Head to head

Drive Charge Eat or Electroverse: where they actually differ

Two products with different jobs. Drive Charge Eat is a dedicated route planner — its job is deciding where you stop and for how long; Octopus Electroverse is a roaming and payment product — its job is one account across many networks.

Updated 2 min read

Two electric cars, a hatchback and a saloon, parked side by side outdoors in Norway
Norway reached majority-electric new car sales earlier than anywhere else. Norsk Elbilforening · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Where they differ

CapabilityDrive Charge Eat (our own app)Electroverse
Plans a charging route● Yes– Unverified
Models the charging curve– Unverified○ No
Adjusts for weather and temperature● Yes○ No
Accounts for elevation● Yes○ No
Live charger availability◐ Partly● Yes
Preconditions the battery– Unverified○ No
Turn-by-turn navigation● Yes○ No
CarPlay or Android Auto◐ Partly– Unverified
Pays for the charge○ No● Yes
Compares session prices○ No◐ Partly
Food, restrooms and facilities● Yes◐ Partly
Usable without paying○ No● Yes

Where they agree

On the remaining 2 capabilities these two are recorded the same way. Rows where both are unverified are agreement about our own ignorance rather than about the products.

Which to choose

Choose Drive Charge Eat if you need a planned charging route rather than a map of chargers, cold-weather range modelling, routing that knows the road climbs, turn-by-turn navigation rather than a hand-off and food and facilities where you stop. Choose Octopus Electroverse if you need live charger status, to start and pay for charging in the app and something that costs nothing. Price and platform decide the rest, and both are in the table on each product’s own page.

Or both

Most people end up with two of these — a router and either a payment card or the car’s own navigation for the last leg, which is the only thing that reliably preconditions the battery. Using one tool for everything is a preference, not a requirement.