety" actually comes from the cruising range of the electric car. Although higher cruising range electric vehicles have been produced and 300km of the range will become the minimum range of future EVs, increased cruising ranges did not eliminate customer anxiety on the road. The electric car cruising range is not equal to the actual range. The use of a vehicle’s air conditioner or playing the music during driving will cause the actual range of the car to be less than the cruising range. In addition, many people are overly worried about the lack of sense of distance even if they have enough cruising range. Therefore, simply increasing the cruising range does not satisfy the user's charging experience.
Charging Pile Configuration In order to establish public charging system, the national operators and car companies in Europe or the United States jointly led the construction and operation of the charging facilities. In the early stage of the Chinese charging pile industry, the third-party operators were responsible for the construction of the charging piles. When European or American auto companies played a more prominent role in building the public charging system, the pile compatibility is usually better. At present, the main factors restricting the construction of charging facilities include long power access periods, high cost, tight urban land supply, and difficult site selection. Private charging piles have problems will property compatibility and fewer parking spots. In terms of charging operation services, there are problems of switching between old and new standards of charging piles, charging safety problems, fuel vehicle occupancy, uneven distribution of charging facilities, low utilization of facilities, and difficulty in profitability of charging operators. The fast-charging (DC charging) facilities in public places face a long cost recovery period (7 years), while the AC charging piles with shorter cost recovery period (4 years) face the problem of shortage of urban land supply and parking spaces. The current overall charging infrastructure construction cannot keep up with the growth of vehicle ownership. However, simply building more charging piles will only cause the unprofitable charging pile operators to fall into a vicious circle, and the problem of user charging difficulties still cannot be solved.
Private Charging Pile As of the end of 2017, China's charging piles reached 450,000 in number. Among them, there are 6 210,000 public charging piles and 240,000 private charging piles . The private charging pile is the charging pile that the user invests in the community to meet the needs of their own electric cars, which is consistent with the household electricity charging.
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Electric Vehicle Boom, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, 2017 The charging pile market is expanding, Charging pile horizon, https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3320596, 2018 6
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In addition to providing a property certificate or a rental contract for a fixed parking space, the electric vehicle owner also needs a certificate issued by the community property, which means that the property owner of the electric vehicle owner agrees to install the charging pile in the parking space. After the property management gives the certificate, the power supply bureau will conduct a field survey to install the charging pile. However, many electric car owners will be stuck in this step, because with the popularity of electric vehicles, the installation requirements of charging piles will also become larger, the electricity capacity of the entire community cannot be borne, because some parking spaces cannot be bought, or some old communities are worried about potential safety issues, some community properties do not agree with the owners to install charging piles. At this time, it is necessary to try to sign some contracts with the charging pile companies and the electric car owners to dispel their concerns. At present, the development of charging piles in China presents the feature that the construction of charging piles has gradually evolved from the construction of public piles to the construction of private piles. From the number and share of charging piles in various provinces and cities, the construction of domestic charging piles is mainly concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and the central and eastern regions. As of the first half of 2018, the proportion of domestic public charging piles in Beijing, 7 Shanghai, and Guangzhou was 40%, while the proportion of private charging piles accounted for 78% . The enrichment effect of private charging piles in the first-tier cities was significantly stronger than that of public charging piles. On the one hand, the number of alternative energy vehicles is very high in first-tier cities. On the other hand, local governments in first-tier cities have greater support for private charging pile construction. Local government more fully explored and innovated community properties, users and third-party institutions to cooperate. 8
At present, private charging pile idle rate is 75% . Private charging piles are AC charging, it usually takes electric cars 6-8 hours to fully charge, and the fast-charging (DC charging) facilities in public places which takes half an hour to an hour. But people need to face electric car charging fee and expensive parking fee in public charging station. Charging time is also a painpoint hidden behind "range anxiety" for people.
Target Audiences Electric car owners and electric car-sharing users are the target audiences. Most of the electric carsharing users make contact with electric cars through the car sharing system. These two groups of people have different charging behaviors and charging needs. Both of them are living in first-tier cities in China. 60% of electric car owners live in first-tier cities. In the first-tier cities with a large population base and high population density, the ratio of users to vehicles is higher in terms of the efficiency of the car sharing system. Car-sharing users use the shared car as a new way of transportation to relieve traffic pressure in big cities.
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The latest development trend of electric vehicle charging piles in China, Qiaolin Xiao, http://www.istis.sh.cn/list/list.aspx?id=11622, 2018 8 Charging piles: the greater the demand, the loss of pile enterprises is getting bigger, CNR, http://finance.cnr.cn/gundong/20180428/t20180428_524216041.shtml, 2018 5
Electric Car Owners 9
Nielsen released a report in 2017 with many statistics about Chinese customers and found that 78% of the 225 electric car owners were male. Among them, 27-36 years old accounted for 54% and 37-47 years old accounted for 29%. 77% of electric car owners are already married and have children. Many of the current Chinese electric cars are purchased as a second car for the household and most of them are purchased by males around 35 years old. They generally have a Bachelor degree and have stable work income as middle managers. Their monthly income is about ÂĽ20,000 RMB, around $3000.
Their satisfaction with electric car cruising range and charging infrastructure service is generally higher than other people. The cost of use, environmental protection, and subsidies are the main reasons why consumers buy alternative energy car. Environmental protection and being able to lead the trend of technology are the reasons why consumers buy battery electric car. They believe such technology is reflected not only in the appearance but also in electronic devices. Hence autonomous driving and connection services are popular among them. The low cost of use is the reason why the plug-in hybrid electric car is more valued. Choosing to buy an electric car equates to a new mobility style. They generally use electric cars for shortdistance city commuting, but in the future, they hope that electric cars can support long-distance travel. Male electric car owners buy cars not only for themselves but also for their wives. They use their electric cars in diverse ways, usually EVs are used for commuting and picking up family members and children, and they will be used to go out with their children during the holidays.
Electric Car-sharing Users 10
At present, car-sharing fleets are predominantly made up of electric vehicles. In a 2018 research report released by AskCI Consulting, it was pointed out that 64% of shared car users are male. They enjoy the convenience and fun of driving. Women have a lower preference for driving and have higher requirements for vehicle safety, comfort, and cleanliness.
