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Case Study

Dashboard Design

Data UX

2024

Designing a

Proactive EV Operations

Platform at Global Scale

Designing a

Proactive EV Operations

Platform at Global Scale

Designing a

Proactive EV Operations

Platform at Global Scale

Designing a

Proactive EV Operations

Platform at Global Scale

A complex, high-stakes operations dashboard for managing EV fleets, charging infrastructure, energy systems, and incident response — all from a single unified interface built for clarity under pressure.

A complex, high-stakes operations dashboard for managing EV fleets, charging infrastructure, energy systems, and incident response — all from a single unified interface built for clarity under pressure.

Client

Enterprise · Global Scale

Enterprise · Global Scale

Role

Lead Product Designer

Lead Product Designer

Services

Dashboard Design

Systems · Data UX

Dashboard Design

Systems · Data UX

Platform scope

Platform scope

5 Domains · Global Fleet

5 Domains · Global Fleet

5 Domains · Global Fleet

The Problem

Operational complexity

scaled exponentially

with the network

Operational complexity

scaled exponentially

with the network

Operational complexity

scaled exponentially

with the network

As the EV network grew, so did the operational surface area. More chargers, more vehicles, more data - but the tools hadn't kept pace. Operators were firefighting in spreadsheets and fragmented dashboards with no unified view.

As the EV network grew, so did the operational surface area. More chargers, more vehicles, more data - but the tools hadn't kept pace. Operators were firefighting in spreadsheets and fragmented dashboards with no unified view.

"I wasn't supporting design. I was shaping the network."

"I wasn't supporting design. I was shaping the network."

Global scale

Operations spanning multiple regions with no single source of truth for fleet and infrastructure health.

Reactive only

Teams were responding to failures - never anticipating them. Every alert was already an incident.

Data ≠ insight

Massive data availability masked the real problem: none of it was structured for operational decision-making.

Design Philosophy

Design

Philosophy

Clarity over cleverness.

Actionability over aesthetics.

Clarity over cleverness.

Actionability over aesthetics.

Clarity over cleverness.

Actionability over aesthetics.

Data availability does not equal usefulness. The hardest design decisions on this project were removals - stripping back everything that didn't directly support a decision an operator needed to make.

Data availability does not equal usefulness. The hardest design decisions on this project were removals - stripping back everything that didn't directly support a decision an operator needed to make.

Design Principles

Design

Principles

Five principles that

guided every design move

Five principles that

guided every design move

Five principles that

guided every design move

01

Clarity over cleverness

Operators manage critical infrastructure in real time - cognitive load is the enemy. Every screen had to be legible under pressure.

02

Actionability over aesthetics

A beautiful alert nobody acts on is a failed design. Every data point was mapped to a possible action before it was allowed on screen.

03

Data availability ≠ usefulness

The system had enormous amounts of data. The design challenge was aggressive reduction - surfacing only what needed attention, right now.

04

Proactive over reactive

The shift from firefighting to forecasting required rethinking every alert, every threshold, every notification hierarchy from first principles.

05

Consistency across domains

One interaction model across five distinct operational domains meant operators could move fluidly between fleet, charging, energy, maintenance, and alerts.

System Architecture

System

Architecture

Four layers —

from awareness to action

Four layers —

from awareness to action

Four layers —

from awareness to action

The entire interface was structured around a four-layer hierarchy. Every screen lived in one layer, and operators could traverse them without losing context.

The entire interface was structured around a four-layer hierarchy. Every screen lived in one layer, and operators could traverse them without losing context.

Layer 1

Awareness

Network-wide health at a glance: fleet status, charging availability, energy load, and active incidents in a single view.

Layer 2

Investigation

Drill-down surfaces for understanding why something is happening: trends, anomaly context, and correlated signals.

Layer 3

Action

Inline workflows for dispatching, configuring, or escalating: no context switching, no separate admin panels.

Layer 4

Verification

Post-action confirmation and audit trails so operators always know what changed, when, and by whom.

Interaction Model

Interaction

Model

One consistent model.

Five distinct domains.

One consistent model.

Five distinct domains.

One consistent model.

Five distinct domains.

Rather than building five separate tools, the platform used a single interaction pattern across all domains, so operators trained once and could move fluidly between them.

Rather than building five separate tools, the platform used a single interaction pattern across all domains, so operators trained once and could move fluidly between them.

1

Network & Site Monitoring

Regional/site-level visibility into charger availability, uptime, and overall network performance.

2

Charger & Session Monitoring

Real-time charger status, connector states, session activity, transaction information, and fault conditions.

3

Performance & Availability

Uptime, partially available chargers, failure trends, success rates, and operational KPIs.

4

Maintenance

Predictive maintenance queues, service history, and part-level failure patterns.

5

Alerts & Incidents

Unified incident feed with severity triage, escalation paths, and resolution tracking.

Platform Screens

Built for operators under pressure

Built for operators under pressure

Built for operators under pressure

Network Overview

Network health, charging availability, and active incidents - all visible above the fold.

Network health, charging availability, and active incidents - all visible above the fold.

Operational Clarity

Actionable KPI insights across the charging network, highlighting charger performance, session activity, transaction health, success rates, and failure trends.

Actionable KPI insights across the charging network, highlighting charger performance, session activity, transaction health, success rates, and failure trends.

Charging Infrastructure

Charger session data, availability heat maps, uptime monitoring, and fault triage - helping operators identify issues at a glance.

Charger session data, availability heat maps, uptime monitoring, and fault triage - helping operators identify issues at a glance.

Incident Management

Unified alert feed with severity-based prioritization, connected to relevant tickets and work orders for faster resolution.

Unified alert feed with severity-based prioritization, connected to relevant tickets and work orders for faster resolution.

In the Wild

The platform, in context

The platform, in context

Analytics View

Energy consumption trends, charging session data, and fleet performance metrics surfaced for proactive decision-making.

Energy consumption trends, charging session data, and fleet performance metrics surfaced for proactive decision-making.

Fleet & Network Overview

Geographic fleet distribution, charging site availability, and live network health — all from a single awareness layer.

The Transformation

From reactive firefighting

to proactive operations.

From reactive firefighting

to proactive operations.

From reactive firefighting

to proactive operations.

Operators moved from managing crises to preventing them. The platform gave a globally distributed team a shared language, a shared view, and the tools to act before things broke - not after.

5

Operational domains unified

4

Interaction layers

1

Consistent interaction model

Global

Fleet coverage

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