Capability

Pays for the charge: which EV planners do it

Can you start and pay for a session in the app?

Updated 2 min read

Three-lane British motorway with traffic in both directions under a grey sky
Klaus with K · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Why this one matters

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.

Product by product

ProductVerdictWhat 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 gaps in this row

We could not confirm pays for the charge for PlugShare from their own documentation on 2026-08-19. That is a gap in our checking, not proof the feature is missing, and it is marked rather than filled in.

What to do with this

If you need to start and pay for charging in the app, the shortlist is Chargemap, Octopus Electroverse and Zapmap. If you do not, ignore this page — a capability you have no use for is not an advantage.