PARTNER

We prototyped an electric vehicle education campaign for millennials

The average cost of a new non-electric in 2019 in the US was $36,000 while electric vehicles averaged $55,600. The high cost of EVs presents equity issues because it primarily allows access to wealthy individuals. This drove Sustain Tomorrow in partnership with eSource and CU Boulder to answer the design challenge, “How might we help lower income customers gain the most benefit from EVs in a way that aligns with their needs?”

01. Select a target audience

We explored the current landscape of EVs and searched for audiences we could make EVs more accessible. We targeted millennials who were recent college graduates because this audience was not currently targeted.

02. Empathize

We spoke with millennials about their driving experience and immersed ourselves in their lives. We found:

  • Millennials care about the cool factor of EVs

  • Low cost is important

  • Convenience matters

  • Millennial are not highly educated about EVs because targeted EV content does not currently exist on social media.

03. Ideate, prototype, and test

We leveraged these findings and brainstormed ideas, tested them with millennials, and made several innovative recommendations to enhance the EV experience and make it more equitable.

We brought in CU Boulder students to create TikTok prototypes focused on EV education to educate, build awareness, and access younger demographics. We rapidly prototyped and tested these videos and included trending songs and hashtags.

The ideas generated from these labs will support the next iteration of eSource’s EV strategy in Boulder, CO.  

Learnings

From this project, it was amazing to see the power of participatory design. By bringing in college students to help address this design challenge, they were able to leverage social media, their peers, and technology to develop educational prototypes that received positive feedback.

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