Volkswagen Group of America is the North American operation headquarters and subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers. They have 6,000 employees in the United States and sell their vehicles through a 1,000-strong dealer network.

Automotive industry analysts predict that by the year 2035, approximately 45% of all new car sales will be electric vehicles. The main concern new electric vehicle buyers have is “range anxiety,” defined as the fear of being stuck without fuel or a viable charging option, charging station availability, and charging timeframes.

Our Volkswagen Electric Vehicle Recommender App quells buyers’ fears by matching users to electric vehicles which best suit their custom driving profiles.

Users can either use their preexisting Volkswagen profiles or they can enter new preferences in the app to get recommendations for suitable electric vehicles. These profiles contain essential information about the conditions the user typically drives in. Many aspects of a driving profile affect a car’s range, so factors such as local temperatures and elevation are considered.

The application also gives users the option to select aspects of vehicles they desire most. They can filter by certain characteristics such as car types, different horsepower ranges, and number of seats. While these options are not as pressing as range anxiety, they give buyers a choice.

Users are presented with attractive visualizations describing why the recommended vehicles fit their profile. Algorithm analysis is included to further showcase how and why each vehicle is suggested, and how they compare.

Our Volkswagen Electric Vehicle Recommender App is a reactive web-based application. Our system uses API calls for database communication and is written in Python, React, and Flask.