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source: New Energy Cars Insight Report, Nielsen & Yiche.com, 2017 source: 2018 China's Shared Car Industry Market Prospects Research Report, AskCI Consulting Co., Ltd., http://www.askci.com/news/chanye/20181008/1130121133444_4.shtml, 2018 10
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The age of shared car users is younger, and they are concentrated between 24-35 years old, accounting 11 12 for 53.5% of shared car users. Their monthly income is ¥10,000 RMB, around $1500 . This generation grew up with Internet technology and accepts new things quickly and they are very familiar with the mobile internet, online shopping, and mobile payment. 13
Another report released by iiMedia Research believes that the penetration rate of shared cars users is low and there is still a great deal of room for development in the shared car market. Among these users, the main reason for the use of shared cars is spontaneous behavior, account by 53.4%. Some of them are students who have a driver’s license but are without a car, dislike the inconvenience in public travel, and don’t want to take an expensive taxi. Car sharing has become the best choice for them because of the low cost. 42.9% of shared car users are people that cannot afford to buy a car or have difficulty maintaining a car. The office workers who have a driver’s license but don’t have a car, usually endure public transportation before in the first-tier cities and have problems with the use of gasoline cars. Since car sharing costs less than owning a new or used car and it is a new way of transportation, it is easy for them to cover the cost. However, they have higher requirements for fast charging time, and 44% of them do not have a fixed 14 charging parking space . Inconvenient charging and short cruising range are also the main concerns. Although their salary is not so high, if they don't consider buying a house or buying a car, they will have disposable income. In addition to the above-mentioned daily commuting situation, electric car-sharing users also choose to use a shared car when traveling with friends or partner. Benefiting from the convenience and flexibility of shared cars, they don't need to pay too much attention to the maintenance and repair of a car. They would rather save the money to buy something more interesting.
Chinese City Tier System 15
Tier systems are widely used to classify Chinese cities. Brought about by the rapid growth of Chinese cities over the last 20 years, labeling a city as "1st Tier" or "2nd Tier" became a convenient way to quickly describe its relative level of development. In China, most analysts use city tier system to study consumer behavior, income level, politics, and local trends to help tune strategies to local conditions. Different organizations define a tier using many factors but they always fall within the following three main 16 categories: GDP, Politics, Population. Many cities rank differently in each area so the average is used to define their actual tier.
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source: 2018 China's Shared Car Industry Market Prospects Research Report, AskCI Consulting Co., Ltd., 2018 12 source: 2018 China Alternative Energy Vehicle Consumption Upgrade Survey - Online Survey Report, www.d1ev.com/news/shuju/79527, 2018 13 source: 2017-2018 China Sharing Travel Annual Development Report, iiMedia Research, http://www.ebrun.com/20180710/285652.shtml, 2018 14 source: “Let Us Redefine EV” Research Activity, d1ev.com, 2018 15 An unofficial government ranking system. YiCai Global's "The Rising Lab" introduced a new methodology for this ranking in 2017. 16 China’s tiered city system explained, http://multimedia.scmp.com/2016/cities/, 2016 7
First-Tier Cities in China The infrastructure in first-tier cities is considered comprehensive, human capital is abundant, the industrial system is highly developed, the development platform for talents is large, and the most dynamic production and life amenities are available. People's mental consumption is highly selective, and entertainment and nightlife are abundant. According to the city GDP ranking , the most economically advanced first-tier city, Shanghai has reached ￥2.6688 trillion (around $ 388.2 billion) which means it has more investment, capital flowing, more employment, and better job opportunities. First-tier cities usually absorb the best service enterprises and employment in China. From the perspective of space, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Megalopolis (“Jing-JinJi”), Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Guangzhou region Megalopolis (“Pearl River Delta”) and Shanghai-Jiangsu18 Zhejiang Megalopolis (“Pearl River Delta”) are each urban Mega-regions that have good infrastructure, abundant human capital and developed and comprehensive industrial systems. The core cities, as firsttier cities in these regions, have become the most dynamic production and life service centers, and economic zones. 17
China's first-tier cities attempt to integrate lifestyles of urban residents in western developed countries in the future. The cities attempt to be more open, and therefore increase opportunities for residents and 19 attract more talent. The rules of the city systems will be fairer and just.
Moving in the city Although the public infrastructure is “state of the art” in the Chinese first-tier cities, they still have a hard time to hold so many people. The biggest manifestation of poor public planning in first-tier cities is traffic congestion. For instance, a half-an-hour trip can takes more than three hours in the first-tier cities during the morning and evening peaks. Usually, there are many people in the station which means they usually cannot get into the metro immediately and have to wait for their turns. This leads to many Millennials have to get up early every day to catch the metro so that they can arrive office on time. They do not like overtime working, but sometimes they will work overtime just to stagger the peak of travel. If they work overtime to midnight, some metro lines have ended its day of operation and only the taxi is still operating which will let them cost more. The fast life speed of first-tier cities is such that people cannot stop for a moment.
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Ranking published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2017 Measuring Spatial Structure of China’s Mega-Regions, Jiawen Yang, Ge Song, and Jian Lin, https://www.lincolninst.edu/sites/default/files/pubfiles/yang-wp13jy1.pdf, 2013.4 19 Young people who have to flee back to the first-tier cities!, PEdaily.cn, https://people.pedaily.cn/201702/20170215408853.shtml, 2017 18
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People in First-Tier Cities First-tier cities bring "development dividends" to people, while putting a lot of pressure on themselves. First-tier cities give young people not only the platform but also the horizon, network resources, and height. These development resources that are important to individuals. They have more opportunities to get in touch with new things, and people are generally more willing to learn new things, which create greater market possibilities. However, high housing prices and rents together with many kinds of material temptations, have caused negative growth in the population in many of the first-tier cities. Even if people live life nine-to-five under intense pressure every weekday, they may still be unable to make ends meet. The rapid development of these cities has made many people feel anxious about their careers. No one knows whether his industry will become a 'sunset industry' in the foreseeable future. This competitive pressure of careers and the pressure of buying houses makes people find their own ways to survive in the city or be eliminated. Even with these personal risks and costs, young people still will choose to live in or move to first-tier cities as cities for personal development.
Profile of China’s Young Millennials in First-tier Megacities In Chinese media, the Chinese Millennials are two distinct, though related, groups. One is the BaLingHou 20 (“After 1980”) cohort , born in the years between 1980 and 1989. The other group is JiuLingHou, encompassing all Chinese born in the 1990s. Both groups grew up in an environment that was almost unimaginably different from the world of their parents and grandparents. In the previous context about the target audience, two groups of target audiences were introduced.
Electric car owners, 27-36 years old and 37-46 years old, and electric car users, 24-35 years old. Besides of 37-46-year-old electric car owners, the rest of them belongs to Millennials generation. China’s 400 million Millennials—a population five times greater than that of the United States—have 21 proven themselves the most powerful contingent in the Chinese marketplace. Millennials are not only helping to grow the Chinese economy—they’re also redefining how it looks, and for whom. Internet and mobile popularization provide a good foundation for the development of the sharing economy, and Millennials boost the rapid growth of the sharing economy. There are 788 million mobile 20
source: Chinese Millennials – a truly unique generation, Brendan O'Reilly, http://chinaoutlook.com/essays/chinese-Millennials-a-truly-unique-generation/ 21 source: [Infographic] Millennials Spending Habits: Chinese VS American, Daxue Consulting, http://daxueconsulting.com/infographic-Millennials-spending-habits-chinese-vs-american/, 2017
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phone netizens in China in 2018 and 52.6% of 2018 Chinese Internet users age structure 20-39 years 22 old, are Millennials. The Chinese Millennials are set to become the dominant force and the most influential consumer segment in the market. In 2015, digital natives in China made up 73% of all e-commerce users nationwide, and nearly the same proportion of Millennials reported shopping on their phones, generating 506 billion USD in revenue from mobile purchases alone. In 2016, Millennials shelled out 5.5 trillion USD via third-party mobile payment platforms like Alipay, Wechat pay and QQ Wallet. Analysts predict that China’s mobile payment market could grow by a factor of 7.4 in 2019, demonstrating how the millennial narrative—busy, cosmopolitan and aspirational—now drives the market.
