ChargerHelp! Android App

LA-based and federally recognized EVSE-servicing company ChargerHelp! is on a mission to increase the uptime of EV charging stations to encourage mass EV adoption, through providing reliable operations and maintenance services. Township's engineering team was brought on board to support the accelerated national growth of ChargerHelp!. We created a new offline-first client architecture with smart cloud syncing functionality allowing ChargerHelp! to service the most challenging of environments and support their ability to scale to any geography.

The Challenge

ChargerHelp! has seen continued accelerated growth since their launch. As they grew, and their technicians began working in new and challenging environments, they knew they had to make big changes to their Android app’s underlying architecture to ensure it continued to perform at scale in any geography. Notably, they needed it to capture and sync data in any environment, even areas without cell service or WiFi.

Ensure the Android app could work for technicians in an offline-first state such as remote areas and parking lots.
Allow the Android app to effectively communicate its connectivity state to the technician.
Ensure that all entered data is reliably transmitted to the client's cloud based API.

ChargerHelp!'s growing team of technicians can rely on the mobile app's accuracy and connectivity in challenging environments thanks to Township's offline-first architecture.

Approach

ChargerHelp! requested we keep the Android app’s UI and UX the same, but we were otherwise given the keys to the kingdom for the app’s functionality. The relationship between our two pioneering teams was immediately high trust. The ChargerHelp! team trusted Township with their vision, allowing us to take the wheel and do what we do best. With this gift of space and clarity from the client, we dove in to audit the current app. ChargerHelp!’s team took our strategic recommendations in stride, knowing that their product’s health as a whole could help them gain even more traction.

The goal of our initial scope of work was to assist in ChargerHelp!’s growth trajectory, creating ways to capture and sync data in areas without cellular or data service. Further down the road, we rebuilt an existing solution to be durable for the end user. Today ChargerHelp!’s field techs can interact with the app more quickly and easily, and data is delivered accurately and efficiently.

Services Provided

Product Architecture

Engineering and Project Management Support

React Native Development

Security and Infrastructure Automation

Release Automation and Management

Project Team

Project Lead: Scott Taylor

Project Manager: Kyle Hynes

Engineer: Perry Von Rosenvinge

Engineer: Natasha Johnson

Account Manager: Caleb Oller

Insight

As products scale, they always encounter rough edges that need to be accounted for in their product development.

To maintain the 97% EV charging station uptime at scale, industry leader ChargerHelp! needed a new offline-first architecture to uphold their reputation for up time through a new technician app and reliable cloud services. 100% up time.

Solution

Township rearchitected the ChargerHelp! technician app to support challenging physical environments and unreliable connectivity, creating confidence in the momentum and geographic growth they were experiencing.

We made several changes to deliver a sound product:

Managed in-app state and data to reduce overall request payload size
Utilized react-query from TanStack to drive React Native async app state as the framework to drive async data transmission, local storage of offline data, and local state management.
Complemented react-query and its offline mutation support with broken down transfer payload sizes to increase reliability of data transmission.
Introduced user interface elements that transparently communicated network state to the user and educated them on the state of their data
Automated the app release cycle to include consistent formal releases with automated change logs and app versions along with a separate staging app that brings in the latest changes within 20 minutes of approval.

The Future

We always work toward understanding the client's problem and solving for it. But we were particularly excited to dedicate our efforts to the climate technology space. Though we regularly work on connected devices and complex logistical engineering, it’s particularly rewarding when that work positively impacts the environment—like it has in our work with ChargerHelp!. ChargerHelp! found in Township a conscientious, capable partner that could create a solution that would outlast any business relationship with us and would grow exponentially as their business scaled—the ultimate test of durability.

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