An innovative EV charging brand is reimagining the charging experience with full-service EV centers, complete with grocery markets, lounges with restrooms and comfortable seating, carwashes, and even “Pup Pads” for drivers bringing their pets along for the ride.
With all these amenities, it’s clear that the in-person user experience is a top priority for the team as they expand locations to other regions—and the digital experience is no different.
The challenge
This EV charging brand hired HFC to design, architect, and build mobile apps for iOS and Android to connect with its EV charging infrastructure and give drivers a fully integrated experience when they pull in to charge their cars.
Specifically, the apps needed to incorporate key functionality such as charging the car, accepting payments, and showing the user as much detail about their charging metrics as possible. Doing so required producing multilayered deliverables that involved rapid prototyping to address product edge cases, as well as the thoughtful architecture and orchestration of multiple third-party partners and APIs.
They also had a complex network of EVSPs (Electric Vehicle Service Providers, which are companies that manage and operate electric vehicle charging stations and the overall driver experience), physical charger hardware vendors, and payment processors, which required creative engineering and problem-solving to build out a cohesive, robust solution that worked with many partners.
Success required that HFC architect a foundation that would integrate these separate services into a cohesive, unified system.
HFC helped them:
- Audit the existing ecosystem and determine how to integrate an app and hardware partners seamlessly into a consistent and user-friendly mobile experience
- Conduct research and analysis into the selected third-party partners (such as Apriva, which processes credit card payments, and Cybersource, which handles digital payments through mobile wallets) and validate their suitability or make alternative recommendations
- Design, build, and manage a new mobile app experience for iPhone and Android
- Design and develop the admin portal and login system, including automatically updating the portal as chargers are used
HFC’s approach
The HFC team first considered their choice of backend API technology, ultimately deciding on GraphQL due to its key advantages over a traditional REST API. GraphQL’s type safety ensures that data is consistently formatted with specific fields of defined types, allowing the client to confidently minimize runtime errors and reliably receive only the expected data from the server—even in the event of an app crash.
The team built the mobile apps in React Native, an open-source UI framework because it works for both iPhone and Android and allowed them to write code in JavaScript, which could convert to Swift—which could then be compiled for Android and iOS applications.
Using a single language and common framework was a deliberate choice, as it made it easier for developers to multitask between the applications. The team also went with the NextJS framework, a flavor of React that allows for server-side page generation as well as various other technical benefits.
A seamless mobile experience - The main pillar of HFC’s deliverables was, of course, the app. The team delivered an iOS and Android app that not only allowed users to plug in and charge their cars but also highlighted how many chargers were available at a station. It came with other useful features such as location sharing, which let the app show users the nearest charging station. Families with multiple EVs could even save multiple vehicles in their account and see charging histories for each one.
A robust admin portal with payment processing - Beyond integrating between charging hardware and EVSPs, a key component of the app experience was the payment processor, Payter. HFC built an admin portal where users could see a recap of every charging session, which credit card was used, how much it cost, the times and what battery life they started and ended at, and so on. Transparency and clarity was key.
A carwash integration - A unique feature that HFC built was a carwash service as an add-on to the charging experience through Carwash API—EV owners could pull into a station and redeem a self-service carwash using a six-digit code from the mobile app.
A proof of concept (POC) for a custom valet experience - HFC created the UX/UI for a valet application that enabled the valet team to perform vehicle intakes and delegate different tasks as the vehicles pulled up to the on-site valet staff, optimizing for efficiency by listing tasks in priority order and allowing team members to self-assign, which would help a smaller team get more done.
Effectively, as a vehicle moved through the process, it could move from one valet to the next to have the various services completed until it was returned to the customer, who could stay informed on the vehicle's progress while they relaxed in the lounge.
The results: A revolutionary mobile experience for EV charging
From a large network of partners to an evolving set of product requirements, HFC ultimately delivered a robust and MVP experience and unique POCs that tested out unique functionality not found in other EV charging brands.
With 20 more amenity-packed charging stations planned for the future, this first-of-its-kind EV charging brand is positioned to provide a full-service and user-friendly driver experience and transform the EV charging industry.
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