Ehub

Several requirements and conditions in terms of usability and manufacturing costs must be met when designing a charging station. The first step was to find, examine, and select the right requirements and conditions. This project's essential proposition is to give the product a form that solves these requirements and constraints.

According to the market research firm, EV sales by 2040 will account for more than 50% of global passenger car sales and 31% of total vehicle sales. You can already find many charging stations around town, but they all look different and do not share the same operation. This lack of a coherent solution is severely confusing to users. There is a need for a reliable and robust solution.

In my day-to-day life, I was looking at the current state of charging stations and their problems. After starting the project, I did field research to gather information and observe where the issues were. I also interviewed current or prospective users of the charging stations to analyze what problems existed. The first problem was that it was impossible to find where the charging stations were located without looking carefully. Another major problem was that different charging stations had different plugging positions and operating interfaces, confusing users.

I thoroughly researched manufacturers from around the world, including the United States, European countries, and China, and analyzed their products' strengths. Likewise, I studied their weaknesses to determine what features were essential to the new concept and differentiate the new concept from them.
One of the key features common to all manufacturers is the charging station unit's ability to update in the future. EVs and their batteries' technology are advancing every day, and the demand for EV charging is thus changing continuously. The charging station is needed to be flexible enough to adapt and update the inner components for future changes.

After gathering information and understanding the current situation through field research, competitive analysis, and user interviews, I organized and sorted them, made selections, and identified the design requirements and issues that needed to be improved. With these items as a foundation, I proceeded with the sketching process.

First of all, I just sketched out the ideas that came to me with a pen. Once I had a certain amount of ideas, I examined them with an objective eye. I studied various aspects, such as whether the idea was reasonable, useful, usable, and whether it provided an accurate solution to the problem. I tried to repeat this cycle quickly to improve the idea's quality. I reduced the duplication of effort by using pen sketches to explore as much as possible before proceeding to 3D modeling and prototyping.

After developing an idea through hand sketches, I started 3D modeling. During the 3D modeling process, I formed and assembled the components, considering their feasibility and materials in the actual manufacturing process. However, when it comes to the important parts of the design, I tried to avoid easy compromises by adopting shapes and structures that challenge the limits of engineering. I used Onshape, a parasolid modeling tool that is quick and easy to modify.

For the basic shape of the product, I chose the cylindrical shape. Conventional roadside charging stations are rectangular in shape and very similar to e.g. parking ticket vending machines and cable distribution boxes, making them difficult to distinguish. On the other hand, cylindrical shaped charging stations are clearly different from other types of installations and are easy to identify. Also, they have a common shape no matter what angle they are viewed from, and users can easily recognize them from any angle.

The basic planar shape is an oval extended from the circular shape. The oval shape can be grown in any length in one direction to meet the charging station's need for update support and expansion capabilities. The three-dimensional shape of the extruded oval is visually consistent with the cylindrical body of the lower power model and enables the design language of the concept series to be consistent. Likewise, many parts can be shared with lower power model with AC outlet, resulting in more efficient production costs.

The first step was to give each function and status indication a logical and intuitive color. For the feedback color at the power plug socket, green is used to indicate charging and red is used to indicate charging errors. Color markings were applied to the plug handles, defining blue as the AC plug color and orange as the DC plug color. The orange color is used for DC plugs that can be charged with high power, which expresses a higher voltage, while a subdued blue color is used for lower power AC plugs. The blue and orange colors are selected from among the colors that are not to be confused with the green and red feedback colors of the plug socket.

The height of the charging station is designed to make it easy to find in town, where it is not hidden behind cars. At the same time, the power outlet and control panel, which are actually operated by the user, are positioned at an ergonomic height. The product footprint was determined on the basis of the minimum technical dimensions and were compact enough to be as unobstructed as possible on the sidewalk.