Week 5

 

Week 5 Progress Report

In Week 5, the project progressed further into design refinement and functional planning. The focus this week was on making VehicleGrid more practical as a real-world application rather than just a concept prototype. More attention was given to how the app would behave for different types of users and how useful information could be displayed clearly.

One of the key activities this week was improving the planned interface and feature layout. The design direction was reviewed to make the application feel more modern, polished, and business-ready. Pages were considered not only from a visual perspective, but also from a usability perspective. The goal was to ensure that important actions such as finding a charger, checking charger details, and planning a trip could be completed without unnecessary complexity.

Work was also done on the charging station side of the application. The type of information to be shown for each charger was discussed in more detail, including charger name, location, charging speed, connector type, availability, and other useful details. This was important because the charger experience is one of the core parts of VehicleGrid. The idea was to make charger data meaningful enough that an EV driver could use it to make decisions rather than just view static listings.

Another major area of progress this week was thinking more deeply about trip planning logic. The project considered how route planning should connect with battery awareness, destination travel, and charging feasibility. Although the advanced logic was still evolving, this week helped define the role of trips, stops, and charging suggestions in the system. This gave the project more depth and made it closer to a real EV support application.

The backend structure was also further considered, especially how Firebase could support user accounts, charger data, saved trips, and user-specific settings. This helped clarify which data collections and relationships may be needed. These discussions were useful in preparing for smoother implementation and testing later.

Overall, Week 5 helped the project mature. The app idea became more detailed, more user-focused, and more technically organised. The work done this week helped position VehicleGrid as a more complete digital solution rather than a simple map or listing app.

Challenges

The main challenge this week was making sure the application did not become too overloaded with features. Since route planning and charging logic can become very complex, it was necessary to keep the design focused and manageable. Another challenge was turning good ideas into a structure that would still be achievable within project timelines.

Plan for Next Week

Next week will focus on deeper implementation work, improving page-level functionality, and continuing to connect the UI with realistic data and user actions.