Investigations on User Acceptance of Fast Charging Stations in Drive-Through Layouts for Electric Vehicles

Abstract

Until today, the range and the time to fill up the energy storage of an electric vehicle takes much longer than that of vehicles with combustion engine. For the user, these deficits are associated with a loss of comfort, especially during long-distance journeys. One possible approach to significantly reducing charging times is to provide the option of thermal power transfer in addition to electrical power during vehicle fast charging in order to dissipate heat during the fast charging process and thus further shorten the charging process. This approach is selected in the publicly funded research project CoolEV.Despite these and comparable efforts, charging time will not be comparable to the time required for refuelling in the foreseeable future. The question arises as to what extent shortening the charging time can contribute to increasing convenience. The possibility of completing the charging process like a short "pit stop" in the drive-through is seen as a decisive gain in convenience. Closely related to this is the question of how long vehicle users maximally remain at the vehicle during charging in order to then immediately continue their journey. As a result, a statement can be generated as to whether charging stations in a drive-through layout are target-oriented and under which conditions they are to be preferred to those with parking bays.In order to investigate the questions, an architectural model of an ideal loading park with a drive-through layout is first created. This model is then imported into a VR environment and animated allowing test persons to virtually experience and evaluate the charging process. Subject tests are conducted and user behavior as a function of charging time is captured and documented by video. The results are compared and discussed with the subjective impressions of the test persons, which are collected with questionnaires.

Keywords: Acceptable Charging Time, Fast Charging, Automotive Ergonomics, Human, Machine, Interface De, sign, Interaction Design, EV, Electric Vehicle

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003688