Quality of Life With strong aspirations toward a premium lifestyle and pursuing a more balanced and healthy lifestyle, Millennials as the main consumers in current Chinese society, are gradually assuming the responsibilities of uploading and sharping society and their families. They grew up with the Internet and have long participated in social media, using such tools to create entirely new forms of communication. Chinese Millennials demand premium products and services that could enhance a personal sense of wellbeing and unique products which give them a sense of superiority, just as these unique products considered luxurious and waste money for older generations.
Consumption Habits Young Chinese generations are spending more generously and demonstrating more individualized preferences than older generations ever did. Young Chinese consumers are familiar with the user experiences afforded by mobile shopping services and social media applications and have high expectation for shopping convenience. They are omni-channel shoppers. Food, clothes, digital products, and entertainment comprise the greatest shares of millennial spending. Chinese 22
Source: 42th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China, China Internet Network Information Center, 2018. 08 10
Millennials increasingly view shopping as a desirable social activity. Shopping no longer satisfies the sole purpose of purchasing goods, but rather creates a space of spending quality time with friends and family. Chinese Millennials spend a significantly bigger portion of their discretionary income on retail-tainment (shopping while enjoying leisure and entertaining at the same time), just as the older generations set much of their budget aside only for necessities. On the other hand, it is much more difficult to purchase assets for Millennials than older generations. Since it is hard to save money to purchase a house, Millennials create spending opportunities that afford a better life.
Saving Habits Millennials are not spendthrifts. 61% of Millennials currently live with their parents (dramatically lowering individual living costs), and save 22% of their income annually, compared to their American peers’ savings of just 7.5%. Unlike their parents, who lived through challenging economic and social times and chose to save and limit their consumption, the younger generations are spending more generously and demonstrating more individualized preferences. When Millennials were young, they were more inclined to consume rather than save, preferring to let themselves eat well, live comfortably, and use the latest products. The rise in rents, coupled with widespread consumer desires inevitably leads to some young people who are “living from paycheck to paycheck�. Quite a few of these people cannot afford to buy an apartment, but they will not leave the cities. Some of them might choose to rent an apartment for a lifetime. When they age, they will have the plan to save money for down payment of the house.
Car-sharing in China Car-sharing is all the buzz among young Chinese. Car sharing mainly is the time-sharing type of car sharing mode, is short-time car rental, for customers make occasional use of a vehicle or use it for commuting on an asneeded basis. Most shared cars are electric cars. This trend is being driven by demand in the nation's larger cities, where sharing is viewed as a cheaper, more flexible way of getting around than buying a vehicle. Even if compared to ride-hailing, the carsharing market in China is still very small. But this could change soon. There are changes in the customer's perception of the car as a status symbol and an increasing willingness to consider alternative 23 mobility solutions. A recent JD Power survey of consumer satisfaction states that about 19% of 23
source: Mobility Disruptors | China: Ride-Hailing Service Affects Ownership Model, JD Power, 2018, 11 11
consumers in China are “very willing” and 51% are “slightly willing” to consider alternative mobility solutions to owning a car, such as car-sharing. According to JD Power, a similar survey in the US showed that 69% of people still want to own their vehicles. The concept of sharing cars sits well a generation that is more connected and open to new trends. Car-sharing essentially works like bike-sharing programs. A user downloads a carsharing app on a smartphone and completes registration by uploading his or her driving license. The user can unlock the car via the smartphone. Trip completed, the user returns the car to a designated destination or to any parking 24 lot in the city. Payment is made online. Among the largest car-sharing operators in China is EVCARD, owned by Shanghai-based SAIC Motor. Their targeted users are people who have a budget of approximately 100,000 yuan or less when it comes to buying a vehicle. Young people have drivers' licenses and want to drive, but purchasing a car remains a challenge for them as they start their careers. On the other hand, young people using car-sharing services in China are influenced by price and user experience, and they can be finicky when it comes to user experience. Young consumers like traveling with friends or family on short day or weekend trips out of town. Some shared cars are placed in popular visitor sites near Shanghai. 25
These factors lead to the current challenges for the car-sharing market in China. People have little patience for non-availability and limited availability of parking spaces, operational challenges for carsharing companies which means low utilization rate, competition and pricing pressure and local government requirements.
Technology Trends in the Electric Vehicle As the final form of automotive products in the next 10 to 20 years, Intelligent Connected Vehicle (ICV) has become a consensus in the industry. Clean energy vehicles will be the most suitable carrier for developing intelligent and connected technologies. The primary form of intelligent connected vehicle is the Internet of Vehicles, which consists of three major components: vehicle terminal, cloud calculation processing platform and data analysis platform. The vehicle terminal collects real-time running data of the vehicle to realize collection, storage, and transmission of all working information and static and dynamic information of the vehicle; the cloud calculation processing platform processes the massive vehicle information, cleaning the data; the data analysis platform is responsible for reporting the data. At the same time, intelligent driving assistance and connected information services will also become important ways and means for electric vehicles to increase product competitiveness. Clean energy 24
source: Car-sharing steers a trend in tune with the young, http://www.china.org.cn/china/201803/19/content_50722835.htm, 2018 25 source: Shared mobility services and car-sharing in China, http://www.sustainabletransport.org/archives/5934, 2018 12
vehicle manufacturers are currently focused on the basic intelligent driving assistance technology and connected information service technology are the key technologies. The assembly rate of Bluetooth/car phone, GPS navigation system, positioning interactive service, car WIFI, panoramic view, and adaptive 26 cruises, is higher in clean energy vehicles than gasoline vehicles. According to Nielsen research , consumers prefer mobile phone remote control (64%), real-time traffic (47%), life information (45%), social APP and WeChat (38%), and human-computer interaction functions (35%). 27 The rapid development of Information Communication Technology (ICT) is an important force driving the upgrading of digital information in the automotive industry and intelligent connected automotive products, promotes the integration of automotive and information communication. Intelligent connected vehicle application in the early stage involves vehicle operation data such as position data, vehicle health data, driving track data, and road environment data and information data such as navigation data, real-time transportation data, weather data and communication data which will ensure driving convenience. In the later stage of Intelligent connected vehicle application, EV vehicles intelligent integration with transportation systems will be given more attention. Get rid of a single autonomous control phase, besides the collection of external environmental information by various sensors carried by the vehicle body, more environmental data will be obtained through multiple channels. Through the user information and vehicle information shared by the intelligent connected electric car, combined with the big data analysis technology, the targeted service information can be pushed. Based on the vehicle status data generated by the intelligent connected electric car in real time, it can provide remote diagnosis service and emergency solution for users; realize the construction of safe and green driving insurance system through violation records, vehicle owner file, and operation data analysis. Intelligent connected electric vehicles use communication technology and decision-making algorithms to achieve intelligent driving. The decision-making algorithm is not only a simple judgment of single conditions but also a comprehensive calculation of huge environmental data.
