A User-Centred Representation of Battery Health in Electric Vehicles

As the popularity of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) increases, creating awareness regarding vehicle maintenance becomes crucial. A user-centred approach is necessary when implementing new features as previous research reveals that users have difficulty understanding EV-specific information in the interface. With new legislation requiring BEVs to display the percentage of their battery State of Health (SoH), this study investigates what information should be displayed using a user-centred iterative process by testing it on 15 participants in total. The objective is to improve users’ understanding of battery SoH and enhance in-vehicle experience for BEV drivers. Presenting the battery’s SoH in the form of a percentage alone was found to be insufficient. The research has led to the development of 11 design recommendations for effectively communicating battery SoH information to BEV drivers.