The Best Apps You Need For Your New EV: Pros and Cons

Much of the discourse around electric vehicles pertains to range and charging, but only those who live with EVs know how many apps are required to reliably find and access public charging. Infrastructure for electric vehicles is still developing, and navigating the spiderweb of charging networks can be intimidating, especially to those who’ve just made the switch from gas, diesel, or hybrid power and are used to the gas station experience.

The more I began to take our yearlong review 2024 Polestar 2 Single Motor on road trips, the sooner I realized I needed more support when the built-in Google Maps software didn’t provide enough information about whether or not charging stations had free stalls. What follows is the collection of mobile device applications I’ve picked up over the last year, along with the pros and cons of each one. Some are designed incredibly well; others are so convoluted, they’re borderline useless. Read on to find out which EV apps you’ll need for life with your new electric car.

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Your Automaker’s App

Most automakers now offer remote services for their vehicles, so it’s important to download their proprietary apps to get the most out of the ownership or lease experience. Since the beginning of our time with the Polestar 2, we’ve enjoyed using our test car’s accompanying Polestar app. Over the course of our loan, Polestar has continued to add features that bolstered the software’s utility. Here are some of the most important features we’ve used the most.

The home screen gives a readout that can toggle between state of charge and available range. There’s a lock and unlock button, which also tells you which windows are open if you haven’t fully closed up the car. A climate control toggle lets you fire up the air conditioning remotely with timer functionality. There’s a charge limiter, too, allowing you to adjust the maximum battery percentage on the fly. You can also alter the charging amperage. This menu allows for charge scheduling when the Polestar 2 is plugged in at home. Finally, there’s an air quality readout and a location tracker so you can easily find your car while you’re away.

The second tab provides long-term data about your car, such as model year, mileage, and the current software iteration. There’s also a trip statistics readout, a car status report, vehicle specifications, and access to the user manual on this page. You can toggle your digital key on and off as well. Other app features include tabs for news, support, and your Polestar account.

Adhering to Polestar’s signature minimalist design, the app’s interface looks similar to the car’s infotainment display. The menus are self-explanatory and easy to navigate, but the app lacks the depth of features offered by Tesla in its proprietary software. Polestar is off to a good start with its mobile app, but it has a way to go before it can offer features like Summon, open its charge port remotely, or honk its horn from your phone.

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Tesla

We recommend the Tesla app for all EV owners so that they can make use of Tesla’s extensive Supercharging network. When it comes to charging other vehicles, you can add the year, make, and model of your car to check compatibility and the availability of stations. Once you’ve confirmed that information, the app’s map interface shows which chargers are Tesla-only and which are unlocked for other brands. A pin with a plug icon and a number showing the number of available chargers indicates which stations accommodate non-Tesla EVs. From there, you tap the “Charge Here” button. The next screen shows the address, the number of free chargers available out of the total, and the price per kilowatt-hour. From there, you plug in your EV, then scan the QR code on the station. The rest of Tesla’s app features are more advanced than what we’ve experienced with the Polestar app, but its charger locater isn’t quite as detailed as some of the third-party apps for the rest of the public networks.

There’s even more functionality for those who actually drive a Tesla. The main app interface is very intuitive and packed with cool features that enhance daily usability. The home screen displays an image of your car in the correct color. The app shows state of charge, whether or not an update is available for your vehicle, and the release notes for the current version. Four hot buttons let you lock and unlock your car, toggle the HVAC, open the charging menu, and open the frunk.

Further down the page, there are menus for the app’s various remote functions. The “Controls” panel allows you to check tire pressure, lock and unlock the vehicle, access the frunk and trunk, and flip the charging port open or closed. Four buttons at the bottom will flash the lights, honk the horn, start the vehicle, and vent the windows. Other menus allow you to control the climate inside the vehicle, check on your pet in “Dog Mode,” locate your vehicle as well as nearby chargers, summon the car, schedule home charging, and more.

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Electrify America

Looks can be deceiving. Electrify America has a slick interface, but its functionality is slim compared to many of the other charging apps on this list. Like others, opening the app takes you straight to the map interface, showing pins to indicate where chargers are located. There’s a “station full” badge that hangs underneath a pin if every stall is occupied, and a grayed-out version of the pin shows that the chargers need repair. Tap on a station to see how many chargers are available out of the maximum, and you can open a tray with all of the stalls indicating which ones are free, the charger type, and the maximum charge rate. This tray has other tabs for information about the location, pricing, and support.

If your car has automatic plug-and-charge capability, you can just plug in and don’t have to use the app anymore. If not, you’ll have to tap on the charger to open its individual page. Once you’ve plugged in, you swipe a slider to initiate the charge. If you’re not at the station and are on a specific stall’s page, Electrify America provides a shortcut button with directions.

