In the future, the algorithms of the smart city will decide the allocation of public resources. If many electric cars have to be charged, a smart charging algorithm will determine when your vehicle can be charged. And this can make charging your car take longer than planned. How can you be sure that decisions as to who gets priority are taken honestly?
The Incredible Machine and I entrusted with designing the Transparent Charging Station to demonstrate how and on what basis the available energy is allocated. This design allows smart cities to communicate their transparency to inhabitants. Through the design of the user interface for this project, I proved the increased value of transparency for the user by answering the question they would have even before they would begin to charge their electric vehicle.
Transparent Charging Station project has entered a new phase. The first version of the design won a Dutch Design Award in 2018. Since then, the team and I have worked hard on a version 2.0. This is now operational and is located in a test environment at ElaadNL in Arnhem with plans to apply this model in a real-life city environment soon.
Transparent Charging System is a project that aims to make smart charging more visible.
I had to explain how smart charging works and how the algorithm makes decisions in the product.
I addressed this by designing the charging station's user interface and developed prototypes for various scenarios.
The project lasted six months and was divided into three phases. Each phase included a reframe, envision, and create, followed by a thorough user test. For this project, I used the Mendel design model.
What I had to do
• Make design decisions while also identifying the demands of parties involved.
• Creating storyboards that describe the actual and intended state of affairs.
• Creating a persona to identify the need for transparency and other needs.
• Attend the design validation meeting at the AMS institute, where all parties concerned, including the client, will be present to discuss my design choices.
• Create ideas for the algorithm's design.
• Finally, put it to the test.
Storyboarding
A slider with an example of the current situation
The Flexpower algorithm calculates the charging speed during the smart charging process.
The algorithm calculates this depending on four variables: the time of day, the weather, the availability of a shared car, and the number of empty plugs.
However, the user interface of the screen becomes overly cluttered as a result of all the information.
The user only wants to know if the car is charging and how quickly it is charging.
The user is unconcerned about how the charging speed is estimated.
I approached this by converting the screen to a touchscreen and creating new interfaces to better satisfy the demands of the users. Of course, more testing was required to persuade the client to begin investing in touchscreen panels. Nevertheless, now when a driver questions how a decision was taken, the user can interact with the screen and the answer would appear. This enables me to have less information on the screen and still provide clarity.
In short the design needed to have
- Less information yet still have all the information the user would want
- Motivate to interact with the touchscreen
- Provide clarity of how the algorithm works
- Continuously show the charging speed
Version 2 of the design.
Screen contained too much information and didn't provide enough clarity of the charging element.
Version 3.
The third version of the design prioritized the needs of the consumers and included high-quality screens.
The second section depicts the information that the user would see when they clicked on certain design elements.
In this short documentary, six experts talk about the origin, development and future of the transparent charging station.
Dutch with English subtitles.
