Avoid running out of fuel by easily finding a charging station for your electric car.
Owners of electric vehicles know it well, before going on a getaway, it is better to plan your trip in advance to plan the recharging stops. With a lower range and a different consumption of a thermal vehicle, the switch to the electric car is not without some fears: the range can vary depending on heat, load and speed, while There are several standard plugs for connecting your vehicle to a charging station.
While it is very easy to find a gas pump, finding a charging station in the middle of nowhere can quickly turn into a nightmare. To avoid having to call for a tow truck because of dead battery, the editorial staff of Telecharger.com has selected three applications for you to find a charging station for your electric vehicle.
1. Chargemap
Chargemap is the reference for finding charging stations. A true master standard in this area, Chargemap already boasts more than 155,000 users and as many charging points around the world.
After having geolocated you, the application displays all the charging stations found nearby and classified using a color code according to their charging speed. Each station listed by the application has detailed information such as access times, types of outlets supported, as well as notes and comments published by the community. Working thanks to its users, Chargemap also offers you the opportunity to contribute by posting photos and comments on the charging stations you use or even by adding new stations.
The application displays the availability of charging points in real time and allows you to filter your search by type of connector, charging speed, compatibility with the Chargemap Pass, free charging stations, charging points open 24/7, only on parking areas. highway, etc. In addition, the application can generate a route and offers you to open your usual GPS application to start navigation to the charging point.
Finally, Chargemap offers a payment badge compatible with around fifty charging networks, without subscription, and which allows you to pay only for what you consume. A detailed invoice summarizing all your top-ups is then sent to you at the end of the month. It will cost you around twenty euros to acquire it, including assistance.
The +:
+ Number of charging points listed
+ Completeness of the information provided
+ Ease of use
+ Possibility of acquiring the multi-network badge to pay for your top-ups
The – :
– Inability to book in advance
Download Chargemap for Android (Free)
Download Chargemap for iPhone (Free)
2. Plugshare
With nearly 220,000 public stations around the world, Plugshare also operates through a community system. In our latitudes, the application lists the charging stations of the main networks and presents itself as the official locator of charging stations for electric vehicles benefiting from the Nissan No Charge to Charge program. It is also she who operates to find nearby charging stations within the MyFord Mobile application which is aimed at owners of electric vehicles of the American brand.
After you have geolocated, Plugshare shows all the nearby charging stations on a map. Pressing one of them allows you to obtain essential information such as the charging network or the type of socket supported. By entering the details, you will obtain the exact address, the detailed list of the outlets offered, the access times, as well as the conditions required to use it (network specific badge, private terminal, reserved for members / customers, etc.). If all the stations are not housed in the same sign, some have photos published by other users, and sometimes even comments, the application allowing to “Point” to indicate its presence and publish a notice.
Natively, Plugshare only offers charging stations compatible with the vehicle entered on first use. However, it is possible to relaunch a search by modifying the various filters offered in the app. Finally, a trip planner is integrated into the application to help you more easily find a charging station compatible with your vehicle on a defined trip.
The +:
+ Number of stations listed
+ Filtering of terminals by compatibility with your vehicle
+ Possibility to plan a trip
The – :
– Inability to book in advance
– No integrated payment / subscription method
Download Plugshare for Android (Free)
Download Plugshare for iPhone (Free)
3. Nextcharge
Claiming more than 200,000 charging points for electric vehicles around the world, Nextcharge lists both public charging stations and also the stations in its own network. For the time being still very limited in France, the Nextcharge recharging network is on the other hand better deployed in neighboring countries and allows payment directly from the smartphone.
Regarding the location of public charging stations, Nextcharge displays them directly on a map, or on a dual display system mixing map and list. The referenced terminals are sorted using a color code indicating their status: green when they are free, orange when they are occupied, brown in maintenance, purple when a charging station is being installed and blue when the status is unknown.
For each of the referenced terminals, the application indicates the charging speed, the types of connectors used, the access times, the exact address as well as any comments from other users. The application obviously allows you to launch a route to the charging station of your choice from your usual GPS application and offers to filter the results according to various criteria, including the charging speed and the type of outlet offered.
But Nextcharge stands out particularly from its competitors thanks to a function allowing to simulate a route. The application takes into account the range of your vehicle according to several criteria (average speed, weight transported, etc.) and indicates the estimated remaining range at different stages of the journey. You can thus easily know the geographical area where you will have to make a recharging stop. To do this, you have to select the recharging terminal near each stopping point suggested by the application to obtain the full itinerary along with the details of your consumption.
The only downside, if the routes can be saved and exported, Nextcharge does not allow them to be opened directly in a GPS application with guidance such as Google Maps or Waze.
The +:
+ Number of public terminals listed
+ Possibility of simulating routes with estimation of autonomy according to several criteria
+ Ability to plan a complete route including load stops
The – :
– Nextcharge network almost non-existent in France
– Little information on the terminals due to a lack of users
– No unified payment system for the different networks
– Inability to launch the route generated by the application in a real GPS application
Download Nextcharge for Android (Free)
Download Nextcharge for iPhone (Free)
Verdict
Chargemap is and remains the benchmark for recharging terminal research. Complete, it is also the most up-to-date application, in particular thanks to the large community of users who enrich it daily.
Chargemap is simple to use and also greatly facilitates the payment of your recharges thanks to the Chargemap Pass, a unified payment system operating on the terminals of many operators. Thanks to this, users can go to parking terminals without having to check whether they have the right badge or subscription, and can consult their detailed bill at the end of the month, which includes all the recharges made, convenient for monitoring their “fuel” budget.