Electrify America also has a home charging feature so you can manage your wall-mounted unit. If you’re setting up your charger for the first time, the app has guided instructions to ensure it’s correctly connected to a power source.

There are some frustrating shortcomings with the Electrify America app, however. In my experience, it tends to log me out if I haven’t been opening the program on my phone often enough. Since I jump between test cars frequently, this can be an annoying hangup when I’m about to start a charge while I’m out and about. The app is also slow to load, taking a decently long pause on the initial splash screen before taking you to the map view. There’s no route planning, either, so when you’re on a road trip and need to source an Electrify America station, you have to use your best judgment or another app to figure out which locations make sense.

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EVgo

EVgo focuses on public charging and does a great job optimizing its streamlined approach and user friendliness. It’s very easy to find open chargers. The map view clumps together fast chargers in concentrated areas in discs with a number representing how many stalls are in that region. When you zoom in, those clumps quickly break up into individual stations showing how many total stalls are available. Rings around the circles with color-coded segments show how many chargers are available in yellow, busy in red, and offline in gray. Level 2 pins are shaped like a diamond. The map view is split with a tray that shows nearby stations, providing the same color-coded system to show availability in addition to a pill-shaped icon with the maximum charging speed.

Once you’ve selected a station, the tray expands to show individual chargers and their connectors in addition to their availability. Every EVgo charger has a name, adding some personality to the app experience. If you’re not yet at the charger, you can hit the “Get Directions” button to start navigation. Certain stations allow reservations, so you can plan ahead and save a time slot to plug in. When it’s time to charge, you plug the correct connector into your car, select the plug type on the app, and press “Start Charging.” EVgo gives one of the best readouts with lots of information while you’re charging. This view displays time elapsed, state of charge, estimated cost, current charging rate, the total kilowatt-hours delivered, and more.

Downsides to the EVgo app is the lack of digital wallet compatibility. However, there is a family plan in addition to a plug-and-charge Autocharge+ feature that allows for multiple vehicles to be included.

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ChargePoint

ChargePoint excels at being a straightforward and easy-to-use app. When you fire it up, it shows the map right away. Like some other apps, circles dot the interface, with numbers to show how many chargers are available at each pin. A colored ring shows how many chargers are free, in use, and in need of maintenance with distinctive shades of green, blue, and gray. When you click on a circle, it expands to display individual chargers on the map. The chargers in the area you’re viewing are shown in detail via a scrollable list with information on charger type, pricing, and proximity.

It takes just one tap to get the enhanced view of any given charger, consolidating the address, a shortcut to navigation, and a button for starting the charge in a single interface. There’s also a space for photos and tips.

ChargePoint also makes it easy to see your activity with a tab at the bottom of your phone’s screen. This shows you how much you’ve spent during the current period, how much energy you’ve added to your battery, and how many miles you’ve replenished. Below, there’s a breakdown showing the details from each charge.

ChargePoint also sells home chargers and includes another tab within its app to set up, buy, and control your wall unit. ChargePoint expands its functionality with home screen widgets, push notifications, and a card for your digital wallet to expedite the start of a charge session with tap-to-pay. ChargePoint’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto apps replicate much of the mobile version’s functionality with phone projection.

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PlugShare

Some staffers consider the PlugShare app to be essential to the non-Tesla EV driving experience, but there are a few quibbles that hold it back from total EV app supremacy. The home screen is a map littered with color-coded pins for charging stations. Green pins indicate public Level 1 and Level 2 stations, while orange pins show stations with Level 3 charging available. Folks with color blindness may have difficulty distinguishing these icons, but fortunately you can filter extensively to find exactly the type of destination you need. A gray pin with a wrench symbol shows chargers that need maintenance. Tapping an icon shows details about the charger types at each location, and tapping that information card opens up an even more advanced view.

PlugShare has a social component where you can check into a station to say if you’re waiting to charge, could not charge, are charging now, or have finished charging. You can also leave a comment with tips or advice. There’s an option to view the surrounding area around the charger for business and services as well as a shortcut to start navigation on your phone. If you use a specific charger frequently, you can bookmark it as a favorite location.

The trip planner feature is another one of PlugShare’s perks. You can enter specifics about your vehicle to get the most accurate estimate of driving range between stops, and then input a starting location and final destination. PlugShare drafts a series of routes, and after you’ve selected one, it gives you a number of options that you can add to your route so you can choose a favored charging network if there are multiple available. Unfortunately, you can’t export the route to maps; instead, you have to select the pin within the route planning interface and then tap the shortcut to open a separate app. This is one of the most powerful EV apps and it imports a lot of data from the various charging networks in one location. Its primary limitation is that you have to link out to the other apps in order to take the next step once you’ve found a charger you want to use.

