Light and minimal over dark and technical
We tested dark and technical against light and minimal. Fleet managers need quick reads, not immersion. The calmer direction won.
Product Design · IoT · Mobile · 2024
Making an EV Powertrain Feel Simple
Mazout X1, the first mobile interface for an autonomous EV powertrain unit in India.
First in category
No mobile UI precedent existed for this product type in India.
What I owned
App architecture, IA, UI, and 3D asset integration.
The challenge
Real-time telemetry, made approachable for non-technical fleet operators.
Designed without direct user access. The client served as proxy for fleet-operator feedback.
The Problem
Mazout was building India's first indigenous autonomous powertrain unit, hardware that connects to a vehicle and hands the user full digital control. No mobile interface existed for this category.
The nearest references were Chinese enterprise dashboards built for function, not experience. My job was to design the consumer-facing app from scratch, something that made a technically complex system feel controlled and trustworthy.
Where I Started
I joined with zero domain knowledge. So I sat with the engineers first: how the unit worked, what data it threw off, what operators needed in real time.
Then I turned that into a user mental model and pressure-tested it at every milestone.
Key Decisions
Three calls that shaped the app
An interface that reveals itself
Speed, torque, battery, voltage, orientation, all at once. Critical status stays visible; deeper data reveals on demand.
3D hardware inside the interface
I enhanced the client's powertrain model in Spline with custom shaders and dropped it straight into the UI. You see exactly what you're controlling.
Inside the App
Live telemetry, motor health, device integration, the success and the failures. I designed every screen an operator touches, edge cases included.
01 · Deployed Vehicle
02 · Dual-Motor Telemetry
03 · X1 Integration
04 · Authentication Failed
05 · Integration Success
Five screens across setup and daily use, including the failure paths most apps skip.
Beyond the App · Website
Designing the full digital presence
After the app shipped, Mazout brought me back for the website, the complete digital product. Same design language: clean, technical, modern.
Outcome
When Mazout showed the X1 app to clients, the reaction was consistent surprise. For a first-in-category product, that reaction was the validation.
Nobody expected to control the powertrain from a phone like this.
Akhil GuptaFounder · Mazout Electric
Reflection
What I'd do differently
I worked largely from first principles. I'd benchmark the adjacent tools harder upfront, not arrive at the direction through iteration.
I leaned on client proxy feedback, not real fleet managers. Next time I'd push for direct access to operators. The calls were right; the execution had room to breathe.