EV MOBILITY
Smart EV Vision 2020
EV MOBILITY IS THE NEW NORMAL
In 2011, Nissan Leaf EV was a cool way to get around the town. And by 2016, the EV trend started to transform into Smarter Mobility. Leaf was just an EV; the experience was simply a car with a battery, Leaf was desperately in need of a new strategy beyond just redesigning another car with a battery.
Tokyo 2016, I shared a product design plan to regain Nissan EV market leadership to Chief Planning Officer. The start of FUTURE EV VISION finally took off in early spring, 2017. I led a cross-functional team and started this Nissan EV VISION journey.
Nissan Leaf Advertising 2011
Too fast to be outdated, continue below...
design for SPECS vs design for USERS
After 6 years, with more than 300K+ Leaf sold over 60 countries, it was a phenomenon. Nissan was the biggest ZERO emission OEM.
The tech-spec-designed EV Leaf, while a technological breakthrough but faced limitations. The lack of upgradability and connectivity hindered its ability to integrate with new digital products and off-board solutions. This limited its potential to serve as an IoT enabler for a more seamless connected mobility experience
EV IS BECOMING THE NEW BRAND POWER.
The reviews speak for itself.
Nissan Connected APP 2.0 still far from average (Source: Google Play Store)
Which official app should I download? More is more but not necessarily better.
THE START
7 MONTHS JOURNEY BEGINS
1st: Build a horizontal team across the departments and a new report structure to enable an AGILE process.
2nd: Define the goal of "THE PROJECT" & "THE PROCESS".
Our original premise was very simple: Enjoy the best EV mobility. However, we weren't simply redefining what an idea EV is supposed to be. Our ambition is beyond the ideal EV but starting with the ideal EV ecosystem that can enable new digital products & services, powered by USERS.
USERS > EV ECOSYSTEM > EV PRODUCT
MY ROLE
I put together the project resources estimation, the schedule, and the pilot team to get the final sign-off from design and product planning leadership.
As the pilot EV team leader. I informed key stakeholders in Japan while empowering the team to work independently with users at a fast pace.
Breadth of work:
-Persona creation and Research user screening.
-Immersive user research (US & UK).
-Product UX Vision workshop (US & UK).
-User journeys and use cases.
-Weekly physical & digital design sprint & planning.
-Weekly iterative user testing and tracking.
-External partnerships proposal, engagement, and work plan collaboration.
-UX/VX design direction and prototyping for UXR.
-Functional UX requirements & technical feasibility with partners.
-High-fidelity specs and design development.
-Internal and external partner projects in sync for final integration.
the horizontal team & the product management
THE KICK OFF
LEARN THE UNKOWN "WITH USERS in situs"
While we didn't have a fully defined direction at the outset, we clearly identified three user personas that best represented our customers in two cities across two countries. To gain deeper insights, we sent our team to conduct research in users' homes.
The research revealed key challenges and opportunities for EV users. To accelerate the design process, we employed a lean UX approach, incorporating user testing into our design iterations.
27 USERS @ US: San Francisco (urban) / East Bay (suburban) - UK: London (urban) / Manchester (suburban)
EARLY INSIGHTS FROM THE RESEARCH
At users' homes, we chatted, rode in their cars, and observed what, how, and when of their EV experience. The goal was to understand their journey of owning and driving EVs. We also
validated the team's early UX concepts.
At a high level, there are 3 categories we learned from the users.
-Want TRUST.
-People like to be in control.
-OEMs need to win consumers’ trust.
-EV is the OEM's opportunity.
-Want CONVENIENCE.
-Cost is not the only motivator.
-Range issues should be non-issues.
-Consumers want seamless solutions.
-Want PERSONALIZATION.
-High level of personalization desired.
-Common actions most valued.
-Mobility requires multiple personalized solutions.
HYPOTHESIS IN PRACTICE: THE AGE OF CONVERGENCE
RAPID TESTING THE FUTURE
Our UX vision workshops in the US and UK aimed to co-create the future of EVs with users and regional teams. We focused on identifying pain points, exploring concepts, developing scenarios, and defining content strategies that could be rapidly tested. By delving into IoT, AI, mobility, health, retail, insurance, and charging, we sought to uncover hero moments, understand emerging UX patterns, and define the essential elements of a thriving EV ecosystem.
With 15 UX concepts in different forms of artifacts, we could validate with great certainty that not only the UX concepts were RIGHT ON but we also identified 3 core UX values that are the basis of success.
1- PERSONALIZATION
2- CONTEXTUAL AWARENESS
3- ENHANCED DRIVING
UX concept workshop in US and UK
TESTING THE ELECTRIFICATION FUTURE
WEEKLY DESIGN SPRINT & micro sprints
Validating hero paths is crucial for measuring success and understanding the value proposition for both users and the brand. By setting clear metrics, we can distill data and prioritize concepts effectively. Our sprint results aligned closely with the 'Golden EV Journey' envisioned by the team, confirming the viability of many hero use cases. However, we discovered that social entertainment features, while expected, offer even greater potential than initially anticipated.
THE 7 MOST: UX concepts with hero use cases:
1- Connected anytime anywhere.
2- Knowing me & welcome me.
3- Most common action first.
4- Frictionless smart charging awareness.
5- Sensory mode shift. (Assistive Driving)
6- Contextual awareness.
7- It will only get better and...better.
Through four low-fidelity sprints with 24 internal users, we established a clear direction for the project. This enable us to focus on the ecosystem map and high-level requirements for the EV product. The UXR insights helped us identify strategic partners for the next phase. We successfully secured partnerships with:
-Charging network supplier.
-Map navigation system and POI data provider.
-Tier 1 suppliers for physical & digital system integration.
-Tier 2 suppliers for technology, data, and SW/HW solutions.
-Biometry ID authentication provided for a frictionless entry/exit experience.
Earlier design sprints with different artifacts.
GET REAL: PHYSICALLY BEAUTIFUL & DIGITALLY USEFUL
MAKING FRONT END UX PROTOTYPE
The 7 UX concepts generated from our immersive workshops have evolved into user journeys that are now being brought to life. We used physical and digital design combined with cloud data to build a front end UX prototype so we can conduct user testing to verify our designs and inform our design decisions.
THE ULTIMATE FINAL TEST. Almost as it was real.
Beyond traditional front-end user testing, we accelerated our development timeline by incorporating production-grade components and software systems within eight weeks. This allowed us to conduct thorough technical performance testing. Our goal was to create a realistic and closer to production-ready UX design that accurately represented the NEXT EV VISION. Over the past eight weeks, a team of approximately 35 members has been dedicated to perfecting this groundbreaking project.
1- Connected anytime anywhere.
2- Knowing me & welcome me.
3- Most common action first.
4- Frictionless smart charging awareness.
5- Sensory mode shift. (Assistive Driving)
6- Contextual awareness.
7- It will only get better and...better.
These 3 concepts WOWed users.
THE OUTCOME
CHANGING THE TRADITIONAL AUTOMOTIVE
A major accomplishment during these seven months was the co-creation of new EV ecosystem and product UX designs with our users. This project marked a significant shift within Nissan, as it was the first team to successfully challenge an ongoing production program using a user-centered design process.
Our project presentation to over 30 executives in Japan demonstrated the power of user-driven product development. By prioritizing user journeys and focusing on solutions over specifications and styling, our team influenced the organization's mindset and set a new precedent for product design.
Our team structure and process are currently replicated in Japan to many projects kicked off since 2018.
