If you
never drive beyond your car’s winter battery range, and always charge at home
(or work), then you will likely never need to use a public charging station and
won’t need a charging network’s app for your smartphone. Even if you do decide to venture beyond
once or twice, you can likely get by with Google Maps and a credit card. Google Maps can help you locate most charging
stations and can help you plan your route to include them. And many chargers now have credit card (tap)
readers for payment, just like a gas pump.
But, using the charging network’s app can improve the charging
experience by providing station availability, station notes left by prior
users, monitoring the charging progress, and even start and stop the charging
session and arranging the payment.
In the
early days of EV adoption, there weren’t many public chargers around. Individuals with home chargers were willing
to provide access to their charger to other EV drivers in order to promote EV
adoption. A smartphone app emerged to
allow individuals to advertise their home charger and collect payment for its
use, called PlugShare. PlugShare is
ideal for travelers passing through regions with low EV adoption and limited
public EV charging infrastructure because it connects drivers with these
generous hosts. It also includes the
public charging stations and helps with route planning. Because I live in a high-adoption area, I
have not used PlugShare personally, but I have read good things about it.
Instead,
I have made use of the following EV charging networks and apps: ChargePoint, EVGo, and Electrify
America. These are the most relevant
networks for California, though other charging networks are available. EVGo and Electrify America provide detailed
information and status for their own charging equipment. They manage payments and can start and stop
charging sessions. They also report the
amount of power flowing into the car, which can help to anticipate when
charging will complete. And they notify
you once charging has completed so you can disconnect (and move) your car
before parking charges are applied.
ChargePoint does all the same for its own network chargers, and it also
includes information about chargers on other networks, but does not control
those off-network chargers. ChargePoint
also installed a number of destination (level-2) chargers, while EVGo and
Electrify America are almost exclusively DC-fast-charging focused. ChargePoint has become my go-to charging app.
To
prepare for a road trip up the California and Oregon coast (in 2024), I
installed two other charging apps. The
first was EVCS, which serves the west coast well (but nowhere else). Along my trip, I used EVCS stations a number
of times and found the app helpful. The
other app was by Shell. The one time I
tried to use the app I was unable to start my charging session. Fortunately, the credit card reader was
working, and I was able to charge, but the experience was frustrating. But overall, the trip went well.