Secondary Research Insights After researching several sources, the target audiences were determined as electric car owners aged 2746 (primarily aged 27-36) and electric cars users aged 24-35. Most members of the target audiences are married or in a relationship, with an undergraduate education and above. They are the residents of the highly populated Chinese first-tier cities. China’s largest cities have seen their own public transportation networks expand exponentially since China won the bid in 2001 to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Shanghai’s metro, which opened in 1993, currently holds the title of longest in the world, running 398 miles in total, but it still is overcrowded. During peak periods, commuting traffic is highly congested. Even though electric vehicles are used as fuelsaving tools for commuting to and from work, the uncertainty of the travel time due to highway congestion may cause range anxiety. Car-sharing convenience is sought after by young Chinese people as a new way of travel. However, limited parking spaces, the basic charging facilities are imperfect and the problem of low usage rate affects the target audience experience.
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source: New Energy Cars Insight Report, Nielsen & Yiche.com, 2017 source: Analysis of the development of intelligent connected automotive data resources under the new generation communication technology, ofweek.com, https://www.ofweek.com/auto/2018-04/ART-701108420-30226672_2.html, 2018 27
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In summary, the difficulties in charging, range anxiety and charging time seem to be the main factors affecting the electric car charging experience. An increase of the number of charging piles, the lowering of battery price, the expansion of the cruising range, and the increasing of charging pile power seems also not to meet the charging demand and charging experience desires of the target audiences. The trend of future charging demand is "short electric car charging time and long power storage time". In addition to the more user-friendly charging process and the charging pile management of the system, seems that meeting the charging habits and living habits of the target audiences can improve the charging experience.
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Interviews Three electric car owners, one potential user, and one charging pile developer have been interviewed. All five interviews were conducted through video online and voice recorded. The aim of this set of interviews was to learn about their different charging behaviors and charging scenarios; to define portraits of the main user groups of Chinese electric cars; to investigate about charging habits and living habits of those living in developed urban areas of China and to understand their charging preferences and pain points. (For interview questions please see Appendix.)
Interviewees Profile Name: Gender Age
Career
Car ownership
Location
Yan Lv
m
36
Engineer - Middlelevel manager
Battery electric car owner (Electric car is a family second car)
Shanghai
Jinnian Liu
m
42
Business manager
Battery electric car owner (Electric car is a family second car)
Beijing
Yi Yu
m
40
Teacher/ Company trainer
Plug-in hybrid electric car owner (Electric car is a family second car)
Shanghai
Yejun Zheng
m
32
Teacher
Gasoline car owner (Use car sharing system)
Shanghai
Ray Ding
m
32
CEO of Xcharge Tech
Battery electric car owner (Electric car is a family second car)
Beijing
Key Findings from Interview • The electric car owners generally charge their cars at home because the household electricity is cheap; they care about the price of charging. • Many interviewees are avoiding charging their car during trips and choose to charge at their destinations.
• Interviewees indicated that they would decide whether to use an electric car based on the length of the journey (whether the range of the electric car can cover the distance) or whether the parking and charging around the destination is convenient. • Electric car owners charge their electric cars every day. They can use night time and work hours to charge an electric car at home and at the workplace. Car-sharing users would only like to charge in public for less than half an hour. But during the charging time, they have to stay in the car because the shared car is in use by them. • Interviewees are annoyed by non-predictable charging times. On one hand, they are not willing to spend time waiting; however, they do not like the cost of using a public charging pile which is calculated by time and parking fee.
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• When electric car owners are using public charging piles, they feel embarrassed if their cars continue to occupy the charging position after fully charging for 1 or 2 hours. • Interviewees have two concerns about the safety of electric vehicles: the impact on their own safety and EV battery. For monthly-rent-shared car users who do not have private piles at home, it is not safe for them lowering an extension cable out the window of one apartment down to the parking area – this has several problems including tripping hazards, an overloaded extension cord catching fire, and the lack of weather protection for the connectors.
• Interviewees were troubled by the installation and post-installation of private charging piles. Their private charging piles come from car dealers, private purchases by the electric car users and owners, and they are installed by electric car owners themselves or by unprofessional property maintenance workers. • Many interviewees are satisfied with their current daily electric car charging for commuting to and from work. At the end of each way, they will charge their electric cars at home or at the work place. • Interviewees feel positive that electric vehicles can meet their daily travel needs. The replacement effect of electric vehicles to gasoline car is obvious.
Conclusion and Insights of Interviews Although these interviewees belonging to the millennial generation, these target audiences seem more mature and their lives are centered on their families. From planning trips to planning charging to save money, their aims are to give a sense of security to their family. They are concerned about the electric cars cruising range and take action every time they drive to avoid possible range anxiety. Although they live in first-tier cities and have high level positions at work, the cost of living in China’s firsttier cities is now among the highest in the world. The school tuition fees for children and the pressure to pay payment of housing loans are the two main financial concerns. They try to save money on the low cost of charging electric cars at home and at the work place. The charging safety of electric vehicles is one more concern.
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These interviewees worried that the public “fast charging” will affect their car’s battery life, and they lack confidence in the charging pile operators’ and the car dealers’ directions. They do not feel protected by vague or null installation instructions of private charging piles in the apartment blocks where they live. They are also dissatisfied with the charging pile manufacturers and the community properties lack of cooperation. However, they do choose to charge at home or at work for long periods of time to avoid long wait times for charging their electric cars. For the short charging time of less than half an hour, they choose to stay in the car to take a phone call or watch something on their phones.
Survey The following questionnaire was distributed through author’s personal networking and a professional online survey platform wj.qq.com. In this survey, 20 valid responses were collected. (For survey questionnaires please see Appendix.)
