Improving Onboarding for Inexperienced Users: A Research on EV Charging Services

Background : The growing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) has brought attention to the importance of effective onboarding tutorials for charging systems, particularly for Inexperienced users. Poorly designed tutorials may lead to increased cognitive load, operational errors, and user frustration. This research investigates how different tutorial formats—Illustrated (paper-based), Scrolling (digital-linear), and Interactive (digital-modular)—influence user comprehension, engagement, and task performance in EV charging contexts.<br/>Methods : Thirty Japanese university students with no prior EV-charging experience were randomly assigned to one of the three tutorial formats. After an onboarding session, participants completed a simulated charging task. Behavioral metrics (onboarding time, task completion time, error clicks, comprehension test scores) and self-reported measures (cognitive load, engagement, pre/post understanding and safety awareness) were collected; brief interviews provided contextual qualitative feedback.<br/>Results : The Interactive tutorial produced the shortest onboarding time and the highest engagement, but comprehension was more variable, and navigation confusion was reported. The Illustrated tutorial imposed higher mental/physical demand yet yielded the highest comprehension accuracy and the fewest operational errors. The Scrolling tutorial was perceived as simple but showed higher error rates and moderate engagement. Across conditions, self-assessed understanding and safety awareness improved from pre-to post-onboarding. Significant differences in mental demand and frustration reflected trade-offs between user control, clarity, and cognitive burden. Overall, findings do not support an assumption of Interactive being universally superior; each format showed differentiated strengths.<br/>Conclusions : No single tutorial outperforms others across all dimensions. Tutorial selection should be contingent on context and goals: Illustrated is preferable for safety-critical accuracy and confidence, Interactive for motivation and sustained attention, and Scrolling for quick familiarization. A hybrid strategy-retaining a structured narrative while adding minimal, well-placed interactive scaffolds-appears promising for balancing accuracy, confidence, and engagement in EV charging onboarding.