Accessibility
Unsure how many stations are nearby — and how many can actually fit a large trailer or camper.
FORD · AUTOMOTIVE UX
Ford Trailer Access
Smart charging filters for EVs with trailers.
Outcomes
2.4M active users served by Ford features
91% adoption for long-distance EV route planning
61,000 active drivers in Ford charging work
Research
With limited public charging, how might we accommodate drivers who tow trailers and campers — who need clearance and maneuvering room, not just a plug on a map?
John Madden
primary persona · built from Ford's user research + my own white-paper study
- age
- 43
- work
- Civil Engineer
- family
- Married · two kids (8 & 12)
- home
- Suburban Colorado
- drives
- Ford F-150 Lightning
- values
- Safety, reliability, family, the outdoors
what's stopping him
Flexibility
Few trailer-friendly stations turn a camper road trip into a rigid, over-planned route.
Safety
Reaching a plug can mean detaching the trailer somewhere unsafe — a real risk with his family aboard.
how I tested it
30 EV owners screened from 60 prospects
- Behavioral
- Comprehensive
- Scenario
- Retrospective
Simplicity
The filters read as easy to find, easy to use, and intuitive.
Preparedness
Trailer drivers expect to detach on long trips — but worry about the trailer's security when it's left unattended.
Confusion
People were sure what “Trailer Friendly” and “Trailer Parking” meant — until they used them in a real scenario.
Design
The UI surfaces attached trailer charging, detached trailer parking, vertical clearance, network status, charger speed, and restricted-access options within Ford's existing interaction patterns.
Ford pulls station data from the Plugshare API. Its raw flags are written for machines — I translated the three that matter into filters a driver towing a camper actually understands. tap a flag
raw plugshare flag
what the driver sees
Attached Trailer Charging
Fits a vehicle with the trailer still attached
Detached Trailer Charging
A marked spot to park the trailer after detaching
Clearance
Only stations that clear your rig's height (6.5–13.5 ft)
Architecture
Plugshare API attributes feed availability, network, trailer access, and clearance filters across mobile and in-vehicle contexts.
4 stations found
Searching nearby stations...Applying trailer access filters
No compatible chargers foundTry lowering your clearance requirement or removing trailer constraints.
Shipped
Part of Ford EV features serving 2.4M active users, with route-planning adoption of 91% and charging work benefiting 61,000 active drivers and 125,000 fleet clients.
91% adoption for long-distance EV route planning
61,000 active drivers in Ford charging work
125,000 fleet clients in Ford charging work
What I learned — the hardest constraint wasn't the UI, it was the data: station attributes are volatile and outside our control. The work became about prioritizing what a towing driver actually needs over what's nice to assume.
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