Head to head
Drive Charge Eat or Zapmap: 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; Zapmap is a charging map — its job is telling you what is there and whether it worked for the last driver.
Where they differ
| Capability | Drive Charge Eat (our own app) | Zapmap |
|---|---|---|
| Adjusts for weather and temperature | ● Yes | – Unverified |
| Accounts for elevation | ● Yes | – Unverified |
| Live charger availability | ◐ Partly | ● Yes |
| Preconditions the battery | – Unverified | ○ No |
| Turn-by-turn navigation | ● Yes | – Unverified |
| Pays for the charge | ○ No | ● Yes |
| Compares session prices | ○ No | ◐ Partly |
| Food, restrooms and facilities | ● Yes | – Unverified |
| Usable without paying | ○ No | ● Yes |
Where they agree
On the remaining 5 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 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 Zapmap 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.