Best app to find charging stations?

[Logal727]

Not sure what they have changed. charging status does show up and I have not added any money to my account.

They must have changed it back, a few weeks ago wouldn’t let me see status unless I had an account

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[JohnnyForensic]

PlugShare and A Better Route Planner are your go-tos.

Apple Maps in CarPlay has added EV routing and so far it seems pretty good. Just make sure the destination charge level is enough for you and add one more stop or charge longer accordingly.

 

[dtbaker61]

Preparing for our first EV, upgrading from a PHEV, my wife is quite anxious about charging. I am preparing to receive the new MME in next few weeks, and would like to get this forum's advise on the best app to have - for finding the charging stations (e.g. where they are, what type, which are free/ how much etc). Please let me know.
(I tried searching the forum, but the info is quite spread-out, and could not compile all together to decide the best app)

'best' charging strategy for everyday is to charge at home as much as possible, especially if you have solar since it will be 'clean' electricity. Or, if you have reasonable cost charging available at school/work or wherever the car is parking during the day.

as far as Apps go..... Best overall experience for finding both networked and non-networked chargers I've used is the Plugshare App.

 

[Hapsdoggen]

Chargefinder best app out there...

 

[4sallypat]

'best' charging strategy for everyday is to charge at home as much as possible, especially if you have solar since it will be 'clean' electricity. Or, if you have reasonable cost charging available at school/work or wherever the car is parking during the day.

as far as Apps go..... Best overall experience for finding both networked and non-networked chargers I've used is the Plugshare App.

I charge at home on off peak hours for lowest cost per kWh ($0.21/kWH).

When I am on the road and need to charge, I only use EA and EV Go because they offer fast L3 (DCFC).

EA is not plug and charge after they updated the software. Have to select from app and slide to initiate.

EV Go is plug and charge using their "Autocharge +" feature.

All the other networks (Volta, Chargepoint, Chargeflex) are slow L2 only.

 

[RickMachE]

I charge at home on off peak hours for lowest cost per kWh ($0.21/kWH).

When I am on the road and need to charge, I only use EA and EV Go because they offer fast L3 (DCFC).

EA is not plug and charge after they updated the software. Have to select from app and slide to initiate.

EV Go is plug and charge using their "Autocharge +" feature.

All the other networks (Volta, Chargepoint, Chargeflex) are slow L2 only.

I used EA, with Plug and Charge, on Thursday just fine. On Friday the same charger was complimentary, so it didn't attempt to connect.

 

[BigMach-E]

PlugShare and A Better Route Planner are your go-tos.

Apple Maps in CarPlay has added EV routing and so far it seems pretty good. Just make sure the destination charge level is enough for you and add one more stop or charge longer accordingly.

How does the setup for this work? The directions Apple lists on their site doesn’t seem to work.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

How does the setup for this work? The directions Apple lists on their site doesn’t seem to work.

There are a few things to check:

1. Your MME has to be able to show CarPlay directions in the IPC and you need to have the large-size CarPlay ability on your main screen. If you’re not patched that high, I don’t think EV routing works. (I’m 90% sure of this.)

2. Make sure you’re doing everything here: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/set-up-electric-vehicle-routing-iphc5e3a4b4b/ios

3. After you’ve done the steps in number 2, when you create a route somewhere in CarPlay, you should hear Siri say “You will arrive with X% battery charge remaining.” Once you have that, cancel it and have it do a long route for you…somewhere random like halfway across the country. You should see it add charging stops into the map as it builds the route for you.

It’s not completely bug-free. You’ll sometimes pull into your local grocery store with 88% battery charge remaining and you’ll see a “LOW BATTERY WARNING” notification pop up on your phone, but that’s gotten pretty rare anymore.

Also, what’s cool is once you’ve done this successfully in the car, your other Apple devices signed into iCloud will know about the Mach-E, so if you are sitting down on the couch with your iPad planning a trip, for example, it will take the Mach-E into account and add charging stops. You can then deselect the Mach-E at that point to remove them if you’re planning to use another vehicle, etc.

Like I said, not perfect, but it’s a nice extra step. I’ve also found it very handy to use ABRP to plan the route, use PlugShare to make sure the chargers are good, and then build an Apple Maps Guide with the locations of the charging stops on a long route. Then you can just plunk your finger on one charger to the next in Maps and work your way to the destination.

The only big caveat I have—and this is the same with Apple Maps or Ford Navigation—is that you need to use ABRP to make sure you’ll have the amount of charge at your destination that you need. For example, if your destination is somewhere with a great charging network, no problem. If it’s not (like Cleveland, OH which is a charging desert), you’ll want to make sure you have enough charge rolling in to last you for your time in town and to be able to make it back to a charging station on the way home. Neither Ford Nav nor Apple Maps lets you say “…and don’t arrive with less than 60% battery” or something like that, but ABRP does.

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