Power to the Electric Car People: The Infrastructuring of Charging

Abstract

Driving an electric car relies on physical, digital, and human infrastructure. However, the charging infrastructure along with breakdowns and the work that people do to recover, that is, infrastructuring, remain understudied in HCI. In this paper, we present a study of 19 Danish electric car drivers and their infrastructuring to recover from breakdowns they encounter in charging their car in public. We describe the three most reoccurring types of infrastructuring with inherent breakdowns making charging infrastructure visible to the electric car driver: (1) Adjusting to conventions of parking, (2) Navigating the standards of charging services, and (3) Learning through community participation. Drawing upon the extant research, we discuss how our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the use of charging infrastructure and its implications for future research and design. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI.