The illustrious history of internal-combustion engine vehicles began about 130 years ago, when they were first manufactured by Benz Motors, Germany in 1885. Now, because of the huge number of vehicles worldwide, we are faced with the harsh reality tha...
The illustrious history of internal-combustion engine vehicles began about 130 years ago, when they were first manufactured by Benz Motors, Germany in 1885. Now, because of the huge number of vehicles worldwide, we are faced with the harsh reality that emissions of carbon dioxide, the exhaust gas emitted from vehicles, must be massively reduced. Electric vehicles, which have emerged as an alternative, are as innovative as the invention of the first internal-combustion engine vehicle. In Korea, the government is making efforts to promote the spread of electric vehicles(EVs). However, Korea is still a latecomer system-wise, compared with countries that have more advanced auto industries such as the United States and some of the European countries.
This article reviewed the utilization pattern of users by focusing on design factors related with the installation of charging stations, which are necessarily involved when the supply of electric vehicles becomes intensively widespread. Furthermore, it suggests a direction of a service design for an electric vehicle charging infrastructure that will be constructed in the future, considering that the utilization pattern is not established in the utilization procedure but is in a developing stage. In the process of field test and evaluation, there was a limit in terms of the capacity to set up a user sample of electric vehicles, since the number of registered private electric vehicles is small in Seoul, at 26 only. Thus, since the domestic situation is one in which installation agents adopt their own type and scheme of charging stations when utilizing electric vehicles, it causes inconvenience to the users. Therefore, it was found that standardization of the charging scheme is the most urgent priority. Next, the exposure frequency of charging stations should be sufficiently high, so that a driver of the electric vehicle has no trouble charging his/her vehicle quickly and conveniently. Yet, such prospect is still far-off. For this reason, electric vehicle(EV) charging systems and related infrastructure must be built and deployed in advance of customers’ adopting EVs. This is the only solution to resolve user concerns of inconvenience, and the lack of a public rapid charging infrastructure, in order to address the potential hesitation among buyers to purchase EVs. Even if one has an excellent machine, it is of no use if a user does not know how to use it. Similarly,
it is needed to have a function of informing the charging stations in a proper way.
With the article focused on this, applying user’s requirements of electric vehicle charging stations to the Kano model, an attempt was made to classify these according to 6 properties after adopting the service design methodology. In addition, by producing a customer satisfaction coefficient based on the requirements classified by the Kano model, an attempt was made to study objective relationships of whether or not the requirements are satisfied. By suggesting the direction of charging station construction as an initial study, the direction for improvement was suggested so as to provide a satisfying service design to consumers. In the process, after reviewing the charging procedure of electric vehicles by users, 30 requirements for users were identified, which can be the standards of service design when constructing the electric vehicle charging station. By applying these requirements to the Kano model and classifying requirements for each property, it was possible to classify 7 items of
charming requirements(A), 7 items of one-dimensional requirements(O), and 15 items of unconcern(I). In addition, in order to review expectation levels with which the satisfaction of the service users is increased, we produced a customer satisfaction coefficient as per Timko(1993). As a result, the highest satisfaction coefficient index was indicated in items of vehicle state/smartphone linked services(0.79) such as charging completion, followed by other service facility use during charging(0.74), detailed information display for battery charger type and position on its approach road(0.72), and dedicated electric vehicle charging facility provision(0.69).
The highest dissatisfaction coefficient index was in the safety of cable connector wiring connection(-0.79). Aside from these, while charging place cleanliness(-0.69), additional fees in view of EV charging times at charging facilities(-0.64), and the facility manager-on-duty awareness of the charger's location(-0.59) are classified as one-dimensional requirements(O), it was found that the user satisfaction level can drop dramatically when these are not satisfied.
On the basis of this study result, the direction of service design improvement was suggested for the attractive requirement(A) item and the one-dimensional requirement (O) item. Service design suggestions for the attractive requirement(A) item include the following: “Charging stations must be easily recognizable, so it is important to install a road sign for EV charging stations so that drivers can locate the charging station without a hassle.“ “Detailed information should be suggested at an approach road so that drivers can have access to the charging station.“ ‘Make sure that charged state of vehicle or the like is identified using application software by providing a system linked to smartphones,’ ‘It may be allowed for a charging dedicated RFID card recognition scheme to be changed to a mobile or other scheme to be improved. This means that the card should be compatible with an existing T-money card or the like,’ and ‘User convenience can be provided by arranging a dedicated space such as the Korea Electric Power Corporation's dedicated electric vehicle charging station.' Furthermore, service design suggestions for one-dimensional requirement(O) include the following: ’Charging cable and connection wiring must be checked periodically for safety, charger