Society, Innovation and environment

Design Researchers Want to Turn Danes on to Electric Cars

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As a sustainable means of transportation, the electric car can become an important element in the efforts to solve society’s environmental problems. In the etrans project design researchers from Designskolen Kolding in Denmark have included members of the target groups as well as commercial stakeholders in an effort to make the electric car the obvious choice for future motorists.

By Hans Emborg Bünemann

An offer they can’t refuse. That is how Danish motorists should view the possibility of replacing their petrol or diesel vehicle with an electric car when that option is introduced into the Danish market within the next couple of years. That is the ambition of the researchers behind the etrans project at Designskolen Kolding: Associate Professor Anne Flemmert and Project Manager Mette Mikkelsen. Etrans aims to use attractive, individualised design solutions to make the electric car an irresistible alternative for motorists.

From User Surveys to Market Potential

The etrans project is based at Designskolen Kolding, and in addition to designers and researchers it involves municipal administrators and a number of private enterprises, including Dong Energy, Peugeot and the organic produce supplier Aarstiderne. Through an anthropological user survey etrans has acquired in-depth knowledge about the users’ views on sustainability and transportation needs.

The design researchers will develop methods to convert these insights to concrete, user-driven innovation with a market potential. They have put together a team of engineers, consumer behaviour researchers, business developers and designers to interpret the findings from the anthropologists’ field studies. This interdisciplinary dialogue generates ideas for the development of products and services, says Anne Flemmert and adds,
"The diversity in the project partners’ professional positions and personal profiles, for example in terms of gender and age, is crucial for our ability to produce holistic design solutions that make sense aesthetically, technologically and in business terms. The knowledge that we gather about user-driven innovation will also be useful to companies in other business areas."

Seven types of motorists. The analysis of the anthropological field study in the project revealed that motorists can be divided into seven categories that differ in terms of values and behaviour, everyday routines, lifestyle etc. The vertical dimension in the picture depicts whether the users’ relationship with their car is mostly based on emotions and dreams or on facts and function. The horizontal dimension depicts whether the users are more into the environment and moral issues ("the sacred") or everyday life, fashion and personal interests ("the profane").  Illustration: Etrans, Report 1, p. 22, September 2009

Research for the Future

According to the researchers from the design school, the potential of the electric car project applies both to the private car market and to the large market of company cars. The research element makes the project very interesting to the commercial partners, says Ahmet Günes, who is head of customer relations and quality management at Aunsbjerg.com, a company that sells Peugeot cars in the Danish market. Peugeot is the world’s leading manufacturer of electric cars, and they expect electric cars to play a key role in just a few years’ time. Ahmet Günes, who has extensive knowledge of the retail market, says,
"The electric car is our future, plain and simple. The detailed insight into user needs that we are gaining through research lets us target our products, marketing and services in ways that I have never before experienced."

The researchers’ distinction between customer and user is of particular interest to Peugeot.
"Large companies buy company cars for their employees. In this context, it is essential for us to know something about the different needs and desires in, respectively, the buyer and the driver," Ahmet Günes says.

A Mental Quantum Leap

The basis for Designskolen Kolding’s involvement in the etrans project is the school’s desire to apply design and design research in the effort to solve society’s environmental problems. The challenge is to convince the motorists.
"To many motorists, replacing a familiar technological platform with a novel one is a mental quantum leap," says Anne Flemmert. "We are trying to determine what might convince motorists to ride the green wave, and then we use the collaboration between researchers and companies to create a commercial success and thus an environmental success."

A Need for Radical Innovation

So far, one of the results of the project is the identification of seven different types of motorists, categorised according to their transportation needs, environmental profile, perception of cars, etc. To some users, the car is more of a status symbol than a means of transportation. Others have a pragmatic view of transportation and are mainly interested in reliability. Others again would like their car to express an environmental awareness, says Mette Mikkelsen, who took her Master’s Degree in Design this summer with a dissertation on designer competencies, using etrans as her case study. Mette Mikkelsen views society’s need for fundamental environmental improvements in the area of transportation as a unique opportunity for rethinking the car based on this knowledge about user types and preferences. She says,
"Society and the environment have an urgent need for radical innovation. This is what’s encouraging us to rethink not just the development of the car itself but also the communication and the services surrounding the use of the car. For example, urban planners might make it easier to find parking for environmentally friendly cars. With the insight into the user’s everyday life and needs that our study has provided, designers and product developers will be able to reach specific target groups and create electric cars and services that make people think, ‘This is an offer I can’t refuse!’"

Adoption curve. The seven types of users can be plotted along an adoption curve that depicts how likely each of the types is to switch to an electric car. Thus, the researchers predict that the ‘environmentalists’ will be among the first to embrace the new technology.  Illustration: Etrans, Report 1, p. 68, September 2009. Source: based freely on Rogers, E.M. (2004) Diffusion of innovations (Fifth edition), NY: Free Press.

According to Mette Mikkelsen, many drivers view their car as the last bastion in a hectic everyday life, the one place where they can relax, and where they are in charge. This aspect should be incorporated into the design of the electric cars, she says, and mentions that the etrans project is exploring ways of optimising the electric car for the individual user. Good design solutions can help establish an emotional relationship between driver and car.
"Cars don’t need to be as standardised as they are. Individual design solutions can make the car an identity space for the user to a much higher degree than it is today. We can use technology to achieve an interaction between the car and the user where, for example, the car automatically adjusts your seat, turns on your favourite music and gets ready to phone the person you usually talk to when you’re driving," she says.

The sound of the car can also be customised, Anne Flemmert adds. "Some men who enjoy the acceleration sound from the engine may feel a loss of identity in driving a silent electric car. But here too, we are envisioning personal options. Thus, we can use the emotional design factor to give the user a strong, individual relationship with the car," she says, adding that the issue of adding sound to electric cars also has a safety aspect – not least for pedestrians and bicyclists – which etrans would also like to address.

Ownership and Varying Needs

Another example of the development potential in the services surrounding the car and its users is the issue of car ownership. According to Anne Flemmert, this is an obvious area for innovation as many of the Danish cars are up for replacement in the next few years. Why buy an expensive car that meets one’s extreme needs with room for children and sports or camping equipment when a much smaller car would be fine on most occasions? The etrans project is exploring ideas for a sort of subscription service that meets the individual owner’s varying needs and desires.
"Use a convertible car for the romantic drive, a spacious family car for the holiday road trip, and a small city car that’s easy to park for the everyday trips around town," says Anne Flemmert. "This is just one of the many ideas that will go into convincing motorists that it makes a lot of sense to switch to an electric car."

Cover illustration: Steffen Bygebjerg, Thomas Dambo Winther, Andreas Fischer, Sivert Bakkeng; all students at Designskolen Kolding