Redesigning SplitEV's MVP, an EV charging startup
Making onboarding, booking, dashboards, and vehicle management intuitive and ready for launch
Making onboarding, booking, dashboards, and vehicle management intuitive and ready for launch
Industry
Climate Tech
Climate Tech
Skills
UI Design
UI Design
Prototyping
Prototyping
Rapid Testing (RITE)
Rapid Testing (RITE)
Product Strategy
Product Strategy
Handoff
Handoff
Team
Abi Odugbesan (Founder)
Abi Odugbesan (Founder)
Carolyn Tung (UX Designer)
Carolyn Tung (UX Designer)
Rey Benoit (Fractional UX Manager)
Rey Benoit (Fractional UX Manager)
Sean Pak (UX Researcher)
Engineering
Sean Pak (UX Researcher)
Engineering
Timeline
Dec 2024 - Present
Dec 2024 - Present
MY ROLE
Context
SplitEV is a Techstars-backed EV charging startup making EV charging accessible by letting hosts generate income from private chargers and letting drivers book safe, reliable, and nearby chargers. As the company refined its business model and began preparing for real driver and host pilots, the founder brought me on as a fractional product design partner to establish the core product experience from the ground up.
SplitEV is a Techstars-backed EV charging startup making EV charging accessible by letting hosts generate income from private chargers and letting drivers book safe, reliable, and nearby chargers. As the company refined its business model and began preparing for real driver and host pilots, the founder brought me on as a fractional product design partner to establish the core product experience from the ground up.
IMPACT
Outcomes (Shipped 2026)
Outcomes (Shipped 2026)
We transformed fragmented, confusing EV-charging flows into a clear, reliable experience for both drivers and hosts.
What we achieved:
We transformed fragmented, confusing EV-charging flows into a clear, reliable experience for both drivers and hosts.
What we achieved:
1. Fixed the core usability issues
2. Designed a clearer, more predictable experience
3. Set up SplitEV to retrofit new business model and community-based point system
1. Fixed the core usability issues
2. Designed a clearer, more predictable experience
3. Set up SplitEV to retrofit new business model and community-based point system
1. Fixed the core usability issues
2. Designed a clearer, more predictable experience
3. Set up SplitEV to retrofit new business model and community-based point system
PROBLEM
Early flows were incomplete and full of friction
✶
Drivers couldn’t reliably book chargers
Drivers couldn’t reliably book chargers
✶
Hosts couldn’t understand earnings or charger status
Hosts couldn’t understand earnings or charger status
✶
Key user flows were broken or circular
Key user flows were broken or circular
✶
Onboarding took too long and users dropped before they found value
Onboarding took too long and users dropped before they found value
"There’s a lot of info here so it’ll take a while for me to make a decision."
"Is the charger fit for my Tesla?"
"I’d like a validation process for a host and driver, like Airbnb or Uber.”
"I want to see how SplitEV compares to other charging stations like at the grocery store."
STRATEGY
Crafting a premium, industry standard experience for early users
Our goal was to unify the product into a coherent system that real users could test and that engineering could actually build. We used Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE) to uncover friction early, iterate fast, and validate improvements. Over 12 months, through dozens of iterations, we rebuilt SplitEV’s core experience into a launch-ready MVP.
This case study covers how we transformed five critical flows: 1) Host/Driver Onboarding, 2) Booking & Navigation, 3) Host Dashboard, 4) Driver Dashboard, and 5) Vehicle Management.
Our goal was to unify the product into a coherent system that real users could test and that engineering could actually build. We used Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE) to uncover friction early, iterate fast, and validate improvements. Over 12 months, through dozens of iterations, we rebuilt SplitEV’s core experience into a launch-ready MVP.
This case study covers how we transformed five critical flows: 1) Host/Driver Onboarding, 2) Booking & Navigation, 3) Host Dashboard, 4) Driver Dashboard, and 5) Vehicle Management.
FINAL DESIGN
Impact
Impact
Select tabs to cycle through how we improved 5 key user flows
Select tabs to cycle through how we improved 5 key user flows
Onboarding (1)
Driver Flows (3)
Host Flows (1)
1
Onboarding
Problem
Onboarding was 200% longer than the industry average and was predicted to lead to high drop-off rates.
Impact
✶
Defined role-specific onboarding flows
✶
Progressive disclosure reduced cognitive overload, decreasing time on task
✶
Completion rates increased meaningfully
✶
Users consistently reached activation on the first attempt
-58%
onboarding friction
24 -> 10 screens
119 -> 53 form elements
Onboarding (1)
Driver Flows (3)
Host Flows (1)
1
Onboarding
Problem
Onboarding was 200% longer than the industry average and was predicted to lead to high drop-off rates.
Impact
✶
Defined role-specific onboarding flows
✶
Progressive disclosure reduced cognitive overload, decreasing time on task
✶
Completion rates increased meaningfully
✶
Users consistently reached activation on the first attempt
-58%
onboarding friction
24 -> 10 screens
119 -> 53 form elements
Onboarding (1)
Driver Flows (3)
Host Flows (1)
1
Onboarding
Problem
Onboarding was 200% longer than the industry average and was predicted to lead to high drop-off rates.
Impact
✶
Defined role-specific onboarding flows
✶
Progressive disclosure reduced cognitive overload, decreasing time on task
✶
Completion rates increased meaningfully
✶
Users consistently reached activation on the first attempt
-58%
onboarding friction
24 -> 10 screens
119 -> 53 form elements
Key Takeaways
Since we didn't have a product manager to think about long-term vision and scalability, it was important that I prioritize tasks for sprints rather than mindlessly accepting Phase 2+ backlog requests. I needed to think in terms of systems to envision how retrofitting new features would interact with the current infrastructure and cascade down in order to save time and development costs. This way, I was able to shape the direction of the MVP so that we would have a successful and sustainable launch.
Since we didn't have a product manager to think about long-term vision and scalability, it was important that I prioritize tasks for sprints rather than mindlessly accepting Phase 2+ backlog requests. I needed to think in terms of systems to envision how retrofitting new features would interact with the current infrastructure and cascade down in order to save time and development costs. This way, I was able to shape the direction of the MVP so that we would have a successful and sustainable launch.