These apps provide intelligent route planning capabilities that some electric vehicles lack.

• Good electric vehicle route planning will shorten trips by connecting to the fastest compatible chargers at the right time.
• Not all automaker apps and interfaces offer the tools to help electric vehicle drivers get going as quickly as possible.
• Even if your electric car has smart route planning, standalone apps can still suggest better options.

It doesn’t take long for electric car owners to understand that, for road trips by electric car, Charging can be much more important than driving range.

Part of that is because “filling up” an EV in the shortest possible time can be more complicated than filling up a gasoline car. You can’t pick a type, stick a tap in, and expect the price to be essentially the same wherever you go.

For electric vehicles, achieving peak mileage and state of charge means not only plugging in the right charger and charging connector, but also do so at ideal state of charge—usually around 10%. Some today fastest charging electric car can be taken from 10-80% in less than 30 minutesbut they need to be plugged into that low charge state to achieve that.

That requires a strategic approach to trip planningtake into account the location of the fastest chargers along the route and whether they can be selected to suit low battery levels to take advantage of the fastest charging stop.

Tesla was ahead of the curve on all of this. It launched an intelligent route planner in the car or in the app more than a decade ago with the Model S, refining it substantially as it built Supercharger network.

Volkswagen ID.4 2024

Volkswagen ID.4 2024

Volkswagen ID.4 2024

Other automakers are catching up. Ford and VW, for example, have recently significantly improved their route planning interfaces. The systems in VW ID.4 Codefor example, now automatically maps out chargers along your route and easily swaps in different stops when it makes sense. Rivian has used EV charging locations classification incorporated into the vehicle’s trip planning program for a better experience. GM, Polestar and Volvo is among the automakers that rely on a functional version of Google Maps, but it doesn’t always work accurately.

But there are still a lot of electric vehicles that don’t have route planning functionality, if you think of electric vehicle route planning as the ability to augment routes or charging stops when needed. Subaru Solterra I recently found the charger but it doesn’t sort out my charging stations and charge status.

Subaru Solterra 2024

Even today, other automakers fall short in providing customers with the knowledge or tools they need to get the most out of their electric vehicles’ range and charging capabilities. In recent years, motivated electric drivers have been looking for better solutions while automakers have struggled to implement anything close to what Tesla has to offer.

That involves some well-meaning efforts to Multi-network charging aggregation into single-brand applications for devices or vehicle interfaces. These are often helpful, but sometimes they are more confusing because compatible chargers are left out—leaving customers unsure about whether they have a place to charge.

Our advice? Use your brand app. And as you go along Road trip by electric carUse one of these other route planning apps. You might find a faster way—and a new favorite.

Chargeway Plus

Charging line

Chargeway is perhaps best known for providing color coded visual language to find the right charging connector for a particular EV. But for years, it has also provided route planning function—available on iOS and Android—uses a large database of charger information to minimize charging times based on EV and driving conditions. If you have multiple EVs, you can import them into the app and get a customized plan for each EV.

All of it is free to consumers, but now Chargeway has a premium tier, too. In June, after a pilot test and soft launch in Austin, the company launched a suite of Features of Chargeway Plus connected-EV allows owners to tap into real-time charge status information, view remaining range, and control charging sessions. Chargeway does this by linking, with your permission, to the connected services you may already have for your EV. Chargeway also plans to add real-time pricing, activation, and payment for charging—so in the near future, this could be the one app for everything from unlocking your EV to managing your home charging habits and seeing where you’ll stop to charge on your next trip.

Better route planning with Apple CarPlay

A better route planner

For route planning, A Better Route Planner (ABRP) is exactly that, and it has built a loyal following over the years among electric vehicle drivers who can’t stand the clunky or non-existent route planning features that come with their cars. ABRP offers basic EV route planning, including how to best use chargers along the way, for free.

A premium membership of $5 a month or $50 a year is required to use it with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and control multiple vehicles through the same interface. Like Chargeway, it takes into account weather and traffic conditions, and using the car’s computer connectivity, you can connect the app to tap into its charging status and progress. In its Premium form, ABRP can also tap into your car’s data with your existing cellular service, but it offers an OBD device that you can plug into your car’s port to use with the iOS or Android app.

PlugShare with Apple CarPlay

PlugShare

When PlugShare started in 2009, there simply wasn’t anything like it—a map-driven charging search engine for electric vehicle drivers. It was a pioneer in locating charging stations and filtering them by connector type or power needs, and by 2015, the company had a simple trip planner. In its first five years, PlugShare added community resources ratings for charging stationsuser reviews and feedback and finally a limit fee payment system bypassing the plethora of physical cards and keys required at the time.

Despite now being owned by the same company that owns the EVgo charging network, PlugShare remains network-agnostic in terms of filters, interface, and route planning. It’s also free for iOS and Android, and compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto—though the app relies on banner ads, and a paid subscription costs $0.99 a month or $9.99 a year to remove ads.

Apple Maps in Porsche Taycan

Apple Maps

When used with Apple CarPlay and the user has selected the make and model of electric vehicle, Apple Maps will automatically provide route planning guidance based on the vehicle’s expected range. Some vehicle models—including Ford F-150 LightningFord Mustang Mach-E, Porsche TaycanBMW i4 and more—get help with pre-condition battery. This can shorten charging stops especially in cold weather, but this only happens when using the native navigation feature or when the driver remembers to activate it.

Google Maps EV Charging Stations Feature

Google Maps EV Charging Stations Feature

Google Maps EV Charging Stations Feature

Google Maps

Google has come a long way with its route planning interface in a relatively short time. It offers charging station information through its Maps app since 2018, although that feature was initially limited to Android devices. In 2019, it added dynamic EV routing, but it won’t be useful until 2023 when it really starts to differentiate itself. Charging stations by power level. Google Maps and its EV route planning feature, now part of what it calls the “Google Maps Platform,” have now become serious business as the native navigation app for vehicles with “Google built in”—and be prepared to pay subscription fees to Google and automakers to use it in cars in the next few years.