In product design, innovation goes beyond looks. It is about actual issues in clarity, usability, and vision. Fang Xu, a new leader in the design world, shows this by creating Sharge, a private EV charging pile sharing app, which was officially announced as a winner of the Red Dot Design Award: Design Concept 2025 during the awarding ceremony on 15 October 2025 in Singapore. Sharge is a fresh idea that shows how design can help make electric mobility more sustainable, easier to access, and bring people together. As the team leader behind Sharge, Xu's contribution is truly well-deserved. As the team leader behind Sharge, Xu's contribution is truly well-deserved.
Xu's journey started with a simple but important idea during China's electric vehicle boom in 2022. While public charging lots were perpetually full of long lines and neglected maintenance, private residential charging piles stood unused for as much as 75% of the time. This big difference showed both a problem and a chance, one that would ultimately give rise to Sharge's game-changing strategy for charging infrastructure. "The inspiration for Sharge came from the imbalance we observed in EV charging," Xu explains. "We wanted to transform this underused resource into a shared community network, making charging more accessible, affordable, and sustainable." This idea shows Xu's belief that thoughtful design can turn everyday things into systems that help people and the environment. As a lead designer, Xu presented Sharge with three fundamental principles: clarity, intuitiveness, and sustainability. EV drivers often found public charging stations too costly and busy, while private charging owners sat back, watching their investments sit idle. Sharge's solution was elegantly simple to create a platform that connects these two groups in a mutually beneficial ecosystem. The design challenge was significant. Xu had to balance trust and usability, making private pile hosts feel secure while keeping the experience effortless for drivers. The solution lay in designing an ultra-minimal three-step host onboarding process with instant income previews, while drivers could get around with easy-to-use map-based layouts with real-time availability. "We designed Sharge so that both drivers and hosts could use it with almost no learning curve," Xu notes. The app uses motion design to make the charging process seem interactive. Initiating a charge is simply a swipe, with simple animations that walk the user through every step along the way.
Winning the Red Dot Design Award: Design Concept 2025 means more than just getting recognition for Xu; it shows that his way of designing technology with people in mind is working. The Red Dot Jury's focus on "innovation and thoughtful use of technology" rang exactly true for Sharge's roots and values. "Winning the Red Dot Design Award is a recognition we are truly grateful for," Xu reflects. "It validates our design capability, creative approach, and the quality of our final execution, giving us great confidence in the path we are taking." The prize provides pathways for global discourse on how design can be answered to respond to global demands of sustainability. Xu thinks these conversations are important because the problems we face today extend beyond borders. When preparing for the Red Dot submission, Xu also moved a step further than good-looking images, producing an explanatory video to present the design rationale and working process of Sharge. This helped the jury understand the full meaning and effect of the project. Sharge's success goes beyond winning awards. The platform has activated over 4 million charging stations and achieved a 60% increase in usage, with a 50% boost in user satisfaction. These numbers show that Xu has been focused on making the experience easy and smooth for both sides of the marketplace. Sharge has been recognized three times by Red Dot, iF Design Award, and UX Design Awards, which means it impressed judges around the world. Xu attributes his balance between simplicity and complexity to his background in architecture as well as Louis Sullivan's "form follows function" philosophy.
For Xu, the greatest accomplishment of the Sharge project was professional and personal development. "As the lead designer, I was involved in the entire process—from research to design to delivery," he explains. The project honed his skills while educating him in managing and coordinating teams, juggling vision for the bigger picture with the execution details day-to-day. Looking ahead, Xu wants to use the Red Dot Winner Package to share Sharge's achievements worldwide. He plans to use this recognition to build trust with customers and partners, and to promote the idea of easy, eco-friendly charging solutions on a global level. Fang Xu's experience with Sharge shows how intelligent design can solve big problems. It proves that the best solutions often start with noticing small issues in everyday life. The Red Dot announcement on 15 October not only recognizes Sharge's innovation but also highlights Fang Xu's growing influence as a designer who blends clarity, intuitiveness, and sustainability into real-world impact.
