EVIE
Evie is a platform to connect councils based on relevance, facilitate communication and sharing of knowledge between them and relevant stakeholders.
Scope
Discovery
Define
Concept development
Prototyping
Delivery
User testing
Business model
Client
PA Consulting
My role
Research
Prototype
Design Strategy
UX/UI Design
Branding Design
Duration
2021 October - December
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Primary Research
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Observational research
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5 in-depth Council interviews
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16 quick on-street interviews
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3 online in-depth interviews
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26 responses from online survey
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Ads and prototypes for triggers
Secondary Research
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Documents from PA Consulting
Research papers -
Government documents and websites
Prototype testing and validation
4 in-depth interviews with: Nottingham Council,
West Sussex Council,
Oxford City Council,
Local Partnership Strategic Director (LGA)
CONTEXT
Range of problems
(initial research)
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Long distance charging is difficult due to charge range anxiety
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Councils face difficulties in making and executing charging Infrastructure plans
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Future planning of Charging points Networks is hard to predict
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Charging points are inefficiently used due to poor maintenance, lack of live data updates, etc
During our initial research, we presented two scenarios on-street with EV and non-EV users with the mock-up newspaper.
We realised the future of individual EV experience is rapidly changing and arriving.We found a whole range of problems outlined here. For example, long distance charging is difficult due to range anxiety, Charge Points are not used efficiently due to various reasons and that Councils also face many difficulties in making and executing their rollout plans. We delved deeper into this.
THE INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE -> COUNCIL EXPERIENCE
We then found that the initial problems around the individual’s experience in EV charging are partly due to the upstream problems of chargepoint strategy and planning by local authorities. In order to provide a better EV charging experience for the users, what we care more about is how we facilitate councils to better roll out their strategies around EV charging.
WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM? （Impact）
A lot of time, effort and money is wasted on drafting plans from scratch and making mistakes that could’ve been avoided.
Councillors don't realize the value in sharing practices with other councillors, but those who do have a positive attitude towards of sharing and learning from each other
Lack of resources that enable communication and sharing prevent councils to learn from each other's mistakes and best practices
INSIGHTS
Insight 1
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Brute-force methods in developing and implementing EV Charging infrastructure rollout
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Different councils- different places on the planning & delivery curve
Evidence
Areas for guidance and knowledge sharing
published in ‘Scoping the role of local authorities in the provision of electric vehicle charging infrastructure’ LGA, 20 July, 2021
For 1-2 projects we’ve used Commonplace, a mapping tool that allows people to record the proposals in their neighborhood.
-Peter McD, Travel & Transport Planning Officer, Croydon Council
Insight 2
Working in isolation
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Councils only connect with neighbouring councils
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Councils spend a lot of time in connecting their experiences and finding relevance
Evidence
So we do have a very strong dialogue with other councils around our program- What's worked for us and what advice we might get to them and equally we talk to others to seek advice from them.
-Brian Matthews, Head of Transport Innovation,
Milton Keynes Council
In the main local authorities are keen to work collaboratively, and those that have done so have generally found it to be a positive experience.
-‘Scoping the role of local authorities in the provision of electric vehicle charging infrastructure’ LGA, 20 July, 2021
Insight 3
Current resources don’t foster new connections between councils to share best practices on EV Chargepoint planning
Evidence
“What has been missing is a mechanism to signpost from a single point the best resources for particular topics and applications...”
“There are lots of areas that would benefit from knowledge sharing (procurement, best practices, member training, etc). The LGA and STBs should have a key role in this.
-Scoping the role of local authorities in the provision of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, LGA, 20 July, 2021
The Energy Savings Trust have put together a teams chat which isn't used that much, but there's not that central store of learnings and kind of documentation.
-Charlie Allen, Commercial Lead-Highways,
West Sussex County Council
Summary of Insights
Thus, as you can see, this is quite a vicious cycle where councils lack resources to connect efficiently with each other, find it difficult to share best practices in a cross-council manner and end up working in silos.
AIMS
to enable a more efficient and quicker communication among councils
for councils to connect with new relevant councils
to enable councils to tackle with Unforeseen EV future better
OPPORTUNITIES
How might we enable different councils to network and be enlightened by different ideas and best practices in order to catalyze the transition to an EV driven future?
