How can private capital investment be redesigned to explicitly account for sustainability, equity, and systems thinking? What would that look like in the context of electric vehicle charging infrastructure?

As a core member of a graduate research team, I led the synthesis of industry research, sociotechnical transition theory, and futures reports to develop two novel EV charging archetypes: Mobile Charging and Energy Exchange. Each was prototyped at multiple scales from Arduino circuit tabletop models to full human-scale interaction scenarios. Working within a "research through prototyping" methodology, the project examined EV charging not as an isolated product problem but as a multi-stakeholder system shaped by grid economics, equity considerations, historical infrastructure inequities, and emerging charging technologies.

The work was presented to the external project partner, OMERS (one of Canada's largest pension funds), alongside PhD researchers and representatives from The Invert, a Chicago-based infrastructure startup.

Note: Consistent with the project's research-through-prototyping scope, traditional user research and primary insight generation fell outside the brief. Synthesis was grounded in industry reports, academic literature, and systems modeling.

Designing Investable Infrastructure

Capital investment in infrastructure and the design process are two powerful forces that shape the world around us. Investment decisions in infrastructure directly affect human behavior and outcomes, but the traditional decision-making progress has not benefitted significantly from the capabilities of the strategic design process.

The idea of “capital design” is that private, long-term investment by institutions can be conducted in concert with strategic systems design tools, enabling the exploration of infrastructures and systems at different levels, interactions, and opportunities. This allows us to examine infrastructure through the lenses of sustainability, equity, and distributed intelligence—a capability that is much less present in typical investment portfolio construction.

Systems Thinking

Systems Goals

Our “research through prototyping” process was guided by three systems goals—the 3 D’s.

Decarbonization Archetypes should support a landscape that is transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards carbon-free power and mobility.

Decentralization Infrastructure has historically been built and controlled by a powerful few. Our archetypes should distribute design, access, and ownership across communities, leading to more informed and inclusive features.

Digitization AI and IoT technologies will only become more ubiquitous over time—therefore, our archetypes should leverage these capabilities in a thoughtful manner to enable services and relationships that were not previously possible.

Understanding the Landscape

Understanding the current state of EV charging in the U.S. was critical to effectively prototyping future archetypes. We relied on trends & industry reports from firms like PwC to ground ourselves in the economics and technologies of EV charging.

Also critical was understanding how technological changes propagate through systems at different levels. Seminal works such as “Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study” (Geels 2002) were consulted at the start of the process.

Thinking in Systems

An infrastructure system as complex as EV charging networks can span grid economics, consumer behavior, institutional stakeholders, and emerging technologies. The following tools were used to map system boundaries and actors, trace causal relationships between trends and outcomes, and connect high-level values to specific design features. Together, they formed the scaffolding that grounded the development of our archetypes in systems logic rather than speculation.

In this unconventional causal loop diagram, changes and trends are examined through the lens of equity and barriers to change.

This business model canvas helped to articulate how long-term cash flow could be achieved within the proposed new sustainable systems.

Research Through Prototyping

Exploring interactions through small-scale prototypes

Arduino enabled us to explore the features and interactions of systems archetypes at a small scale, using simple code and circuits to model complex technologies and interfaces. This level of rapid prototyping quickly unveiled both real-world capabilities and constraints.

Arduino Prototyping

Prototyping at scale

Archetype features were also explored at the human interaction level through full-scale prototypes. These representations of intersecting stakeholders and technologies reveal previously-hidden opportunities and patterns.

For example, it became clear that any autonomous charging solutions would have to account for potential bad actors seeking to unplug vehicles for fun or personal gain—representing an opportunity for solutions like locking plugs, robotic arms, or a virtual security presence.

Reframing Current Archetypes

Examining current archetypes yielded opportunities for re-thinking common behavior patterns and incentives.

The current archetype of refueling an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) car involves navigating to a dedicated fueling station, interacting with the pump, and waiting several minutes while energy in the form of gasoline is exchanged. Importantly, gasoline is only available at gas stations, and generally cannot be resold by the consumer.

EV charging offers an opportunity to question the assumptions around what “refueling” entails.

What if…

…charging did not require direct interaction from the consumer?

…the energy for charging could come from distributed or consumer-generated sources?

…consumers could exchange energy at different times to take advantage of variable pricing?

Archetype 1: Mobile EV Charging

Drop-in Charging Solutions

Mobile charging concepts are a significant future archetype of EV charging. Many existing parking infrastructures may not allow for traditional fixed chargers or would be costly to retrofit. Mobile charging services can offer a flexible deployment of charging in difficult situations as well as grid storage capability to utilities, in addition to offering a convenience benefit to consumers.

Autonomous & Mobile Charging Institutions face high costs for equipment and installation when considering the implementation of EV charging. Additionally, local infrastructure may not be prepared for the projected rates of electricity transmission. De-coupling the charging equipment in the form of a battery-charging autonomous vehicle avoids these issues.

Intelligent Optimization Intelligent and connected charging allows customers to communicate with their EVs and optimize the charging process based on factors such as battery capacity, energy demand, and charging rates.

Archetype 2: Energy Exchange

A System of Exchange

What if EV drivers could use their vehicles as a way to earn credit for supporting grid stability? The feature of bidirectional charging, currently being implemented by various manufacturers, allows fleets of EVs connected to the grid to act as a unit of grid storage. Owners could receive compensation for supplying back to the grid during high demand periods, or charge at home using renewable sources and sell back when connected to the grid at a work parking lot.

In this archetype, we prototyped a service concept that takes this technology to the next level: detailing energy exchange relationships, value exchanges, interactions, and equity impacts.

Induced Supply and Demand Bi-directional charging and grid storage / demand response systems make for natural partners. This relationship is even more valuable when demand on the grid is anticipated and responded to, by enticing drivers to make their cars available as energy storage.

Long-term Institutional Contracts Organizations with large parking garages, such as airports, malls, or corporate parks, already control access and impose fees. Partnering with these entities piggybacks on an archetype consumers are already familiar with (pay to park) and allows for mutual benefit and long-term cash flow.

Variable, Equitable Pricing and Credits Imposing fees and awarding credit for energy used or supplied by drivers creates an opportunity not just for incentivizing behaviors, but also for accounting for inequities and marginalization. The pricing system could leverage tolling information, license plate databases, or even SNAP/EBT purchases to identify those who could benefit from reduced fees/increased credits.

Impact and Dissemination

Our final presentation, prototypes, and report were shared with select Ph.D students, the external project partner (OMERS), and guests in attendance from The Invert (theinvertchicago.com), a local infrastructure startup seeking to transform former industrial land in south Chicago.

Reception from the external partner and Ph.D candidate guests was notably positive. The work generated vigorous discussion, prompted a lively exchange of ideas with our local startup guest, and was then incorporated into ongoing graduate research activities.

The following year, the work received recognition in Core77’s Design Awards 2024, winning recognition in the Transportation and Consumer Technology categories.

Final Report

All project work was folded into a final report, for which I was responsible for all visual design, all layout decisions, and a majority of the written content.

Download Report