Electric Vehicle Employee Experience Discovery Research
2021
Customer: Enterprise Rent-A-Car
My role: Sole researcher
Methods used: 1:1 interviews and surveys
Tools used: UserTesting, Qualtrics, Google Suite, PowerPoint
Stakeholders: Enterprise Sr UX Researcher, Director of Customer Understanding, VP of Global Customer Experience and Digital, Branch Area Managers
Timeframe: 5 months
Challenge
In 2021, Enterprise introduced electric vehicles (EVs) to select branches across the US, France, and UK. They also offered EVs to executive company car drivers.
Branches received EVs on short notice, with little direction. As a result, they had to quickly find ways to adapt their rental processes.
Enterprise leadership wanted to understand early employee and customer experiences to help improve operations and anticipate customer needs.
Solution
I began my research by conducting 1:1 interviews with employees who recently started renting EVs. These discussions focused primarily on branch operation impacts. Using these insights, I then surveyed a broader sample of US branch employees renting EVs.
Next, I surveyed EV company car drivers at three different milestones to help understand their sentiment as they adapted to driving their new car.
Influence
Following this research, Enterprise created opportunities for employees to gain more hands-on EV experience and developed resources to aid customer conversations.
This research also prompted discussions about the importance of fast charging access, and system/rental contract updates needed to account for differences between EVs and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
The findings were presented to all levels, including the Enterprise CEO.
Study Overview
Timeline
Methodology and goals
Branch employee interviews and survey
Interview participants: 15 employees in the UK, France, and California where electric vehicles (EVs) were recently added to their rental car fleet.
Survey participants: Employees across the US where electric vehicles (EVs) were recently added to their rental car fleet.
Research goal: Understand the employee experience with renting EVs during the Prepare, Arrive, and Return stages of the rental journey to inform potential adjustments to the rental process.
Research questions:
What do employees identify as the biggest differences in the rental process for EV versus gasoline-powered vehicles?
How does EV charging impact branch operations?
What are the employees’ major friction points associated with renting EVs?
What, if any, operational adjustments or workarounds have been created to rent EVs?
How do employees identify which customers are a good fit for renting an EV?
How do employees educate customers on the differences of renting an EV?
Have the employees experienced customer complaints or issues when renting EVs? If so, what were they and what was their response?
Executive company car surveys
Survey participants: Sixty-four executives who opted to exchange their current company car for a new electric vehicle (EV). We surveyed these employees at three different milestones:
Before they receive their EV
Within a week of receiving their EV
6-8 weeks after receiving their EV
Research goals:
Understand the employee experience as they transition to an EV company car
How quickly they adjusted to driving an EV
Home charging experiences
Public charging experiences
Identify challenges experienced while driving an EV
Learn about perceived benefits of driving an EV
Key Insight Examples
Recommendations
Based on the findings, I identified the following opportunities to enhance the employee and customer experience:
While employees are forming their opinions of EV rentals, provide them with additional training, tools, and resources to help them better understand EV features, benefits, and customer charging options.
To help customers feel more comfortable with EV rentals, consider developing customer resources that address common questions.
Conduct follow-up research to explore which training or resources have been most effective for employees.
Consider creating a charging policy to standardize expectations for the battery level once returned and any fees.
Explore options for quicker, more convenient charging to help reduce the impact on branch operations and decrease time “off rent.”
Result
The EV findings were presented to all levels at Enterprise, including the Enterprise CEO. This helped the company align on priorities necessary to build a successful EV rental offering.
Reflection
As one of my first projects with Enterprise, this work established a foundation of trust and confidence with the Experience Research team. Over the next two years, I became fully integrated into their processes and was considered an extension of their team with the autonomy to work directly with product managers and designers.
Forbes 2021 interview with Enterprise CEO Chrissy Taylor regarding the company’s EV strategy