One of the biggest changes you have to get used to when owning an electric vehicle is figuring out where you want to charge it. There are charging network-specific apps like ChargePoint and Electrify America, and apps like PlugShare show you all the chargers available in your area. But which one is better to have on your phone?

Here is our list of the top 5 electric vehicle charging apps on the iOS and Android app stores.

5.EVgo

EVgo is a growing charging network in the United States. We included his app because it has one of the best UI designs of any app on this list. It prompts you to add your electric vehicle during registration and automatically adjusts charging filters.

Remember that your home may not be near many EVgo chargers depending on your location. However, this is more of a downside of the network itself than the mobile app, but it’s worth considering regardless.

An interesting aspect of the EVgo app is its Reservations feature. EVgo allows members to reserve a charger at their destination up to 20 minutes before arriving to ensure a charger is available. This feature is only available on certain chargers and you need to pay $3 upfront to reserve.

Although the app looks good, it lacks some basic features, such as adding a route and bookmarking your favorite chargers. Although EVgo claims to have “more than 850 convenient and reliable fast charging stations [in the United States]“, it is not enough to be a reliable charging network for everyone.

To download: EVgo for Android | iOS (Free)

4. Electrifying America

Electrify America has been rapidly growing its electric vehicle charging network for years. They aim to build 1,700 fast-charging stations (a total of about 10,000 individual chargers) in the United States by 2025.

As of this writing, Electrify America has 670 charging stations (approximately 2,900 individual CCS fast chargers) spread across the country. It prioritizes clean energy and builds the fastest chargers possible because it thinks about electric vehicle owners first.

Over time, the application has improved considerably. it has lots of chunky UI elements, clean animations, and easy-to-use essential filters. Like other top charging apps, it asks you to add your EV when you sign up, automatically adjusting which outlets it supports. You can easily change the power of the charger, up to 350 kW, and filter the chargers currently available.

In the app you will find a section to link your Electrify HomeStation. The built-in map will also show how many chargers are available and their prices per kWh or minute.

An EV charging app is as good as the network itself. Electrify America is quickly building its fast-charging network, and if you’re near several of them, you won’t be disappointed with the app.

Bookmarking your favorite chargers is quick and easy, and the user interface design is perfect for new EV owners. However, we would like the ability to add your own route to see which chargers are available along the route.

To download: Electrify America for Android | iOS (Free)

3. Charging station

Chargeway is a simple yet awesome app used primarily as a trip planner. Whether you’re on the go or traveling hundreds of miles, you need a way to find exactly where working chargers are on your route and if you have enough range to reach them; this is where Chargeway comes in.

First, add your electric vehicle to find the appropriate chargers. The app will only show you chargers that work with your car, although it lets you find other charging stations as you wish. The trip planner is the best part of the app, allowing you to set your current location, your destination, and your vehicle’s current battery percentage.

We found that it shows fewer charging stations than other apps, even with the same electric vehicle added; however, it may be a good sign that Chargeway is playing it safe, showing only chargers that work with your specific electric vehicle.

To download: Chargeway for Android | iOS (Free)

2. Plugshare

PlugShare is one of the most important apps in the App Store for finding EV chargers. It helps you locate a wide range of vehicle chargers from multiple networks, including big names like Electrify America, Tesla Superchargers, ChargePoint and many more.

When you first sign up for a PlugShare account, it prompts you to add the electric vehicle you own. This is a great feature as it will automatically filter out chargers that work with your EV without you needing to do anything. Filters also work well, giving you options to narrow your search down to a specific load speed.

PlugShare lets you add multiple rides to your profile to show you which chargers are available on your commute to work, a friend’s house, or your next road trip. It is also a great feature for future EV owners to determine if it is viable for them to charge an all-electric vehicle on their work route.

PlugShare is a fantastic app for finding every available EV charger on your route. However, it could benefit from a more attractive user interface, animations, and a quick start guide to help new users navigate the app more easily.

To download: PlugShare for Android | iOS (Free)

1.ChargeHub

ChargeHub has a fantastic user interface and helps you locate all the major EV charging networks in your area. When you first open the app, it greets you with a map view of all available chargers around you with four tabs at the bottom of the screen: Map, Trips, Community, and Profile. This clean user interface helps new users navigate the app easily.

The Trips section is easy to use, allowing you to add a charger to your itinerary and use the ChargeHub app for navigation. The app has a good share of filters that you can use without it seeming overwhelming, including important filters such as connector type, minimum kW, price, and network.

The Profile section is also quite straightforward, allowing you to add your EV make and model, view your favorite chargers, saved trips, and more. ChargeHub even includes a charging guide for new EV owners to better understand the different types of chargers, connectors, the pros and cons of various networks, and much more. This is a great sign of an app that puts its users first.

The Community section is attractive; it shows the latest activity of users around the world who are using the app, showing when they registered, which chargers they reviewed, etc.

However, even with location services enabled, ChargeHub still wants to show users in Maine, Ontario, Canada, California, and other faraway places. Several apps are trying a similar way to connect EV owners, but we think there should be a better way to do it.

Overall, ChargeHub is the best on our list, with a beautiful user interface, accurate information on available chargers, and all the features you could ask for in an EV charger app.

To download: ChargeHub for Android | iOS (Free)

The perfect app for EV owners doesn’t exist yet

Although ChargeHub is one of the best EV charger locators on the Play Store and App Store, it doesn’t do it all in one app. If you get a home charger, you’ll need to use the manufacturer’s app to use additional features. For example, if you get an Electrify America HomeStation, you can use its app to locate public chargers and use HomeStation features, but it doesn’t show any other charging networks in its app.

The perfect app with great user interface, useful trip planner, filters, ability to pay any charger through the app and connect your home charger regardless of brand is not yet available. But we think some amazing software will eventually catch on as the world of electric vehicles grows in the years to come.

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