ChargeRoute Navigator: Enhancing the EV Journey

Our project calculates the route to provide optimal charging stations to ultimately improve the user experience and empower EV adventures, one charge at a time!

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Inspiration

EV vehicles are environment friendly and yet it does not receive the recognition it deserves. Even today we do not find many users driving electric vehicles and we believe this must change. Our project aims to provide EV users with a travel route showcasing optimal (and functioning) charging stations to enhance the use of Electric Vehicles by resolving a major concern, range anxiety. We also believe that this will inherently promote the usage of electric vehicles amongst other technological advancements in the car industry.

What it does

The primary aim of our project is to display the ideal route to the user for the electric vehicle to take along with the optimal (and functional) charging stations using markers based on the source and destination.

How we built it

Primarily, in the backend, we integrated two APIs. The first API call is used to fetch the longitude as well as latitude coordinates of the start and destination addresses while the second API was used to locate stations within a specific radius along the journey route. This computation required the start and destination addresses leading to the display of the ideal route containing optimal (and functioning) charging points along the way. Along with CSS, the frontend utilizes Leaflet (SDK/API) to render the map which not only recommends the ideal route showing the source, destination, and optimal charging stations as markers but also provides a side panel displaying route details and turn-by-turn directions.

Challenges we ran into

  • Most of the APIs available to help develop our application were paid
  • We found a scarcity of reliable data sources for EV charging stations
  • It was difficult to understand the documentation for the Maps API
  • Java Script

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • We developed a fully functioning app in < 24 hours
  • Understood as well as integrated 3 APIs

What we learned

  • Team work makes the dream work: we not only played off each others strengths but also individually tried things that are out of our comfort zone
  • How Ford works (from the workshop) as well as more about EVs and charging stations
  • We learnt about new APIs
  • If we have a strong will to learn and develop something new, we can no matter how hard it is; We just have to keep at it

What's next for ChargeRoute Navigator: Enhancing the EV Journey

  • Profile | User Account: Display the user's profile picture or account details
  • Accessibility features (e.g., alternative text)
  • Autocomplete Suggestions: Provide autocomplete suggestions as users type, utilizing geolocation services for accuracy
  • Details on Clicking the Charging Station (on map): Provide additional information about each charging station, such as charging speed, availability, and user ratings
  • Save Routes: Allow users to save frequently used routes for quick access.
  • Traffic Information (integration with GMaps API): Integrate real-time traffic data to optimize routes
  • User feedback about (charging station recommendations and experience) to improve user experience
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