EV Planner Compared

By situation

Driving in the UK: which planner to use

A market with its own charging map and its own payment layer, where the international tools are weaker.

Updated 2 min read

Small two-seater electric car connected to a kerbside charging post in a city street
Kerbside posts like this one in Stuttgart are the backbone of city charging. Julian Herzog (Website) · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What actually decides it

One account across many networks, instead of an app per operator. This is a different product category from routing, and the apps that do it well mostly do not plan routes well.

How each one handles it

ProductPays for the chargeWhat the documentation says
A Better Routeplanner○ NoNot a payment product.
Apple Maps○ NoNot a payment product.
Chargemap● YesThe Chargemap Pass is the product: one RFID card and app across European networks.
Chargeprice○ NoCompares payment methods rather than processing them.
Drive Charge Eat (our own app)○ NoNot a payment product.
Octopus Electroverse● YesFree RFID card plus in-app charging across the roaming network.
Google Maps○ NoNot a payment product.
PlugShare– UnverifiedNot stated in the listings checked.
Tesla in-car navigation◐ PartlySupercharging bills to the account automatically; third-party networks generally do not.
Zapmap● YesZap-Pay covers over 80,000 chargers across 40 networks in one app.

The honest caveat

One capability does not settle a purchase. This page sorts on pays for the charge 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.