Key Findings from Target Audiences Survey • All target audiences feel that family relationships, friend relationships, and health are very important values. More than half of them think that for friends and family relationships, ‘other people would be upset with me if these values were not important’ and ‘I would feel guilty or ashamed if these values were not important to me’. • People generally want to be experts in their fields of work. • The target audiences generally value their time, attempt to fill their time not waste time. • ‘Fast’ is equal to efficient. Some people also mentioned that ‘fast’ is a psychological feeling. • Within half an hour, people generally watch short videos, go to the grocery store to buy things, pay household bills, and make the call. • They usually spend 2-4 hours in one day on driving, surfing the Internet, eating and watching the news. • They usually spend 4-6 hours in one day on watching movies, driving, shopping, and eating. • Parents, friends, and lovers (boyfriends or girlfriends) are the people the target audiences interact most. Lovers (boyfriends or girlfriends) are involved in almost all the target audience's activities. The target audiences interact with parents and friends very similarly: watching short videos, surfing the Internet, and playing games will also be done with friends, but watching TV shows and watching the news is mainly with lovers (boyfriends or girlfriends) and parents. • 76% of the target audiences have more than one job and ancillary revenue. • The target audiences feel restless when they are doing invalid work and wasting time. But they also feel that time passes fast and happily when they are with their families or lovers. • The target audiences claim usually sleeping, resting and staying with their families on weekends.
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Conclusion and Insights for Target Audiences Survey The target audiences mainly focus on their families and friends relationship. As they age, they better understand the past hardships of their parents. Once they will have a family or a child, they hope to take on more responsibility for their families. They desire to have more contact with other family members, friends and significant others, but they have to compromise between their work time and their recreational time. Their life in first-tier cities has the stresses of including the higher cost of the house, even if their salary is higher than people in non-first-tier cities. In addition to their primary work, they have one or two side jobs to help to increase their household income. Time is precious to them. They want to balance their work and life, but at the same time, they don't want to disappoint people who they care about, or their family’s expectations. They are eager to become experts in their careers. They spend time on the news, driving, and reading. In addition to the time spent with their families and partners, they pay attention to “YiQi”, a spirit of friend’s loyalty and self-sacrifice, a code of brotherhood. This common code of conduct for building strong, trustworthy relationships in China requires spending time with friends as much they can. This is especially shown in the case of "eating time". Nothing is better than sitting together with a meal. If their friends have trouble, they will stand with them and do favors for them.
Research Summary In the determination of the target audiences, although the penetration of car-sharing users and electric car market is still low in China, Chinese Millennials represent 53.7% of the electric vehicle user/owner. Specifically, 54% of electric car owners are 27-36 year olds, and 53.4% of electric car users are aged 2435 years old. Most of them are male.
User Attitude Flamingo Shanghai, a cultural consultancy in China, says that as a generalization, the “balinghou” tend to be idealistic, worried about jobs, and are trendsetters, whereas the “jiulinghou” is individualistic, want to start businesses, and are trend followers. According to the firm China Youthology, the “balinghou” were the pioneers of individuality in China, but it’s the “jiulinghou” that are taking individuality to the next level. They live in first-tier cities with stable incomes to meet their daily needs, but Chinese Millennials’ individual average salary is still low. Analysts think the long work hours, chronic traffic, and heavy levels of pollution have roles to play in Chinese Millennials’ willingness to purchase convenience and escapism. Chinese Millennials want seamless integration of their online and the offline worlds. They are digital natives who are reliant on technology and see consumption as a form of self-expression and freedom.
User Behaviors Eating out is by far the most popular activity of Chinese Millennials, followed by going to the movies and then live events. Despite the comparatively low salary, Chinese Millennials spend 14% of their incomes on non-food shopping – the highest rate in the Asia Pacific region.
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Spending Target audiences spend more generously and demonstrate more individualized preferences than the older generations. They spending a higher proportion of their income in the services industry, including on education, healthcare, entertainment, food and beverages, and travel. They also have high expectations for shopping convenience. They are omni-channel shoppers, to use whatever channel that best suits their needs, be it online or offline.
Lifestyle Chinese Millennials want seamless integration of the online and the offline, so they spend a substantial amount of time on social media platforms. They are digital natives who are reliant on technology and see consumption as a form of self-expression and freedom.
User Charging Behaviors Target audiences are accustomed to planning trips before using electric cars to avoid range anxiety and charging during routing. Being part of their commute routine, target audiences drive electric cars mainly for daily commuting and short-distance travel. They enjoy private charging piles in their communities. It has been established that for the target audiences, charging safety, charging cost, and charging time are important factors. Charging safety includes concerns of self, electric car battery and the installation and maintenance of the charging pile. By buying EVs, target audiences demonstrate their confidence in the electric car and show that alternative fuel vehicles have the possibility of replacing gasoline vehicles in the future. These consumers’ preferences should therefore be used to develop guidelines and marketing strategies
Research Conclusion According to the research done, to meet the increasing demands of a rapidly growing EV industry, we must utilize and combine the latest technology with a user-centered design that answers to the basic needs of target users. However, not only the proper use of technology and design, but also the ability to improve efficiency, meet the needs of the target audiences and increase the satisfaction of interactions is critical. It is interpreted that a purely technical or current construction of charging infrastructure may not completely to answer to the global demand for better and more accessible electric refueling system, there should be a holistic approach. As an outcome of this study, design may be used in a way that would have worldwide relevance especially in relation to human behavior and experience. The final design will highlight the advantages of technologies that address the specific needs and requirements in China, and it will focus in the analysis of these target audiences' behaviors and reflect possible enhancements on features of design solution.
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Problem Definition Human factors: Even if 300 km of the range will become the minimum range of future EVs, this cruising range in a fully electric car during nearly twice the cruising-range long-distance trips leaves a limited room for error and minimal charging flexibility. The primary research has established the strong needs of planning tools, and options that are not only related to the expensive commercial electricity and expensive parking fees at public charging stations. Technology factors: The current stage of vehicle navigation systems and wireless data communication systems are not suitable for the variable use scenarios of electric vehicles. As the most suitable carrier for the development of intelligent and connected technologies, EV vehicles intelligent integrated with transportation systems will be the focus of the major auto manufacturers. The research has also highlighted private charging piles that are usually idle during the day (75% in the year 2017) as an opportunity.
Mobile APP The time-saving design is by far the most important trend in mobile design, as users want to use products that help them reach their goal as fast as possible. Therefore, mobile app is the most suitable medium to design a liners user journey to help to reduce anxiety.
Current Electric Vehicle Charging Apps There are three large electric vehicle charging integrated apps on the market including private charging piles and are produced by the charging device manufacturers. They provide multiple charging pile resources, charging convenience and other services. Besides their own shared private pile solution and public charging place features, there are various other features such as the online store, one-click navigation, plus membership center, charging map and charging skill online class. However, although they are versatile, the apps are complicated for users to use. Even though they have lots of charging pile resources, their charging service still focuses on the in-city charging demand side. The charging pile navigation also only supports routes within the city and cannot cross cities. Therefore, there is a missing segment of the current charging apps about combining the intercity long-distance travel planning and charging convenience.
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Design Solution Networking platform which allows electric vehicle drivers and private charging pile providers (EV owners) to eliminate EV range anxiety on long-distance trips and effectively use idle charging piles.
