Last Updated: 24/4/2023
Whether you charge your car at home or use a public charging station, charging electric vehicles often goes hand in hand with a charging app on your smartphone. However, there are many different charging apps with various functions, features, and use cases. How can you differentiate between them?
In this article, we will analyze charging apps and their main differences.
1. Public EV Charging Apps
The type of EV charging app that most people think of first is a tool for finding public charging stations. These apps primarily consist of a map showing all charging points in a given area, including details such as the type and number of charging stations. There are many different public charging apps available, which can be downloaded for free or for a small fee.
Of course, other apps like Google or Apple Maps can also display charging stations near you. However, these services often lack many important details when charging on the go, such as the status and availability of a charging station, making them a less reliable option for planning trips.
Real-Time Availability
A crucial piece of information when driving an electric vehicle, especially on long trips, is the availability of a charging station on your route. Having to wait for the previous user to finish charging could add significant time to your journey. Even with a fast charger, it takes at least 15 to 20 minutes. Therefore, knowing whether a charging station is available in advance is beneficial for a better user experience.
Using a charging app, you can check the availability of charging stations on your route and see if they are already in use. If so, the app can help you find the nearest alternative that fits your journey, saving you from wasting time waiting for charging stations to become available.
Live Status
Beyond the availability of a charging station, its status is also important to consider when planning a charging stop. Like many other devices, charging stations can occasionally malfunction due to hardware or software issues or network problems. In either case, arriving at a charger and finding it out of service is a frustrating and often stressful experience.
A charging app can also help monitor this aspect, letting you know when a charging station is out of service. Since most public charging stations are connected to the internet, they can easily send real-time status information to a database, which can then update charging apps with the charger’s status. This way, you can be notified in advance if a charging station is out of service and plan an alternative stop.
Expected Costs
While most EV drivers charge their cars at home for daily use, charging on the go is often necessary for long trips. Generally, public charging is more expensive than home charging, as the charging station operator often adds a margin on top of the electricity cost. Since these vary from one provider to another, it’s helpful to check prices in advance to select the most cost-effective option for charging your car.
A charging app can provide pricing information with a single tap, allowing you to easily compare prices between charging stations. If you have multiple charging stations along your route and sufficient range, you can decide to charge where it’s most convenient and cost-effective, rather than stopping at the nearest available charging point, which may not meet your needs.
Charging costs are particularly important if you plan to use DC charging, as it can be significantly more expensive than slower AC charging. Checking beforehand can help you avoid any unpleasant surprises.
Charging Speed
Of course, charging speed is another key differentiator between charging stations. While an AC charging station can typically charge a car in a few hours, depending on the power output, a DC fast charger can charge an EV in as little as 15 minutes.
Both have their advantages, and the optimal charging speed depends on your needs at a given time. Regardless of which you choose, a charging app can greatly simplify finding a charger with the required speed. Indeed, some apps allow you to search for charging stations with a specific power output, ensuring it matches your needs.
Charging Experience and Customer Reviews
One useful feature of a charging app is the ability to check other EV drivers’ experiences and read their reviews. This allows you to discover aspects of a charger that might not otherwise be obvious, such as recurring issues with a charging station or the types of amenities available.
This is a helpful way to get a sense of a location and ensure it has facilities that meet your needs. Returning to the example of a long-distance trip, you may want to ensure the charger’s location has restrooms, vending machines, or a dining area.
2. Home EV Charger Apps
Home charging apps allow you to remotely control your charging station and are typically provided by the manufacturer of your charger.
These apps let you check the status of a charging session, manage your charger’s electricity consumption, gain insights, and collect data on energy usage.
They give you control over your charging station by allowing you to manage many of its features. For example, you can remotely start and stop the charging process, receive notifications when your electric vehicle is fully charged, schedule charging sessions, set reminders, and track electricity consumption in real time.
All these features become very useful for owners who want to schedule charging, for instance, to avoid charging during peak hours when electricity is typically most expensive or to avoid powering multiple devices simultaneously.
Dual Compatibility of EV Charger Apps
In some cases, a charging app can be used to manage both public and home charging, offering drivers the convenience of a single app for all their EV charging needs. This is often the case with home charging apps that also integrate a map of available public charging stations, allowing users to locate and manage chargers on the go as well.
3. In-Vehicle EV Charging Apps
For most electric vehicles, charging control is not limited to a driver’s smartphone app. Indeed, electric cars typically come with pre-installed software that allows charging management directly from the vehicle, often with greater precision than an external app.
This app communicates continuously with the car and can collect real-time data, which it can use to suggest adjustments to optimize battery life and charging. For example, it may suggest slowing down if it notices that battery usage is higher than expected and range needs to be maximized.
In-vehicle apps can also communicate with charging stations, allowing them to know the status, availability, and costs at a given location. With this information, the app can suggest route changes if the nearest charging station is unavailable or add or remove additional charging stops based on your driving style.
In-vehicle charging apps can also be connected to the EV driver’s smartphone, allowing them to receive information and control charging remotely, much like home charging apps.
As the adoption of electric vehicles grows, charging will become an increasingly critical consideration for drivers. A variety of charging apps can help manage this process, each with different strengths and uses in various situations. We hope this article has provided a good overview of the different types of charging apps and their strengths.
Of course, there are many other features that modern charging stations are capable of, including a range of smart charging functionalities that can optimize energy consumption, track and manage costs, and protect your home’s electrical circuit. To learn more about this, read our blog on smart home EV charging.
