Thought I'd post a list of the apps I have on my iPhone to help me find places to charger should I need them when traveling. Mind you I haven't ventured more than about 30 miles from my house yet and thus have had no need to turn to the apps, but I think I have a nice selection that others might find useful to get or at least to pick and choose from, in no particular order:
1)PlugShare- Decent app and the best one, I think, for user added content. My home chargers are listed as are many other private residences. No route planning options, but you can search by charger type. They have a browser based option too that lets you really drill down by charger/outlet type. PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find the nearest location to charge your electric car!
2)Car Stations - A pretty app that shows potential and allows you to save and search favorites. Seems to be missing a lot of options, mostly listing commercial charger stations, but it is very customizable for the type of chargers you'd like it to show you (including Tesla). Electric Car Stations | Find Electric Charging Stations (also has an android app)
3)ChargePoint- Similar to Car Stations, web site allows you to sign up for a ChargePoint card, schedule reservations that can be charged to your account and tracks vehicle data on usage, will send you texts if charging is disrupted and such. Electric Vehicle Charging by ChargePoint
4)EVChargerFinder-Probably the least useful and least complete, pretty limited interface right now.
5)Cracker Barrel-Don't laugh...this is a preemptive purchase, we go to Cracker Barrel when traveling, but there was word that they planned to install chargers at all their locations. Not sure where that stands, but it's not a bad app if you're a Cracker Barrel fan and may be handy for charging one day.
6)ChargeBud-By Consumer Energy-Also less than ideal, but stashing it in case of future improvements.
7)Charge Map-by Open Charge Map--the same app used in the new Tesla Model S browser, can update and add locations via the app or online. This may be the up and comer and my future go-to app for chargers.
8)RVParks-By RVParking.com--shows lots and lots (> 20,000) of RV parks all over the US, many more than I knew of along my St.Louis route for instance. But one RV park right near where I live is not listed, so there certainly may be some spottiness to even this app. For most of the parks there are 'park details' that list what sort of hook-up service they have (20amp/50amp) and other services available, but some don't and you can't search by service type at this point. Still this may be one of the best 'oh crap' apps for you if you have a trip planned and find you're going to come up short of your intended destination on range so you can get decent emergency power.
9)Blink-Another pay-as-you-go card, this lists mostly just Blink Network Chargers, but if it's what you use then it's probably a good choice. Also as an android app.
10)KOA- They don't have an app out yet (not sure why, would be great), but the online KOA Trip Planner is great since you can plan a route and it will show all the KOAs along the way along with what services they have. Most are nice with wifi, pool, snack bars, etc and currently most are charging a fixed price of $10 to charge for EVs. I am able to use this on the Model S browser too since it's not flash based.
11)ReCargo-Recargo is another broad based searchable site, not really better than any of the above and allows you to enter your home/private locations.
12)US Department of Energy-Has a remarkably complete searchable map (no app, just online). They won't take personal information either, but you can add public chargers to the database.
13)Allstays Camp and RV - Recommended by TMC member dsm363. Appears to be very complete, but now costs $10. Have not personally tried it yet. Available for iOS and Android. *edit-have now tried it a bit (see posts below), it is quite complete listing lots of 50amp chargers not found on any of the EV apps or even the other RV app. Great options to filter by 50 amp and a multitude of other filters.
14)EV Trip Planner - Really good, and getting better all the time. Takes into account your cabin temp, cargo load, elevation change, provides a route and some information about charging along your planned route. There is also a version specifically for in-vehicle (Tesla Monitor) use.
I'm sure there are a ton more apps out there, and there are some I just rejected after looking at them or reading the reviews. If there are others people like, please do add them to this thread, I can try to add to this post or perhaps we can create a wiki at some point.
Also a nice informational article about how to find chargers in the wild here: Maps Apps: How to Find Charging Stations in the Wild | PluginCars.com
1)PlugShare- Decent app and the best one, I think, for user added content. My home chargers are listed as are many other private residences. No route planning options, but you can search by charger type. They have a browser based option too that lets you really drill down by charger/outlet type. PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find the nearest location to charge your electric car!
2)Car Stations - A pretty app that shows potential and allows you to save and search favorites. Seems to be missing a lot of options, mostly listing commercial charger stations, but it is very customizable for the type of chargers you'd like it to show you (including Tesla). Electric Car Stations | Find Electric Charging Stations (also has an android app)
3)ChargePoint- Similar to Car Stations, web site allows you to sign up for a ChargePoint card, schedule reservations that can be charged to your account and tracks vehicle data on usage, will send you texts if charging is disrupted and such. Electric Vehicle Charging by ChargePoint
4)EVChargerFinder-Probably the least useful and least complete, pretty limited interface right now.
5)Cracker Barrel-Don't laugh...this is a preemptive purchase, we go to Cracker Barrel when traveling, but there was word that they planned to install chargers at all their locations. Not sure where that stands, but it's not a bad app if you're a Cracker Barrel fan and may be handy for charging one day.
6)ChargeBud-By Consumer Energy-Also less than ideal, but stashing it in case of future improvements.
7)Charge Map-by Open Charge Map--the same app used in the new Tesla Model S browser, can update and add locations via the app or online. This may be the up and comer and my future go-to app for chargers.
8)RVParks-By RVParking.com--shows lots and lots (> 20,000) of RV parks all over the US, many more than I knew of along my St.Louis route for instance. But one RV park right near where I live is not listed, so there certainly may be some spottiness to even this app. For most of the parks there are 'park details' that list what sort of hook-up service they have (20amp/50amp) and other services available, but some don't and you can't search by service type at this point. Still this may be one of the best 'oh crap' apps for you if you have a trip planned and find you're going to come up short of your intended destination on range so you can get decent emergency power.
9)Blink-Another pay-as-you-go card, this lists mostly just Blink Network Chargers, but if it's what you use then it's probably a good choice. Also as an android app.
10)KOA- They don't have an app out yet (not sure why, would be great), but the online KOA Trip Planner is great since you can plan a route and it will show all the KOAs along the way along with what services they have. Most are nice with wifi, pool, snack bars, etc and currently most are charging a fixed price of $10 to charge for EVs. I am able to use this on the Model S browser too since it's not flash based.
11)ReCargo-Recargo is another broad based searchable site, not really better than any of the above and allows you to enter your home/private locations.
12)US Department of Energy-Has a remarkably complete searchable map (no app, just online). They won't take personal information either, but you can add public chargers to the database.
13)Allstays Camp and RV - Recommended by TMC member dsm363. Appears to be very complete, but now costs $10. Have not personally tried it yet. Available for iOS and Android. *edit-have now tried it a bit (see posts below), it is quite complete listing lots of 50amp chargers not found on any of the EV apps or even the other RV app. Great options to filter by 50 amp and a multitude of other filters.
14)EV Trip Planner - Really good, and getting better all the time. Takes into account your cabin temp, cargo load, elevation change, provides a route and some information about charging along your planned route. There is also a version specifically for in-vehicle (Tesla Monitor) use.
I'm sure there are a ton more apps out there, and there are some I just rejected after looking at them or reading the reviews. If there are others people like, please do add them to this thread, I can try to add to this post or perhaps we can create a wiki at some point.
Also a nice informational article about how to find chargers in the wild here: Maps Apps: How to Find Charging Stations in the Wild | PluginCars.com
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