Target Users Electric Vehicle Driver “Jiulinghou”, post 90’s Millennials are the EV drivers for the design solution. They are single or in a relationship. They usually live with their parents in the first-tier city and have stable jobs. Public transportation, car-sharing system, and sharing bikes are the main ways for their daily commute. They spend a higher proportion of their income in the services industry, including education, healthcare, entertainment, and travel and purchasing convenience and escapism. They often go out to eat with friends and travel with their partner. They hope to have economic and flexible travel so they can have more time to stay with important people. They also want seamless integration of the online and the offline.
Private Charging Pile Providers “Balinghou”, post 80’s millennial EV owners can be the electric car private charging pile providers in the design solution. They usually married and have children. They need to pay their house mortgage and child’s tuition. They are usually senior management in companies. They hope to balance family life and work and take care of families. They tend to be idealistic, worried about jobs and are trendsetters. They usually have one or two side jobs to help to increase the household income and meet family members’ expectations. They have a strong aspiration towards having a premium lifestyle and pursuing a more balanced and healthy lifestyle. They would like to use this design concept to increase their household income.
Focus Group Focus group was conducted with four electric car drivers, to learn about their preferences for trip planning, their habits of long-distance travel and the value of the mobile app. All participants were males and were between 27 and 32 years old. During the meeting, the discussion focused on some questions: What do you care about when arranging an EV trip? What is the acceptable the distance from the charging place to activity? What range will make you feel anxious? What is your option about using EV for long-distance travel in the future? What kind of app do you prefer to use? All participants stated that they have the habit of researching the trip before using the electric car. They will calculate whether the estimated arrival time is close to the mealtime, whether the parking or charging place is close to the destination and convenient. They had a large difference in the acceptance of the distance between the charging pile and the activity, but considering the time of the round trip, it indicates that they are unwilling to accept the distance difference of more than three kilometers. For those who can accept long distances, convenient transportation methods such as DiDi (ride sharing) allow them to increase the distance difference to some extent.
Most of the participants said that, like the mobile phone, if the EV power is below about 20%, some measures will be taken to prevent the electric car from potentially running out of power. However, since
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they will estimate the feasibility of the trip before, they generally do not calculate to arrive to the destination when the car’s power below 20%, which is not controllable for them. They can fully imagine that more people will use EV for long-distance travel in the future. One of them has a short intercity drive using electric car. They believe that a trip planning tool will make the EV travel and charging of electric cars different. They also hope that the app's design will focus on its important features rather than adding many useless information portals like those of commercial apps.
Mobile APP Main Process Provider: Electric car owner (the private charging pile owner)
Drivers: EV user (the person who uses a/an (sharing) electric car for the long-distance trip)
1 Registration / Profile ➔ 1.1 Link charging pile software (allowing information access)
1 Registration / Profile ➔ 1.1 Link (sharing) car system (allowing information access)
2 Private Charging Pile Sharing Management
2 Organized Big Data Trip ➔ 2.1 Planning Trip & Charging Pile Availability ➔ 2.2 Real-time Data Navigation ➔ 2.3 Unlock Charging Pile & Start Charging ➔ 2.4 Trip Tips
3 Charging Fee / Earning 4 Reward Point System/ Rating
3 Charging Fee / Payment 4 Reward Point System/ Rating Identity switching is planned as providers can also become drivers.
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In details:
1 Registration / Profile Before providers and drivers use the service, they will need to register with real names. (Due to local law, government requiring websites operators and service providers of online forums to request and verify real names and other personal information from users when they register. Whatsmore, mobile phone numbers became a form of ID after China introduced a policy in 2010. Chinese Internet users are adapted to registration with mobile phone numbers instead of email addresses. Almost all apps in the Chinese market are also applying this trend to follow users.) Both of them will fill in the user profile with personal information such as user name, password, phone number, head photo. (Mobile phone number used for real-name registration, after users provide a mobile number and they will get of verification code as confirming receipt.) Providers (EV charging pile owners) are required to fill charging pile information or link at charging pile system for charging pile sharing. Providers are encouraged to add a description of their surrounding environment and local public transportation advice for the drivers. Drivers can link to the car-sharing system or car system as an option for potential information access.
2&3 Provider：Private Charging Pile Sharing Management & Charging Fee / Earning Before sharing, the providers can freely manage the drivers’ requests and booking time. They can check the drivers’ credit rating who placed the requests and decide whether to approve the drivers after viewing their profiles. During the sharing, the providers can see some information such as remaining time, drivers’ contact information. They can remote stop the charge pile as well. Earning could be directly deposited in Wechat and Alipay payment system. Today many apps span platform, devices, and channels. The ultimate goal is to create a seamless experience across all iterations of the product.
2&3 Driver：Organized Big Data Trip & Charging Fee / Payment Before the Trip Estimation: Before the trip, when the drivers set the destination and date for planning trip, the system will give the estimated charging fee, based on the length of the trip, the range of the electric car data. Trip Tips: APP will suggest modifications of the trip as options. The drivers can also browse other drivers shared similar trip and one-click copy the trip plan including book the same charging pile. Charging Pile Selection: Drivers can select available charging piles including private charging piles and car sharing partners’ car rental spots; can filter the charging piles by community parking fee price and rating or sort by metro line and location proximity instead of suggested charging pile. The drivers can check the charging pile details and place the request for it to the providers. They can also message charging pile providers. Charging Pile Certificate:
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The drivers can check the charging pile certificate after successfully booking. This includes the specific information such as the parking spot number where the charging pile is located, the date of reservation, and the provider's contact information. Drivers can add it to the wallet.
During the Trip Mobile devices have a lot of built-in sensors, such as the camera, location tracking, accelerometer, and a touch sensor. These technologies can all be leveraged to improve the user experience. Real-time Info: According to the data input by the drivers, the system will show real-time data navigation base on the drivers’ car driving status. The drivers will have clear ideas about the information on the trip such as remaining time, booked charging pile location, speed suggestion, instant message, and emergency support locations.
At the Charging Pile When at the charging pile location, drivers can scan the QR code on the charging pile to start charging the EV. The app will recommend activities and city information during the charging time.
After the charging The final cost will be calculated based on the actual charging time and service charge. Possible community parking fees are paid to property management after the drivers left the community. The integration with Wechat and Alipay payment system will reduce the users’ apprehension of payment security and charging safety.
4 Reward Point System/ Rating A reward point system encourages users to share their own travel plans and favorite charging piles. Providers and drivers can try to complete their growing tasks to earn more reward points. Providers are rated on the maintenance of the charging pile, the response speed of the provider, the usage experience of the charging pile. Users are rated by charging piles providers about using attitude, safe charging. They will rate for each other after charging pile sharing process done. This 2-way rating system involves the user and provider to make the experience safer.