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EVCS

Belonging to a relatively small but growing charging company, the EVCS network’s app is easily the worst charging app we’ve picked up during our time with our 2024 Polestar 2. The login screen looks archaic, and the app interface lacks depth in its information. The pins shown on the main map menu are low resolution and don’t indicate whether or not the chargers are available or in service. Additionally, you have to hunt through the various options on the map to find a charger that’s open. Once you’ve done that, there’s a shortcut button to start navigation. Fortunately, the location detail menu shows a photo so you can more easily locate the chargers. It also shows the charger types and maximum rate. To start charging, you use a QR code or enter the station ID. Beyond that, additional features are scant. There’s filtering for different charger and port types, but EVCS doesn’t offer route planning or a social component. This app is functional but doesn’t add much value to the electric vehicle ownership experience aside from allowing us to recharge at EVCS’ conveniently placed chargers.

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EV Connect

There are 100,000 EV Connect chargers across the nation, primarily providing Level 2 charging capability. Unfortunately, the app to access these stations isn’t as slick as we’d like. The color scheme, which uses blue and teal shades, is attractive, but the app’s user interface is cumbersome. The map shows circles with blue and teal colors in a ring around the shape, with a number in the center indicating how many chargers are available. However, when you tap on a circle, it zooms in a step further breaking the circle apart into other circles.

When you’ve finally gotten the circles down to a single location, the app shows a list of stalls. You must click on each one individually to see more information about each charger in that position, and sometimes there are multiple connectors hidden within each listing. Once you’ve figured out where you can charge, the process gets a lot easier. You can scan a QR code to start the charge or enter the station’s ID. After you’re done charging, you can leave a review and comments to help other people. EV Connect’s app leaves a lot to be desired in terms of smooth operation, but those that frequent the same chargers won’t run into the same issues as road trippers looking to juice up.

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Flo

The Flo network has boomed over the course of 2024 and is supported by a well-designed mobile app. The maps interface has the same basic user interface as others, relying on discs to group chargers, but its pin system is a clever departure from rivals. A rectangular box shows the number of available chargers on the left and chargers that are in use or in need of repair on the right. It also pins chargers with unknown status in yellow, if you want to gamble on a location that may or may not be usable. You can order a physical card to start charges, or charge from the app itself. Flo figures out which charger you’re near, so you don’t have to hunt around for the right one if you’re standing streetside and want to get going quickly. The charging interface doesn’t show a ton of information beyond energy transferred, the current charging speed, time elapsed, and the estimated cost. However, Flo does have a cool lock screen widget so you can monitor your car’s status without opening the app.

Flo offers route planning, including charging networks outside of its own roster of partners, so you don’t need to swap back and forth between different apps quite as often. The other advantage to this planner is that it allows for multiple destinations to be added along the way. Not only does it factor your specific vehicle into its calculations, but it also considers the number of occupants, your climate control settings, and any additional weight you may be hauling. Unfortunately, the software is glitchy and hasn’t worked in our testing, but in theory this will be a handy feature when the bugs are worked out. Flo also includes a home charging menu with the option to pair any of its proprietary wall-mounted units. Flo’s app has a lot of good ideas and excellent visual design, so we’re hoping future updates quickly iron out the kinks.

We’ve Got You Covered

There are countless apps available aimed at helping you charge your EV, and we haven’t had the chance to download them all in our time with the 2024 Polestar 2. If you didn’t see your local charger network or other handy tools we’ve missed on this list, fear not. You can use our handy charging station locator map and then download any of the other available apps that we haven’t covered, such as Blink Charging or Shell. We also recommend other third-party apps such as A Better Route Planner (ABRP) that can assist if your electric vehicle’s onboard systems fail. For more on how we’ve used ABRP with our long-term Ford F-150 Lightning XLT, check out our comprehensive comparison with the pickup’s onboard system. The burgeoning world of EV charging can be daunting, but rest assured there are solid options to keep your battery juiced up.

For More on Our Long-Term 2024 Polestar 2:

• 2024 Polestar 2 Single Motor Yearlong Review Arrival: Meet Our Far-Driving Fastback
• 2024 Polestar 2 Single Motor Yearlong Review: Long-Range Road Trip Champ?
• Our 2024 Polestar 2 Can Drive Farther Than Google Thinks
• Our Polestar 2 May Lowkey Be One of the Best Road-Tripping EVs
• How Does the Polestar 2 Electric Car's Safety Tech Stack Up?
• Repairing Our 2024 Polestar 2’s Damaged Mudflap Cost Us a Small Fortune
• Our Yearlong-Review Polestar 2 EV Faces a 1,200-Mile Road-Trip Test