THE SOLUTION
Council Profiles
Quick set up
Share your areas of expertise
Topics you’d like to discuss
Browse profiles
Find relevant councils to help you
Council-Council only
In Evie, a councillor can make their council’s profile with respect to the EV charging experiences and expertise they have. They can quickly set up their account using an existing LinkedIn log-in wherein basic information will be automatically transferred. They can search other profiles through filtering by region type, demographic, expertise areas.
Discover & Learn
Council-Council only
Search case studies, posts and profiles through keywords
Quick Q&A forum
Links potential connections
Live updates through integrated LinkedIn posts
Multichannel
A centralised storage to collect councils' experiences and learnings. It provides EV related discussions from platforms like LinkedIn. It also has a simple question answer forum, which forms a closed community of councillors.
EV Academy & Roundtable
Host events as experts
(councils and other orgs)
Brainstorm together
Informal discussions
Share best practices through online meets
The academy allows councils and other experts in the EV charging field to share specific expertise in an area. The roundtable is an open space for informal discussions hosted and attended by any councils to further the EV discussion. The roundtable is the place where third-party can come in and collaborate.
COUNCILLOR'S JOURNEY
Drawing from the real life experiences of councillors, we have illustrated 3 different use cases for Evie. The first is A councillor’s experience who is struggling to assess which supplier’s business model is best suited for her council. When she uses Evie, she’s immediately able to see different models used by other councils and can connect with them. Similarly, Council B and C are those who would like to stay up to date and share their experiences in order to gain recognition in the council community.
VALUE EXCHANGE
Between Councils
Councils’ needs and experiences in different aspects of EV charging are quite dynamic and different. Council networking and sharing service allow councils to find the best options that suit their own interest. It also allows them to unite and reduce the risk of being out-maneuvered by suppliers, who are the main players taking advantage of the low expertise some councils have.
Including Authorized Organizations
Organization to Council events may bring new insights or even approaches to councils’ practice.Apart from Council to Organization and Council to council service. The platform also benefits other stakeholders in various indirect ways:
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DFT verifies the new strategy
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LGA updates the current knowledge
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Councils propose new approaches
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Residents benefit from the outcome of better practices adopted by councils
VALIDATION
Prototypes test
Feedback
Desirability/Values
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Low effort, without need to upload data and engage
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Connect with councils on a need basis
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Case studies are valuable, but difficult to upload
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Need EV Contextual sources
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Closed system, safe space
Feasibility/Ease of use
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More trust with a government owned platform
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Prefer easy, low engagement tools
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Prefer sharing by meeting
Viability/Profitability
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Would prefer government owned platform to avoid fee of use
Outcome
We validated our final proposals with Nottingham city Council and Oxford city Council who responded positively and look forward to using the product.
“Sometimes you don't know who can help you but you sort of know what your problem is- you know what question you want to ask so being able to just ask it and then just see who anybody can reply.
-- Rasita - Nottingham Council
“I think the benefit to this website is that it is council to council. Normally if I got good news to share we’d go on LinkedIn because I want the world to know. But if I'm looking to ask for some advice or it's putting myself in a slight position of vulnerability, like “we haven't got much budget” “I wanted to do this”-that I could see me using this site a bit more, because I would feel it's a closed community.”
-- Vikki - Oxford City Council
THE ROADMAP
We would test-run our service within Councils with the help of DFT's promotion for 6 months, as DFT is the major stakeholder and national EV strategy planner. Our service aims mainly to be a complement piece of the current Government EV charging platform of knowledge and resources for councils. During this 6 months trial, the platform will be constantly iterated according to council feedback under DFT management. Government adoption of Our service is the ideal case for our service proposal. A poll regarding service usability, feasibility, and viability will be conducted at the end of the 6 months trial for DFT to make a decision before official launch. If in any case, the service can not proceed further with the government, Government trusted organizations would be considered. (Energy-saving trust, Cenex.)
SWOT
Thanks for the team
Ching-Yen Chiu (Joanne)
Disha Mittal
Hancong Liu (Claire)
Yuxuan Yang