User Scenario Driver‘s friend recently told him that there are some festivals in Wuxi and suggested a visit. Because his girlfriend’s birthday is coming up, he wants to rent a shared electric car to do a driving tour from Shanghai to Wuxi, so they will have more flexibility on the trip. Now he needs to plan the trip. Provider’s corporate response policy subsidies senior managers to purchase electric vehicles. He recently switched from family gasoline car to an electric car and installed a charging pile. Although the company has subsidies, electric cars still consume part of their savings. He and wife are both managers who go out early and return home late. The charging piles are usually idle during the day. They plan to share the charging pile to increase their savings.
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Usability Test Aim The aim of this usability test is to understand whether users can use this app easily in terms of clarity of operation, the app’s visual style and typography, and sense of charging demand within the trip. It is also want to understand whether elements and priority of the pages and appearance meet target users’ need and their emotions, as well as comments from users.
Method The sketch wireframes prototype ran on a simulation app (POP - prototyping on paper) on an actual phone. Since most target participants are in China, in case they dislike installing that the simulation app, a texting document was prepared for them to ensure this remote-testing was successful. Mockups also were shown at the end of the testing document. (For a more detailed usability testing document please see Appendix.)
Sketch Wireframes Based on the flow map structure, several versions of idea sketches and the user scenario, the “content” wireframes were created to illustrate the layout of different elements, the content and image requirements for each page, the priority or key element of each page, as well as navigation and functionality. In order to present the ideas intuitively, low fidelity sketch wireframes were created instead of vector wireframes.
Mockup According to the sketch wireframe, the mockups were created to show APP color schemes, visual style, typography and prepare for asking for feedback from participants.
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Participants Eight participants were from age 20 to 39, males and had the electric car driving experiences and cellphones. They are the target audiences for this thesis. All of them have a good education background, above Bachelor degree. They are living in first-tier cities in China. Each of them was asked to complete user scenario tasks on the phone or document. Three of them were electric car owners and had their own parking spots with charging piles in their community. They were asked to complete EV (charging pile) owner scenario tasks on the phone or document.
Test tasks
Result analysis (For usability testing visual report please see Appendix.)
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Driver - Planning Q: You want to use a shared car to drive from Shanghai to Wuxi. You need to make a trip and schedule a charging pile on the platform. Can you arrange your trip smoothly? Elements: Most of the important information was there. The mid stop suggestion is important than the map. The map is unnecessary this moment. It will be better to have a verified icon showing the charging pile is real. Sequence: The sequence worked. Make request button is important, keep it higher on the page.
Appearance: It was cool to show the simple visual trip overview when checking out. Estimated charging fee is important; needs to be large or highlighted. ----Number of Participants: 8 Percent Successful: 100%
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Driver - Real-time Navigation Q: You planned the trip in the APP before. You are in the shared electric car now, you want to review the trip and start the real-time data navigation. Where do you see the relevant information? Elements: Most of the important information was there. It will be better to have suggested speed during the real-time navigation.
Sequence: They can find and use navigation well. They like trip details follow the ‘navigation - charge trip tips’.
Appearance: The navigation needs more content and needs to be more intuitive to show the whole trip and suggestion on the road. ----Number of Participants: 8 Percent Successful: 100%
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Driver: Unlock the pile Q: You have reached the charging pile location. You want to unlock the charging pile to charge the electric car. Can you unlock the charging pile smoothly? Elements: They like the information presented on the charging status. It is a problem if the pile page only shows one charging pile booking record. Charging pile booking process is unnecessary on the pile page. Provider’s contact is more important to show than plug the outlet illustrator. Sequence: They can unlock the pile and finish the charge well. They like rating when they finish the charging. ----Number of Participants: 8 Percent Successful: 100%
Provider: Post the pile Q: You used others' charging piles on the platform before. You want to share your own charging pile during the day. Where do you see the relevant information?
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Elements: Most of the important information was there. They like the idea that links the charging pile app. They suggested to add parking spot number which will let people find their charging location more easily. ----Number of Participants: 3 Percent Successful: 100%
Provider: Manage pile Q: You are checking the charging pile sharing calendar, you have a requirement today and it is being used and you want to check the charging status. Where do you see the relevant information? Q: You have received a new charging requirement and the user sends the message to you, you want to see the user profile and reply to the message. Where do you see the relevant information? Elements: Most of important information was there. They like the remaining time and charging fee were shown on the charging status page. They don’t need charging pile power or electricity voltage information. Arriving/ new booking is more important than calendar. Calendar style is unnecessary, their unavailable time setting can be easier. Driver’s real name is unnecessary, it is enough to have a verified icon to show this person recognized realname. ----Number of Participants: 3 Percent Successful: 100%
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Provider: Earnings Q: After successfully sharing the multi-charge pile, you want to know how much you earned and withdraw the earning. Where do you see the relevant information?
Elements: It is good to have the third-party payment setting. It is good to show earning history. Sequence: Deposit the earning is unnecessary. The earnings can be transferred to their account what they set before. ----Number of Participants: 3 Percent Successful: 100%
Participants Overall Comments All the participants were excited about this solution and look forward to seeing the final work. Most of elements and sequence were suitable. Two of them suggested designing unique real-time data navigation in this APP different from normal GPS which would make the APP have another valuable point. In addition, six participants indicated that the color association for the EV was blue or green. They mentioned that the current main color on the dashboard display of electric vehicles is blue and green. In addition, electric vehicles are also environmentally sustainable products, that’s why green is also a color that is frequently used on EV.
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About App ‘Prepile’ is an application which allows electric vehicle drivers and private charging pile providers who also own EVs to eliminate EV range anxiety on long-distance trips and effectively use idle charging piles. The application provides charging suggestions and trip tips, more usable private charging pile reservations and real-time big data navigation to drivers to address their range anxiety during the EV long-distance trips, while allowing providers to share their private charging piles to increase their household income. This is a holistic solution to increase optimal target audiences’ charging experience, economic sustainability among cities and social sustainability among users.
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App Working Process Driver – Before Trip: Sign Up and Trip Planning 28
Sign up: Before drivers use the service, they will need to register with real names . They need to fill in the user profile with personal information such as user name, password, phone number, head shot, and car model. (Mobile phone number is used for real-name registration. After drivers provide a mobile number and they will get of verification code confirming receipt.) They can link the car or car sharing companies’ application in the system which will allow system to provide more accurate real-time data navigation to drivers later.
Trip planning: After the drivers set the destination and date for the potential trip, the system will give the charging suggestions, show similar trips and available charging piles. Drivers can select and reserve the private charging pile according to the estimated charging fee which based on the charging pile location and the length of charging time. The drivers can use the suggestions to select a city and the charging piles in a city. Private charging piles and car sharing partners’ car rental spots are available to view in the application. If they are interested in any similar trip from other driver’s trip history, they can one-click copy the trip plan including booking the same charging pile. The recommended order of charging pile is based on the comprehensive ranking place to stop for meal time, distance, and quality of the charging pile. They can also filter the charging piles by community parking fee price (which goes to the property management) and rating or sort by metro line and location proximity instead of suggested charging pile. They can book different charging piles for the specific trip according to the charging suggestions.
