The EV
Charger Journey

Helping a power company support their residents

Come along for the journey of helping a large U.S. power company improve their residents' experience of installing electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in their homes.

For the confidentiality of this project, the company involved will be referred to as LPComp (large power company), and aspects of the deliverables shown will be redacted.

Team Members:

Ruben Ocampo - Project Lead
Laura Biltz - Design Manager
Amy Zasadzinski - Design Researcher

The Challenge

People want EV chargers in their homes...

With the increased popularity of purchasing electric vehicles, especially on the West Coast, more people are interested in installing EV chargers in their garages for convenient charger access.

...but electrical panels in older houses can't support the voltage needed...

The problem is, houses built in the 1950s or earlier most likely need an electric panel/ infrastructure upgrade to provide the power needed to the EV charge.

...and the process to upgrade the panel and install the charger can be confusing and time consuming

LPComp has a large involvement in panel upgrades, when the project involves the electrical meter and/or transformer upgrades.

When customers require LPComp involvement, it is called a New Business Request (NBR).

How Might We...
make LPComp's involvement in upgrading electrical panels more efficient so the experience of installing an EV charger is easier and more consistent for residents?

Listening Phase

We conducted thirteen 1-hour, virtual, 1:1 interviews with recruited stakeholders.

Before jumping into solutioning, it was important to get a clear picture of residents' lived experiences with their EV charger projects and to give them a chance to speak their truth.

They dove deep into their experience, starting with their inspiration for installing an EV charger all the way through getting their first few energy bills after successful installation!

"Can you walk us through your experience with installing your EV charger so far?"

6
Residents

Completed installation (5)
In progress (1)

3
Contractors

General (2)
Solar (1)

4
LPComp Representatives

Higher level executive (1)
Local Planner (1)
Customer Solutions Representative (1)
Production Specialist (1)

What did we hear?

Framing Phase

After all of the interviews were completed, we communicated what we learned in two separate methods: a Journey Map and Moments of Truth

Journey Map

We synthesized our interviewees' experiences into a journey map to show LPComp all the different steps involved in EV charger installation, and exactly how many steps are affected by LPComp's internal processes.

✅ Before seeing this journey map, LPComp's idea of the process of EV installation was much more simplified and high-level, and this map really expanded their understanding of their role in the process and the important role contractors play as well.

9 Steps for Installing an EV Charger:

Understand the Process
Determine the Project Plan
Receive a Meter Spot and Meter Unlock
Receive City Permit
Upgrade Infrastructure
Install Panel and Charger
Pass City Inspection
Wrap Up Project
Understand My Bill

Understand the Process and Determine the Project Plan (Expanded view)

It was important to highlight just how much goes into the first few steps of the process on the resident's end, and that LPComp gets involved early on in the process, not just when the electric meter needs unlocking. This realization opened up many potential opportunities for ways that LPComp could make the residents' experience easier.

Receive Meter Spot/Unlock, Receive City Permit (Expanded view)

The "meter spot and unlock" routinely was mentioned as the largest bottleneck in the process because of how involved all three stakeholders are in the completion of the step.

We uncovered many potential bottlenecks when learning about how much the contractors and LPComp reps have to be in contact. One to highlight was that customer service reps are the first point of contact for this process, but they don't have any visibility into the progress of the NBR past the service request form they submit on behalf of the customers, causing confusion and frustration for customers and contractors.

Upgrade Infrastructure, Install Panel and Charger, Pass City Inspection, Wrap Up Project, Understand Bill (Expanded view)

Moments of Truth

Throughout the journey, we identified nine “Moments of Truth”, which are specific points in the journey where the outcome can make or break the experience for the resident, specifically in terms of efficiency and trust.

In those Moments of Truth, we highlight:

“Bright Spots” - events that made the process easy/fast or enjoyable

"Pain points” - events that caused time delays, high cost, or even emotional damage

✅ This analysis really hit home for the LPComp leadership, and enlightened them of ways LPComp was positively and negatively impacting residents that they had not realized before.

9 Moments of Truth:

Level set expectations on timing and steps of the process
Commit to Installation
Confirm the Meter Spot has been completed
Confirm the meter is unlocked
Recieve city approval to begin installation
Install the panel and charger within the set timeframe
Pass city inspection
Use my charger
Understand changes to initial bill(s) post project

Level Set Expectations on Timing and Steps of the Process (In-Depth View)

Confirm the Meter Spot Has Been Completed

Ideation Phase

We designed and facilitated generative and futuring workshops for LPComp reps to create the ideal experience for residents based off what we had learned.

The goal of these workshops was to imagine brand-new processes/services to implement, as well brainstorm how to fix current processes. By the end of the workshop series, the team collaboratively generated a list of new and improved services to help boost the efficiency and customer trust when upgrading a resident's panel.

✅ The most important and beneficial aspect of these workshops was that LPComp employees of all different levels and backgrounds were brought into one (virtual) room. We carefully crafted an environment where high level managers were ideating with call center representatives on the same playing field.

"T-shirt Sizing"

Once the list of ideas was complete, we led the team in:

- Setting the bar for ambition
- Defining the key internal enablers required to make ideas real, scalable and sustainable over time
- Agreeing to a Minimum Viable Solution (MVS).

To determine which initiatives to pursue in the MVS, we had the team label them as requiring small, medium, or large investment (monetarily, time, effort, resources, etc), and prioritizing from there.

Early Prototyping Phase

We developed a visual service blueprint that tells the story of what an ideal future experience would look like for a resident installing an EV charger

We involved an illustrator to help us convey the story of our customer personna Rosario and her journey through all the new and improved LPComp services that make the EV installation process easy for both her and her contractor.

We presented the same nine journey map steps but highlighted how the journey would be different with the agreed-upon prioritized initiatives being put in place.

Below are sections of the service blueprint story that showcased how
new LPComp processes (highlighted in yellow) could be put into use in
an ideal resident experience

Conclusion

We ended our project with LPComp very optimistic about their leadership's plan for prototyping and implementing these processes!

As we concluded our involvement with this project, LPComp, we encouraged them to send updates about the project to the interviewees to let them know (generally) how their feedback and thoughts would impact future improvements to the process. This would build trust with residents and contractors, and also increase feelings of job satisfaction with LPComp employees.

We look forward to seeing the new LPComp initiatives be approved, funded, and put into action!

Check out a UX project done with LPComp!

Optimizing Digital Bill Payment

My team at Conic Group worked with a large power company to improve the online experience of electrical bill payment and finding payment assistance programs

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse

The EV Charger Journey