Management Lease: Fusion Energi & C-Max Energi
Objective
Using a small, internal sample group, research and observe changes in user driving and charging behavior over time for first-time PHEV owners and lessees to identify problem areas, improvements, and new vehicle features for future models.
Challenges
- Difficulty keeping customer interest – by the end of the project, user participation had been reduced by half
- Difficulty achieving buy-in from stakeholders
Process
Participants were selected from a pool of Ford Fusion Energi and C-Max Energi Management Lessees who were interested in participating in our research. Our team purposely selected individuals who did not work with and had little to no knowledge about Hybrid or Electric Vehicles because we felt that this group most closely represents consumers who were interested in leasing or purchasing a plug-in hybrid. We followed their vehicle ownership journey over one year.
One month after acquiring vehicle ownership, we scheduled a one-hour phone interview with each Management Lessee to go over their initial impressions of the vehicle; taking particular note of contextual information such as: lifestyle, education, occupation, personality, and technical literacy. We used this initial data to create a series of personas to guide conversations with marketing, engineering, UX, and HMI teams.
At the half-year checkpoint, we followed willing participants to conduct an in-home interview to document and observe how their experience with the vehicle had changed over time, and how they overcame pitfalls with the product. With customer consent, we used MyFord Mobile and OpenXC to capture user charging and driving behavior.
One year after our initial contact with each participant, an exit interview was conducted over the phone to discuss final issues, concerns, or suggestions to be considered for future development.
Results
- Nearly everyone indicated that charging at work was a stressful experience – by company policy, each person is only allotted 4 hours of charging time before they must move their vehicle to allow another person to charge
- Most indicated that they would not install a Level 2 charger in their home unless they decided to purchase a PHEV
- Participants indicated that the Brake Coach improved their driving efficiency, however the data varies by customer
- Generally speaking, each participant charges their vehicle on a fairly regular basis, although not always daily