rEVolve

Inspiration

As we all know, as technology increases, we are given more access to efficient forms of communication and transportation. Now that Electric Vehicles are on the rise, this form of technology has not only allowed us to electrically charge our cars but also help us reduce our carbon footprint. However, the increase of electric vehicles has come with a price. Due to the use of lithium-ion batteries inside Electric vehicles, we have reached a concern about the proper disposal processes of these batteries, and the lack of trust that comes with it.

Our team wanted to create an application that can provide awareness of recycling plants for the li-ion batteries and customers when is the best time to charge their EV vehicle, giving them information about their batteries health, and where is the best place to charge their EV. Most EV owners are not aware of and don’t trust the disposal process of lithium-ion batteries. We are also bringing awareness to our customers about the importance of recycling lithium-ion batteries by providing an app to point customers to companies that recycle EV batteries in the safest place.

Our Solution and what rEVolve does

Because the responsible use and disposal of EV batteries is such a complex issue, ample time was spent brainstorming ideas and draft lo-fi wireframes for testing and analysis. After designing several separate options, it was made clear to us that a combination of all of the functions from each lo-fi would be the best idea to set us apart from the competition and make a truly comprehensive and innovative app. The result was rEVolve: a simple but elegant app that informs the user of the breakdown, composition, and value of their battery; the ability to set an SMS alarm for charging at the best hours based on grid data; and a list of recommended charging stations and recycling centers near the user. The UX/UI prototype became the main focus, and we were able to create a sleek and user-friendly design that will be very reasonable to implement as a mobile or web app.

How we built rEVolve

To make our solution a reality, we used a combination of design, wireframing, and prototyping tools throughout the conceptual and prototyping processes. We will continue developing the application using Java with Spring Boot framework, JavaScript, and Bootstrap UI, along with custom User Interface elements. Our data layer will be written using MySQL with some Object Relational Mapping with Hibernate. Data resources including https://metals-api, https://teslaapi.io, and numerous informational references were used and will be used to build a robust and rich backend for rEVolve.

Tools, Libraries, & Frameworks

Framework

Spring Boot - Java Framework for writing scalable, stand-alone, production-ready apps, chosen for the web app version of rEVolve

External APIs

Maps SDK for Android - plan to integrate Maps feature for easy access to resources near our app users

electricityMap API - plan to integrate power grid data to notify app users when electricity consumption is greenest

Key Software

Figma- utilized Figma for its in-depth wireframing capabilities & UI design components

IntelliJ - code for rEVolve will be written, edited, and tested within IntelliJ IDE

Android Studio - IDE within IntelliJ specifically for the creation of Android apps

GitHub - allows for version control and collaborative development

Key Product Features:

Accessing EV charging stations & lithium-ion battery recycling Centers with convenience using the geo pins feature
Delivering quality information and aid for all customers about the raw battery breaks down of their lithium-ion battery in our application
Leaving reviews and ratings of the recycling centers and electric vehicle charging stations in terms of the safety level, recycling information about lithium-ion battery disposal, accessibility to businesses, and user comments.
Optimal charge time page to keep track of EV charge time, which helps keep lithium-ion batteries healthier and last longer.

What's next for rEVolve

Our main goal is to deliver quality information and aid for all customers when they are in need of battery disposal. Over time we want to gain customer trust and add more we want to provide convenient and reliable access to public EV fast-charging stations and recycling stations throughout the country. We also want to partner with more Business Complexes and add more fast-charging stations to allow easy access to our EV owners. We would look more into customer reviews and how they like our product. This would be essential for the product and the business and also, this would help us build better relationships with our customers.

With our marketing strategy and access to our required channels, our goal would be to launch rEVolve into the Appstore with all our listed key features by using our milestones projection. With rEVolve we plan to continue to find different ways for EV owners to have access to knowledge of their vehicle's battery along with locations to recycling centers to ensure a safe disposal process, along with charging points for users to utilize the optimal charge time around businesses.

Meet the rEVolve Team

Sinduja Thati (Project Manager, Senior studying Data Science, Statistics @ Purdue University) Sinduja facilitated weekly group meetings for the go and pro team. She maintained the weekly agenda for the project list and helped the Go Team with the marketing, business value model, and competition. She also made the final presentation slides.

Johnathan Lamb (Go Team, Senior studying Politics, Philosophy, and Economics @ Wabash College) Johnathan worked with the Go Team to research the emerging electric vehicle battery market, helped create the business model, and produced the final presentation and documents.

Shree K Bhattarai (Go Team, Junior studying political science and business @Wabash College) Shree worked with the Go team to research the electric vehicle battery market and its future. He also helped create the business model and final presentation along with Jonathan and Sinduja.

Matthew McGee (Pro Team Tech lead, Senior studying Informatics/Computer Science @ IUPUI) Matthew worked with the Pro team to coordinate and disseminate tasks and report progress to the PM and coaches during group meetings. He helped create both the lo-fi and hi-fi wireframes and ensured that work was completed before each deadline.

Anna Williamson (Pro Team, Software Development bootcamp graduate, apprentice @ Infosys) Anna worked with the Pro team to gather research on pressing issues for EV owners as well as assist in putting together lo-fi and hi-fi wireframes.

Parker Anderson (Pro Team, Software Developer, Design)
Parker worked with the Pro team to formulate, design, and prototype a software solution for challenges facing users in the Electric Vehicle battery charging and recycling space.