While all logic points toward electric cars being the car of the future, they are still lagging in sales compared to traditional petrol and diesel powered vehicles. How can we help consumers see that electric cars are the way forward?
Lynn Bui, an Interaction Design Intern at Designit Oslo and a MA Interaction Design student from Sweden’s Umeå Institute of Design, together with the guidance of Mike Jones, Designit Oslo’s Interaction Design Manager, has won an app competition aimed at helping people understand the benefits of electric cars.
The objective was to create an app for both electric vehicle drivers as well as traditional drivers that would be both useful, and that would be used more than once.
How it Works
The app would help the average person become more aware of the benefits of using an electric vehicle by communicating to users the cost of driving one in terms of energy, CO2 and money. In essence, it would help them compare their gasoline powered journeys to what it would really feel like to own an electrical vehicle before making the decision to switch over. Each journey’s drive summary is then saved and over time, the statistics can provide a sense of the benefits in terms of money and the environmental impact.
Lynn’s research showed that electric cars’ somewhat limited range and speed puts people off, when in reality, their driving routines fit perfectly within these ‘limits’. The stubborn dogma of car purchases including off-road capabilities, the ‘need’ to be able to drive at 100mph, or the immense towing capacity has become so deeply set in the consumers’ minds that even city dwellers look for these in their cars.
The Plug or The Pump app challenges this head on by demonstrating exactly how you would benefit from owning an electric car, in terms of energy, CO2 and money.
The competition was held by Etrans, a project with the aim of providing the methodological basis for the development and design work which will help the electric car to become both an environmental and commercial success in Denmark, by coaching companies such as Dong, Falck, Vestas and Peugot how to understand their users better. You can read more about the competition here – Apps and Electric Cars.
