Heartbeat: Experience the Pulse of an Electric Vehicle

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are an emerging technology and open up an exciting new space for designing in-car interfaces. This technology enhances driving experience by a strong acceleration, regenerative breaking and especially a reduced noise level. However, engine vibrations and sound transmit valuable feedback to drivers of conventional cars, e.g. signaling that the engine is running and ready to go. We address this lack of feedback with Heartbeat, a multimodal electric vehicle information system. Heartbeat communicates (1) the state of the electric drive including energy flow and (2) the energy level of the batteries in a natural and experienceable way. We enhance the underlying Experience Design process by formulating working principles derived from an experience story in order to transport its essence throughout the following design phases. This way, we support the design of a consistent experience and resolve the tension between implementation constraints (e.g., space) and the persistence of the underlying story while building prototypes and integrating them into a technical environment (e.g., a dashboard).