Top Electric Car Charging Apps

With the rise in the demand for electric car charging stations, many automotive industries have collaborated with leading software technologies or hired a team of professional I.T. and App developers.

They are working to develop smart applications that could help their users locate a charging station.

There has been a boost in the purchase of electric cars in the past decade as this is the only practical solution or alternative to the conventional fueling method that has become a huge issue because gas prices have hiked worldwide.

With a gallon of gas available for an unbelievably large price that burns and causes harm to the environment, people have been investing in electric cars. It is a solution for customers who think of the car as a one-time investment without repercussions on nature’s health.

Currently, California is the hub of electric cars, but there are not enough charging stations to cater to the energy consumers’ needs. Similarly, there is an ever-growing demand for electric cars and public charging ports in other states and countries like the U.K. or Germany.

Companies like Tesla, ChargePoint, Volkswagen, and EVgo Network are working towards ideas to supply as many feasible car charging options.

By either partnering with hotel chains, building charging stations, or developing applications that can help drivers locate the nearest charging points on the route.

It is not wrong to say that the electric automotive industry has overlapping connections with many other industrial and services sectors. The whole network seems to be now another world brimming with potential employment and the scope of profitable businesses.

There are multiple benefits of using an electric car charging app. They help drivers plan their routes with built-in in-app navigation systems; in cases of emergency, you can plan which route you would choose ahead of time.

An electric car takes approximately an hour or two to charge, so the line is quite long at charging stations on the highway. Many apps also offer bookings of the charging slots in advance, so the drivers don’t need to wait in line if they have a time slot reserved for charging.

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Another advantage of the electric car charging app is that if you use the same company that has built an app and the charging station you are at, you can easily pay the charge from the app. If you don’t have enough cash, then the app’s wallet can handle it for you.

However, not all smartphone applications can work efficiently as a GPS to locate every possible electric car charging point. To help you eliminate the good from the bad, we have curated a list of tried and tested electric car charging apps that work best for users.

This list will help you decide which application would suit you best according to your travel itineraries across the U.S. or if you think of traveling worldwide.

Table of Contents

There is no comparison between locating a charging station or a gas station because gas is abundant worldwide. Many convenience stores have gas-filling station ports.

Following the same trend, many convenience stores are installing electric car charging ports.

The company from which a store owner or a hotelier buys the ports puts the store or the hotel as a pit stop to charge the car on the built-in navigation app of the company. So let’s discuss which charging app gives you maximum customer satisfaction.

Tesla

The leading name in the automotive industry and one of the flagbearers of electric vehicle systems. Many charging stations are built across the U.S. to accommodate Tesla users in terms of charging routes.

The stations go by Superchargers, which offer D.C. fast charging for electric cars. There are many hotels with whom Tesla has officially partnered up and installed charging stations, such as Hilton and Destination hotels, that also come up on the navigation maps for charging.

The Tesla App helps the drivers not only communicate directly with their vehicles and power walls from anywhere, but they can check charging in real time. It also has the feature to start and stop charging the vehicle.

Apart from locating the charging stations’ locations and tracking the movement of your vehicle, the app also allows you to access it remotely. You can turn on the heat in winters or cool the car in the summer from the app before you get into it.

Smart cars by Tesla can automatically come out of a garage; this feature is also attached to the app. You can also access the flashlights, vent on the roof, horn, and lock system from afar.

Other than this, the app updates are always coming on the app stores, and now you can also monitor the usage of battery usage and the amount of energy available from solar or transferred by the grid.

Read Can Any Electric Car Use Tesla Charging Stations

Electrify America by Volkswagen

One of the leading charging station chains is Electrify America. It was a product by Volkswagen to bring a positive brand image after the diesel emission scandal.

Unlike Tesla, which only offers the app and stations to Tesla users, Electrify America provides fast D.C. charging to all kinds of electric vehicle users.

Electrify America has an app available for Android and iOS users to locate every Electrify America station. The drivers can also check the number of charging ports and the type of ports available at each station, which helps them to plan a journey.

Furthermore, by becoming a member of the app community, you can check real-time charger availability by receiving an alert every time a charger is free to use.

There are three types of plans available on the app. One is for public use, called guest charging, which shows every charging station in the vicinity and allows you to pay from a credit or debit card on the go.

