The best apps for your electric car

If you're a new EV driver, you may daunted by the prospect of a completely new driving experience and having to 'charge up' rather than refuel. However, you'll be pleased to know that there are several apps available that can make your life as an EV driver much easier. You may also be surprised at just how many apps are available, however we break down the 5 best apps to download first!

Firstly, there are 3 main types of useful EV apps to distinguish between. There’s the manufacturer apps, which are apps especially for your car. With some of these apps you’ll be able to check on the status of your car battery, among various other things like remote locking.

Then there is the apps for finding public EV chargers. These are useful when you’re planning a trip and want to know where to charge up, or to find the closest place to you for a quick top up. These are essential apps to have, especially if you find yourself in a situation where you need to find the closest charger at the touch of a button!

Then there are the apps for the charging networks. When you arrive at a public charge point, you’ll probably find that you have to download an app in order to use or pay for the charger. There are 7 main charging networks in the UK, with many more smaller networks, so it’s not worth downloading every single one, however the networks which have charging points local to you and the ones you are most likely to use are the network apps worth downloading.

The first app you should download is your own car manufacturers app. This will be an app similar to Ford’s ‘FordPass’ app. This app is an excellent tool for your car, with features such as remote locking, vehicle locator, car health and live traffic alerts.

Then there’s the features specifically for your electric vehicles, like checking the status of your charging session, adjusting your vehicle settings remotely so it’s ready for you to drive, and using your phone as a key to unlock your car.

Other manufacturers also have excellent apps, such as the Telsa app, which is has useful features as well as allowing you to charge on the Tesla charging network.

ZapMap is the UK’s number 1 charging point app. With ZapMap, you can see around 95% of all public charge points in the UK on the map, with the majority showing live status data ie. Whether the chargepoint is occupied or not.

You can also distinguish between free and paid chargers, the speed of each charger, and the app also has a handy routing tool which shows you the best route to take if you need to stop via a charging unit based on your model and its range.

ZapMap is also available on Apple Car Play and Android Auto, meaning it’s much easier to use whilst driving on your car computer or infotainment system.

The app is pretty all-encompassing as you can even pay through the app. It’s definitely a handy app for every EV user to have, but there are a lot more on the market too

PlugShare is another great app which allows you to find and locate public EV chargers and view the type, speed and compatibility of them. Many also have photos so you know what to expect and what to look out for.

A useful feature of PlugShare and one which makes the app stand out above others is it’s ‘check-in’ feature. Users can leave reviews of each station so you can avoid stations which may seem problematic for other users. Thanks to the large and growing PlugShare community, the review feature works well and gives you a lot more information on public charging points.

You can also use navigation with PlugShare. However, unlike ZapMap, the routing feature is not within the app. Instead, you can select a destination on PlugShare and it will open Google maps or Apple maps to provide the routing information. Some users may prefer this as they can stick with their familiar favourite routing app. 

BP Pulse is a charging network – the largest one in the UK. This makes it a useful app to have with access to over 9,000 charge points with over 1,200 of these being rapid chargers.

You’ll find BP Pulse stations at BP garages and service stations, but the network also includes many other brands of chargers.

You’ll be invited to become a member which provides cheaper charging rates, but you’ll also have the option to pay as you go without membership. Depending on how often you plan to use public chargers on the network, a membership could be worth it, with a saving of up to 15p/kwh when charging. This could be the difference of £5-£10 for a full charge for the average electric car, but this depends on the speed and vehicle model. 

A slightly different app to the above, EVHotels is focused solely on finding EV chargers at, or local to, hotels.

It’s a great app if you’re planning a business trip or holiday. Simply search around your desired destination and EVHotels will show you accommodation options with EV chargers. You can even find hotels which don’t have chargers, but are within walking distance of a public charging point.

The app is worldwide and has information on over 250,000 hotels and other accommodation types. You can even book through the app to make it easier.

There are many, many more apps on the market for electric vehicle users. Eventually, you’ll find the apps that work best for you, but the 5 apps above are a great place to start. 

Talking of apps, do you have Hartwell’s MyGarage App?

It covers all of your motoring needs – you can get service & MOT reminders and updates, make payments, purchase accessories, and get exclusive benefits.

            Download the app by clicking the right image for you below: