A Mobile Application to Assist Electric Vehicles' Drivers with Charging Services

Electric Vehicles (EVs) represent one of the most promising solutions toward sustainable transportation systems. However, some aspects of EV-based mobility pose challenges for a larger market uptake. Among the others, the overhead of charging operations (e.g. long recharge time), and the lack of accurate information about availability of EV supply stations (EVSSs) while being on board of an EV are perceived by customers as important limitations, and determine a low user acceptance. To tackle these issues, additional assistance must be provided to EV drivers, through the utilization of ICT-based solutions. In this paper, we describe the implementation of a mobile Android application, which has been deployed within the EU Internet of Energy (IoE) project, with the goal of supporting a larger uptake of EV-based mobility. The application provides full assistance to EV drivers, through functionalities of battery monitoring, dynamic range prediction, and EVSS discovery along the way. Moreover, it supports the IoE semantic architecture, and allows EV drivers reserving a charging slot based on their preferences, and on current availability of EVSSs. The user acceptance of the application has been tested through a questionnaire. Test results confirm the importance of charging reservation mechanisms to mitigate EV driver anxiety problems.