The challenge
Range anxiety, the fear that an electric vehicle (EV) will not have sufficient battery charge to reach its destination or that finding suitable chargers will be difficult, remains one of the biggest challenges for EV consumers. To address this concern, our partner brand, which recently onboarded several thousand EVs into its rental fleet, sought to alleviate range anxiety by implementing an EV navigation solution. This solution would provide an easy and reliable way for customers to locate and route to chargers within the partner brand's network, ultimately driving EV adoption and improving customer retention.
Our approach
We embedded Product Owners into the brand’s EV digital product function to spearhead the development of the EV navigation solution from the discovery phase through to production. Key steps included:
- Collaborating with business stakeholders and rental location leads to identify customer pain points related to EV charging.
- Conducting a thorough review of several EV navigation software providers to determine which offered the best user experience and most effectively aligned with the partner brand's requirements.
- Field-testing two navigation solutions in North America and Europe, gathering user feedback through both in-person interviews and digital feedback mechanisms.
- Partnering with a navigation provider on a multi-year agreement to develop a white-label solution for global rollout.
- Delivering training to field staff on how to effectively present the navigation tool to prospective clients.
- Seamlessly integrating the navigation tool into existing digital platforms to ensure easy access for EV customers.
The results
- Achieved strong user adoption, with over 30% of EV customers actively engaging with the tool within the first 2 months.
- Gained valuable insights into customer charging behaviour, helping to inform future improvements and offerings.
