In July 2023, BluSmart was making waves in Delhi-NCR and Bangalore, as a new player providing EV ride-hailing service directly competing with Uber and Ola, ride-hailing giants in India. The service was loved by its customers for its clean cars, exceptionally well-behaved drivers, and the promise of guaranteed zero cab cancellations. Alongside its ride-hailing business, BluSmart had also set up a network of charging hubs and super-hubs to meet the charging needs of its growing EV fleet.
In July 2023, BluSmart was making waves in Delhi-NCR and Bangalore, as a new player providing EV ride-hailing service directly competing with Uber and Ola, ride-hailing giants in India. The service was loved by its customers for its clean cars, exceptionally well-behaved drivers, and the promise of guaranteed zero cab cancellations. Alongside its ride-hailing business, BluSmart had also set up a network of charging hubs and super-hubs to meet the charging needs of its growing EV fleet.
With a rapidly growing fleet, the charging infrastructure needed to grow as well. But, the operations at hubs and super-hubs were entirely manual, leading to slow processes, underutilisation of chargers, inaccurate data capture and reporting. These issues not only made the operations difficult to manage at both the individual hub level and across the network but also made them impossible to scale effectively.
With a rapidly growing fleet, the charging infrastructure needed to grow as well. But, the operations at hubs and super-hubs were entirely manual, leading to slow processes, underutilisation of chargers, inaccurate data capture and reporting. These issues not only made the operations difficult to manage at both the individual hub level and across the network but also made them impossible to scale effectively.
I was hired as a Product Design Manager (Consultant) from UIX Labs to work closely with the rest of the team — Ashwin (COO), Rishav (CTO and Engineering Head), Shilpi (Product Head), and Shivam (UI Designer) upon the following goals —
I was hired as a Product Design Manager (Consultant) from UIX Labs to work closely with the rest of the team — Ashwin (COO), Rishav (CTO and Engineering Head), Shilpi (Product Head), and Shivam (UI Designer) upon the following goals —
Streamline the charging operations to improve speed and efficiency
Digitise the operations to capture all data for insight-driven decision making
Automate as many tasks as possible to remove dependency on human staff
Streamline the charging operations to improve speed and efficiency
Digitise the operations to capture all data for insight-driven decision making
Automate as many tasks as possible to remove dependency on human staff
Upon joining BluSmart, I visited several of their charging hubs to understand how EV charging operated, what workflows were involved, and where inefficiencies were cropping up. I also conducted multiple interviews with both field and office staff.
One key observation stood out at these hubs. Marshals, the guards responsible for logging entries and exits of EVs, were using physical notebooks — noting down all the important information as well as cross-verifying that essential items were present in the EVs.
Upon joining BluSmart, I visited several of their charging hubs to understand how EV charging operated, what workflows were involved, and where inefficiencies were cropping up. I also conducted multiple interviews with both field and office staff.
One key observation stood out at these hubs. Marshals, the guards responsible for logging entries and exits of EVs, were using physical notebooks — noting down all the important information as well as cross-verifying that essential items were present in the EVs.
These steps were taking an average of 3 to 4 minutes per vehicle per entry or exit. In a world where apps like MyGate and Park+ have become the norm, this felt outdated and led to several issues like —
These steps were taking an average of 3 to 4 minutes per vehicle per entry or exit. In a world where apps like MyGate and Park+ have become the norm, this felt outdated and led to several issues like —
To solve the challenges, a clean and simple to use mobile app was strategised to be designed for the marshals. Following were the jobs–to–be-done —
1.
To solve the challenges, a clean and simple to use mobile app was strategised to be designed for the marshals. Following were the jobs–to–be-done —
1.
These steps were taking an average of 3 to 4 minutes per vehicle per entry or exit. In a world where apps like MyGate and Park+ have become the norm, this felt outdated and led to several issues like —
These steps were taking an average of 3 to 4 minutes per vehicle per entry or exit. In a world where apps like MyGate and Park+ have become the norm, this felt outdated and led to several issues like —
