By situation
Family road trips: which planner to use
A charging stop with children in the car is a rest stop whether the app planned it that way or not.
What actually decides it
A 30-minute stop is a break whether you wanted one or not. Most planners treat a retail park and an unlit industrial estate as equivalent nodes, which they are not, particularly after dark or with children in the car.
How each one handles it
| Product | Food, restrooms and facilities | What the documentation says |
|---|---|---|
| A Better Routeplanner | ◐ Partly | Advanced charger filters are listed, including trailer-friendly and dog-friendly. |
| Apple Maps | ◐ Partly | General points of interest, not charging-stop amenity data. |
| Chargemap | – Unverified | Not stated on the pages checked. |
| Chargeprice | ○ No | Out of scope for the product. |
| Drive Charge Eat (our own app) | ● Yes | The distinguishing feature: routes to stops with food and restrooms, and shows what is open. |
| Octopus Electroverse | ◐ Partly | Shows location details including parking restrictions. |
| Google Maps | ◐ Partly | The strongest general points-of-interest data here, but not charging-specific amenity routing. |
| PlugShare | ◐ Partly | Station details and driver photos show what is there. |
| Tesla in-car navigation | ◐ Partly | Amenities are listed at Supercharger sites. |
| Zapmap | – Unverified | Not stated on the page checked. |
The honest caveat
One capability does not settle a purchase. This page sorts on food, restrooms and facilities because that is what this situation turns on, but price, platform and country coverage will rule some of the shortlist out — those are on each product's own page.