Apps

[Barney]

I'm about to make my first foray into EV ownership by buying an MG5 LR. One question which springs to mind is : what apps are recommended for my Android smartphone (OnePlus) ? Particularly for locating charging points, but any other recommendations would be welcome.

 

[Joe McAndrew]

Zap Map, Instavolt, BP Pulse and Pod Point. Use those for charging and journey planning.

Android Auto will also be required for decent navigation.

 

[5teep]

Also Plugshare and if you're in Scotland the Chargeplace Scotland app.
Zapmap and Plugshare are both independent apps and are useful for letting you know if a cp is working, in use or free plus prices

If you own a tomtom sat nav they have an excellent charge point poi, failing that get google maps on your phone and type "ev charge points" into the search bar it will display all the charge points on the map. On gmaps or tomtom you can just tap on a charger for directions.

 

[Jomarkh]

I have a Oneplus 5 and it works well on Android Auto.
I have a page of apps for charge points etc.
If you are with Octopus they have a card called Electric Juice which covers a number of chargers and doesn't take a pre- authorisation fee.
Zap-map is great as you can filter to find free chargers at supermarkets.

 

[Barney]

Wow - that's a lot of apps ! I have used Android Auto on previous cars, often with Waze but that doesn't seem to cover charge points. Given that ZapMap seems to do everything, is there any point in having Instavolt, BP Pulse, Pod Point or Plugshare as well ?

 

[5teep]

Wow - that's a lot of apps ! I have used Android Auto on previous cars, often with Waze but that doesn't seem to cover charge points. Given that ZapMap seems to do everything, is there any point in having Instavolt, BP Pulse, Pod Point or Plugshare as well ?

They each do somethings better than the others. Get them all and delete the ones you don't use.
All barring plugshare and zapmap are network specific, so e.g. if you want to charge on a bp charger and it deoesn't have contactless you need their app.

 

[AdamMGEV]

Plugshare is quite handy as you can use it via your android auto app so whilst driving you can see the closest charge points on your cars screen if you have one.

 

[Jomarkh]

Unfortunately they don't cross over and then there is the different charge rates and prices. I suppose you get used to using a couple of good ones but if you are on a long trip you need a back up stop or two incase they don't work or are in use.

 

[biffo]

Think I’ve got about a dozen apps on iOS now - not sure how many are available on Android & some are mentioned above, but also these

• ARBP (A Better Route Planner) seems decent : been mentioned on one of the podcasts. Desktop works well too.
• WattsUp : seems to show lots of chargers nearby and on a planned route, in case planned stop is busy/broken