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ESpace: Rethinking EV Charging Experience
UX audit of Georgia's leading EV charging app, identifying critical pain points and proposing data-driven solutions to improve user experience and reduce friction.
App name
ESpace
My role
Product designer
Platform
iOS / Android
Overview
The Challenge
ESpace is Georgia's primary EV charging application, helping users locate charging stations and manage payments. Despite its utility, user research revealed significant friction points affecting the core charging journey. My goal was to conduct a thorough UX audit, identify critical issues, and propose design improvements grounded in user needs.
Research
Building User Empathy
To understand EV drivers deeply, I researched owner forums, conducted qualitative interviews with Georgian EV drivers, and created detailed empathy scenarios mapping how users think, feel, and act throughout their charging journeys.
About charger
What type of charger is it?
What type of charger does my car take?
About location
How far is it from me?
How much time do I need to get there?
About availability
Is charging station free of car & available?
Can I reserve it so if I go there, no one would take over?
About time & cost
How much does it cost?
How much time does it take my car to charge?
Will it charge me if I don’t un-plug my car on-time?
Can I see the progress of my charging?
Do I receive notifications if there is any issue?
Scenarios
Real-World Use Cases
Four key scenarios emerged from research, each revealing unique user needs and contexts.
1
Home planning
User at home needs charging and opens app to find nearest available spot
- The user might be dealing with household responsibilities or interruptions
- The user might want to book the place in advance
- The user might want to spend time in nearby cafes/shops...
3
On-the-Go Emergency
User in car with low battery urgently needs nearest charger.
- Likely using app one-handed
- Potentially stressed from traffic
- Needs quick, clear information
- Voice commands could help
2
Activity-Based Charging
User going to gym wants to charge car nearby while working out
- Wants to save spot for future
- Needs time-slot booking (1-2 hours)
- Prefers predictable costs
4
Trip Planning
User planning long trip, Needs route charging spots
- Wants to know about amenities
- Concerned about crowding
- Needs backup options
Journey mapping
End-to-End Experience
Visualizing the complete charging journey revealed critical interaction points, alternative paths, and opportunities for improvement across three main phases.
Downloads & Registration
First impression
Important to have permissions from a device (GPS & Notifications)
One-Time Process
First impression
Reviews On-Boarding screens
Or skips it
Registers
Makes OTP authorization
Search & Book
Main activity in app
Repeating routine process
Life scenarios to consider
Important to be easy & fast
Important to send status notifications
Easy payment
Tries to find charger
Goes & Tries to find location
Makes payments
Starts charging
Charging ends
1/6
UX Audit
One time password verification
Onboarding
No possibility to resend the code
If user is met with some type of error once submitting the code,
will have a hard time figuring out how to get the new code.
Copy don’t corresponds the action
Instead of stating that multiple forms need to be filled out, the focus should be on guiding the user through one clear task: receiving and entering the 4-digit code.
{Translation - For verification, please fill necessary fields}
Things I would improve
As mentioned in the design review, this screen is missing several key details drivers need during their journey.
There is no clear indication of the charger type, making it difficult to assess compatibility at a glance. Pricing information is also unclear, as users are not informed which pricing category applies to them.
Pricing transparency and compatibility details are essential for a seamless charging experience.
Clear pricing helps users make informed decisions and avoid unexpected costs, while compatibility information allows drivers to quickly confirm whether a station supports their specific EV—reducing friction and wasted time.
#1 UX Challenge
User needs
to know the Rates and
Compatibility
Feature structure
- Media and hierarchy on third screen similar to 2nd, Avoid too much motion jumping and go through same architecture, Visual representation of adding a car
- With title and description telling key points of why adding the car is useful feature
- Vehicle selector area, with selecting a brand - 2nd input of a model selector appears afterwards
- Always active primary button with secondary skip
For a solution, we have to rethink the journeyand go way back to onboarding stage.
In order to give user a precise rate, one way
is to know their Car model & How much Kw intake it has.
For the first step
I think it should be in one of the registration journey as an optional feature to not actually overwhelm a user.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
New optional feature
Registration
OTP
Add car
2nd place to involve ‘car adding’ feature
It is chargers page itself.This applies to users who skipped it during the registration process and later realized they need it at this stage.
On this screen
Users EV is already added and we have possibility to highlight that compatibility is checked. In addition we can show accurate info about charger rate user should expect for their car.
It also benefits filters
As we know specific mark and model, we know what kind of charging type it needs. We can filter out not compatible chargers for the user.
Imagine
Driving to a chosen charging station with a low battery, only to find it occupied, leaves users with a depleted battery and the stress of finding another station.
This highlights a usability issue: users need real-time availability information. A reservation feature could help users plan better and avoid getting stranded.
#2 UX Challenge
User needs
to have Guaranteed Availability
There are couple of variations of reservation right?
for example, take MS Teams or Slack’s meeting creation.
But we need something even easier here
My solution is a bit simpler, where user:
Tries to find charger
Books the charger
There’s one button
Inner page consisting of destination time from the user
and slider component with pre-defined pricing/timing options.
Pays the booking fee
Charging until Full charge
- I think it was important to have clear info, how much money will be charged and that it will be refunded if it is the case.
#3
Improving 2 charging options and adding one more option!
Charging with time
I introduced this feature to support common real-life scenarios, such as charging during a café break, at work, or while at the gym.
The page uses a native dropdown component, adapting automatically to Android and iOS patterns to ensure a familiar and intuitive experience. The dropdown offers predefined time options (e.g. 30 min, 1 hr, 1 hr 30 min).
To further reduce friction, quick shortcut buttons are included to speed up selection. These shortcuts can adapt over time based on user behavior, surfacing the most frequently chosen durations.
Charging with desired Amount
Same same, but different. (Solution for sure)
- I added useful shortcuts under input area
- Added some info which can help users to estimate how much money will be enough for them to pay
Thank you
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