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Human Factors & Ergonomics icon
Human Factors & Ergonomics
A luxury automotive brand image

A luxury automotive brand

Developing a UX digital concept for automotive inductive charging

Services: Human Factors & Ergonomics, User Experience & Design Research

Mima was responsible for the development of a new concept of digital interaction in hybrid cars to control and manage a new inductive charging technology.

Our Task

How might inductive charging technology be developed to deliver a ‘premium experience’ for customers of luxury cars? How might the technology integrate with other vehicle technologies such as self-park?


Our Solution

Our work included the development of the overall concept of use, defining use cases and designing interaction concepts for the in-car interface. The scope included a service proposition for public/private inductive charging and the design of interface concepts. Built on insights from design research conducted with customers & dealers, we explored the various use cases for customers using inductive charging technology and mapped the service for at home, at work, at friends or family and in public. We built prototype user interfaces for the in-car displays and mobile devices that allowed us to do some early feedback testing with our client's customers. We also used the research to understand if customers felt the use of the technology was ‘premium’ in line with the luxury automotive brand.

Interior cabin of the futuristic-looking dashboard and inductive charging equipment
A visual render of the various stages of battery charging alerts on the interface in the car
A visual render of the various stages of battery charging alerts when passing onto the inductive charging area

Project Challenge

With the growth in interest in electric and hybrid vehicles, manufacturers are starting to look more at technology that will improve the experience for the car owner. It is recognised that having to physically plug your vehicle in is often a hassle and is one of the barriers to adoption.

The concept of inductive charging for automotive is similar to wireless charging for consumer electronics, automatically charging the electric/hybrid vehicle when the car is parked over a charging pad in the ground.

Service Design & Prototype

Our work includes the development of the overall concept of use, defining use cases and designing interaction concepts for the in-car interface. The scope included a service proposition for public/private inductive charging and the design of interface concepts.

Given the target market for our client, we had to capture what a “premium experience” would mean for charging a hybrid. Built on insights from design research conducted with customers & dealers, we explored the various use cases for customers using inductive charging technology and mapped the service for at home, at work, at friends or family and in public.

UX Design

We built prototype user interfaces for the in-car displays and mobile devices that allowed us to do some early feedback testing with our client's customers. We explored both manual and self-park implementations. We also used the research to understand if customers felt the use of the technology was ‘premium’ in line with the luxury automotive brand.

How we added value

  • Development of use cases defining the variety of modes of how users would interact with the technology
  • Use of storyboarding to communicate use cases to the engineering team
  • Use of rapid prototyping to get early feedback from real users

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