CASE — 02 / E.ON DRIVE / 2023 — 2024
Simplifying the purchase of home EV chargers for consumers across Europe
— AT A GLANCE
ROLE
Senior Product Designer / UX Lead (freelance)
Pan-European B2C e-commerce platform for home EV charging solutions designed to scale across markets with diverse regulatory and infrastructural requirements.
CONTEXT
TIMEFRAME
2023 – 2024
FOCUS
Helping private EV drivers confidently make purchase decisions by translating technical and regulatory complexities into a clear, guided experience.
E.ON Drive was a B2C e-commerce platform for home EV charging. The goal was to help private EV drivers choose and purchase a suitable home charging system across European markets where technical requirements, regulations, and infrastructure constraints vary significantly.
As the sole designer responsible for the consumer-facing platform, I shaped the end-to-end e-commerce experience: from product discovery and guided selection to checkout, including supporting content and the overall visual language of the B2C domain.
— CONTEXT
The platform targeted private EV drivers and was designed to scale internationally, with an initial rollout planned across multiple European markets. Each market had its own regulatory framework and residential electrical standards, directly influencing which charging solutions were feasible for individual households.
For example, in Germany, home chargers above 11 kW require a certified energy management system that synchronises with the local electricity grid — an additional technical and regulatory step that doesn't exist in the same form in Sweden. These differences aren't edge cases; they fundamentally change what a customer can install at home, and therefore what the platform can offer them.
— CHALLENGE
When I joined, the platform used a typical e-commerce approach: product listings with technical specs, expecting consumers to evaluate and compare options on their own. The idea was that providing ample information would help people make informed decisions.
However, after researching the domain, talking with stakeholders, and based on my own experience with installing a home charger, I became convinced that this approach was fundamentally flawed for this product category. Home EV charging involves technical specs, electrical requirements, local regulations, and installation constraints that most consumers don’t have the background to evaluate. Listing all of this as product specs on a catalog page doesn't inform — it overwhelms.
— MY APPROACH
guided product selection
I suggested replacing the traditional product catalog with a guided product flow, a step-by-step configurator that simplifies technical and regulatory complexity into clear, manageable choices.
The main idea: the platform should direct users to the right solution, managing complexity within the system rather than overloading the consumer.
Most people don't need to understand the technical details of home charging. They need to answer a few clear questions, trust that the system is working out the rest, and feel confident enough to complete their purchase online.
The configurator follows a specific sequence, with each step building on the last.
Step 1: Eligibility. Before offering any products, the process checks if a home charging solution is even feasible. Can the customer park on their own property? If not, for example, if they only park on public streets, the platform identifies this early and clearly, instead of allowing someone to choose a product they can't install.
Step 2: Product options. Based on the eligibility answers, the available charger models are filtered and shown. The customer only sees options that are actually feasible for their situation, eliminating the need to compare specifications they can't evaluate.
Step 3: Installation. The flow checks whether the customer's home electrical setup, meter box, connections, and available capacity can support the chosen charger, or if additional work is needed. Options like load balancing are introduced here in context, rather than as abstract technical features on a product page.
Step 4: Order summary. A clear overview of the complete package—charger, installation, and any additional options—with transparent pricing.
This sequence is intentional. Each step reduces uncertainty before the next decision, guiding the customer through every relevant consideration without requiring them to be technical experts.
The complete user flow for E.ON Drive's consumer platform, showing how the guided configurator fits within the broader ecosystem of product discovery, services, and account management. (click to expand)
— SCALING ACROSS MARKETS
The configurator was built to support country-specific differences while maintaining a consistent experience. The step structure stays the same across markets, but the rules within each step—such as which products are available, which installation checks are needed, and which regulations apply—adapt to local requirements.
This allows the platform to expand into new markets by customizing local rules within the existing framework, instead of rebuilding the flow for each country.
— OUTCOME
The platform launched in Sweden. Further expansion to additional European markets was planned but ultimately paused due to business decisions outside the scope of this project. The work provided a clear, scalable UX foundation for a multi-market B2C e-commerce platform and demonstrated that complex, regulation-dependent products can be sold directly to consumers when the experience is designed to guide rather than overwhelm.
— HOMEPAGE
The entry point focuses on reassurance and simplicity rather than technical specifications
Click to see full image
— PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE
Product information structured around what matters to the consumer, not the spec sheet
— GUIDED PRODUCT SELECTION
Step 1: Eligibility
The flow starts by establishing feasibility, filtering out situations where a home charger isn't possible before any product is shown.
Step 2 — Product options
Only chargers that match the customer's situation are presented, with pricing and optional extras shown in context rather than buried in specifications.
Click to see full image
Click to see full image