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Mobile phone numbers became a form of ID after China introduced a policy in 2010. Due to local law, the government requires website operators and service providers of online forums to request and verify real names and other personal information from users when they register. Chinese Internet users are adapted to registration with mobile phone numbers instead of email addresses.
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Provider – Before Sharing: Sign Up and Pile Management Sign up: Before providers (EV charging pile owners) use the service, they also will need to register with real names and fill in the user profile with personal information such as user name, password, phone number, head shot, and car model. In addition, providers are required to fill in charging pile information or link charging pile’s application for quick sharing charging pile and are encouraged to add a description of their surrounding environment, such as local attractions and local public transportation advice for the drivers.
Pile Management: The providers can freely manage the pile sharing status and start or stop the sharing. They can also add their available sharing time as details and set if there needs to be a response when a driver makes a request to use their charging pile.
Driver - During: Real-time Data Navi and Charging Real-time Info: Mobile devices have many built-in sensors, such as the camera, location tracking, accelerometer, touch sensor, barometer and GPS. These technologies can all be leveraged to improve the user experience. According to the data input by the drivers, the system will provide unique real-time data navigation by suggested speed, instant message and roadside assistance based on the different drivers’ driving status in real-time. The drivers will have clear ideas about the information on the trip such as remaining time, booked charging pile location, speed suggestion, instant message, and emergency support locations. Charging: The charging pile certificate will be provided to drivers after providers accept the request. This includes the more specific information such as the parking spot number where the charging pile is located and the provider's confidential contact information. Drivers can add it to the phone wallet so they can have a digital copy of the information. When at the charging pile location, drivers can scan the QR code on the charging pile with their phone to start charging the EV. During the charging, remaining time, real-time visual of charging fee and provider’s contact information will be provided to drivers to let them what the charging status it is. They can stop charging whenever they want. The app will recommend trip-tips such as different activities, the length of activities and city information to allow drivers to spend their charging time doing something fun.
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Provider - During: Manage Sharing and Sharing Manage sharing: The providers can freely manage the drivers’ requests by checking the credit rating and booking details of drivers’ who placed the requests. They can accept or decline the request. Sharing: The providers can see some information such as remaining time and drivers’ contact information. They can remotely stop the charging pile as well. The real-time visually count earnings will let them get the sense of earning the money directly.
Driver - After: Payment and Rate/ Reward Payment: When drivers stop to charge, the total charging fee will be shown which is calculated based on the actual charging time and service charge. Possible community parking fees are paid to property management after the drivers leave the community. The integration with Wechat, Alipay and Apple payment system will reduce the users’ apprehension of payment security and charging safety. Rate/ Reward: The drivers also need to rate the experience from the maintenance of the charging pile, the response speed of the provider and the usage experience of the charging pile for providers. This 2way rating system involves the drivers and providers to make the experience safer and built trust. They will have a sense of how much they contributed positively to the environment through driving an EV and using a shared pile. Each time they finish the EV long-distance trip, they will receive ‘growing points’ which can be collected for a badges or reward, such as ‘New for EV long-distance trip’, ‘Environmental pioneer’ or ‘10 trips rewards’.
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Provider - After: Rate/ Reward and Earnings Rate/ Reward: Providers also need to rate the sharing from using attitude and safe charging practices for drivers. They will rate each other after charging pile sharing process done. This rate point system encourages providers to take good care of their charging piles. When charging piles providers arrive some level, they can get premium options to sharing pile with a higher price. Providers also have their own growing rewards, such as ‘Gold sharer’, ‘Hard-working person’. Earnings: Earnings could be directly deposited in Wechat, Alipay and Apple payment system. Today many apps span platform, devices, and channels. The ultimate goal is to create a seamless experience across all iterations of the product.
Business Model Value proposition The APP can help users eliminate range anxiety, plan available trips, spend less money and time on charging, enjoy the convenient service experience, participate in the active online community, and manage the charging time. It also helps the charging pile provider to earn extra money when their charging pile is idle.
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Key partners Alipay, WeChat pay and Apple pay as third-party payment systems, they provide two stable and fast payment portals for APP.
What3words, Navinfo, and Amap can help the APP integrate data from different sources and display them on the map to make real-time navigation come true. Preparation for future projection of the APP’s real-time navigation feature onto the navigation inside the car. Make the design suitable people's future driving scenarios to enhance the experience.
Evcard and Gofun are two car-sharing companies that can provide car data and management for shared cars. The data they provide can support this APP's real-time navigation and estimation of charging time. At the same time, the car rental spots can also increase the number of available charging piles (except for private shared charging piles).
Customer relationship Users can use the rating system to rate each other to create a reliable and trustworthy environment. The reward point system also gives users the opportunity to share their experiences and get more useful information.
Name of App The name of this app is “Prepile”. “Pre” is means plan something before. This design solution allows people to plan the trip and book the pile ahead, instead of looking for the pile after arriving at the place or in a hurry.
App Logo Since it is an app that allows target users to plan long-distance travel using EV and use idle private charging piles, the app logo is designed with the initial letter P from "Plan" and "Pile" as the basic shape. The basic shape was transformed to make the logo have a dynamic and technological sense. The meaning is that many charging piles’ power get together.
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UI Design Colors of Logo The color of the logo is mainly composed of blue and green. At present, the electronic display color on the EV's dashboard is mainly blue and green. Green means environmentally friendly and has a pleasant mood. The sky and the sense of technology represented by blue are also in line with the positioning of this app. These two colors are also associated colors for the target audiences.
Colors of App Besides the two main colors from app logo, there are several additional colors are used for the interface of the app. Those colors will help make information hierarchical so that the target users have a better app usage experience.
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Font of App
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Appendix Interview Questions
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Compare Charging Experience in Different Places Why they charge...
At home
Motivation
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Convenient Cheap
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Convenient Cheap Bonus from employer
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Electric car cruising range is not enough on the trip
Advantage
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Setting charging time Electricity cost is very convenient No waiting time for charging
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No waiting for charging time Electricity cost is cheap or free
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Provide electric car status and information while charging Some of them are easy to find through cell phone Theoretically fast charging time is short
Basic and DIY installation of private charging piles is unsafe for themselves
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Pain point
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At the working place
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At public charging place
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People may afraid to overcharge the battery
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Electricity cost is expensive (especially calculate the price by charging time) People are afraid that the fast charging will damage their car battery Hard to find parking spots Some other vehicles may occupy the charging position even is not charging Uncertain charging time Different apps/charging cards for different pile operators
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Survey Questionnaire
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Focus Group Questions
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Usability Testing
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Usability Visual Report
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