The next is free-of-cost membership, known as Pass membership, which gives some benefits like in-app contactless payment and having favorite charging stations. It can also alert users whenever any charger is available or track how much your electric vehicle is charged.

The premium monthly subscription plan, Pass+ membership, allows the same benefits as the simple pass, but the costs of charge are reduced to 25%, get notified at the desired charge point, and keep track of each charge’s history.

Apart from these advantages for charging stations, the app can also be used at home to charge from anywhere and control it. You can also schedule the charging sessions; the car will automatically charge overnight.

ChargePoint

ChargePoint is a charging ports manufacturing company based in California with approximately 170,000 charging spots across 14 countries.

The independently owned firm provides level 2 chargers to stores, hotels, restaurants, and even building state-of-art charging stations. Since 2015, Best Western also has been ChargePoint’s partner and installed charging ports in almost all of its hotels.

The ChargePoint app was introduced to connect every E.V. driver to the network of these charging spots.

The app is for everyone; this universal app doesn’t only find every ChargePoint spot for the user but also shows every electric car charging station that may or may not be of the company to give maximum options to the users.

The app also allows the drivers to pay by just tapping on the phone, and with a notification system to check whether the charging is done, everything is contactless and automatic.

Not only this, but the app connects with the home chargers, and drivers can find the benefits of smart features and remote control options for their vehicles. These features include charging history and options to charge when electricity rates are lower to reduce electricity bills.

Plugshare

Available on both application platforms, Android and iOS, this free app PlugShare has a community of 300,000 plus users that actively use this throughout the U.S. and Canada. Currently, 140,000 stations are part of the database of the app.

It is one of the most popular electric car charging station finder app that is not linked to the companies that manufacture charging ports or electric vehicles. An attractive feature of this app is that it has a review section for each station or port.

The drivers can leave a review, which could work well for both charger companies as they receive feedback and other drivers who learn which charging station is best to stop and charge.

The features of this app are similar to the apps mentioned above; this is why it is on the list of top electric car charging apps. PlugShare also has smart features like secure contactless payment through the app for charging stations partnered with the app developing company.

Users can read reviews and check for charge availability at the nearest stations. It also shows which types of charging ports are available at any given station; these are all real-time updates for electric vehicle drivers.

Another benefit that makes PlugShare one of the beloved apps is that it provides help to those drivers who are on road trips and need to charge in an area with few public charging stations. The PlugShare Trip Planner assists drivers in planning routes ahead of time.

Many private electric vehicle owners with residential charging stations are part of the PlugShare community to provide their homes as official charging stations to assist electric car drivers.

So, you don’t have to worry about making a detour just because there is a long line at the stations. You can contact the owner of the residential charging station near you and charge the vehicle there.

EVgo

If you are looking for a D.C. fast-charging electric car station, then the EVgo app is the best way to go. The app explicitly shows only the fast charging station network in the U.S.

This app is for a restricted clientele. It can only be useful for people who drive electric cars compatible with D.C. charging and find it difficult to look for these ports.

D.C. fast charging is not common compared to level 2 charging because this requires a higher voltage input and is quite expensive.

So an app that is just dedicated to D.C. fast charging is a blessing for electric car drivers. The DC fast chargers provide 200+ miles with just an hour of charge.

There are three payment options for the users: pay on the site, EVgo membership, and a monthly subscription category just like Electrify America, known as EVgo Plus.

This is a reasonable plan for drivers who regularly charge, as they benefit from charging at lower prices on partnered stations of the app.

The reward system and option to schedule a reservation are the features available to all of its users, whether they are members or not. There are two methods of paying; one is a charge per minute, and the other is a charge per kWh; it depends upon which state you are in.

The best part of the app is its approach and consciousness of environmental remediation methods. It shows approximately 1000 stations sourced from renewable clean energy, making them a contributor to the world’s sustainable development.

Concluding It All

These applications that electric car drivers use to commute reliably and securely are also proving to be the future of transportation and innovation. Companies developing such apps earn big just by navigating the drivers to the nearest stations.

Not only do they work to locate stations, but most of them also provide features that give drivers access to their vehicles remotely.

Most people who want to work for sustainable development goals are looking to partner up or find employment in software companies with a positive brand image but are also at the top of the game.

The changing ways of commute have drivers looking for ways to manage a trip safely. Whether you are taking a road trip or just running errands for yourself, these apps always steer you in the right direction to find a charging station.