Charging stations

Is anyone else frustrated with the public charger networks? Several times I've gone to garages that had EV only to find that they have proprietary card access with no ability to use a credit card. How do I know which ones are really available, and how many cards do I have to carry to actually be able to drive my car someplace more than 40 miles from my house and still get back home ifthere are hills or a freeway involved?

At this point you need Blink & Chargepoint network cards that I know of.
If it is a private charge location get the number and call to express your dissappointment for listing on a general map.

What part of the world are you in?

TonyWilliams said:

What part of the world are you in?

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Good question...

I have also only seen charge point and blink, been there, done that, have the cards...

pstroud said:

How do I know which ones are really available

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Plugshare seems to provide the most useful information: http://www.plugshare.com/

I carry the Chargepoint app too, and would carry the Blink app if I could find it, not to mention the woefully incomplete Carwings directory.

They'll eventually get to the point where everyone takes normal credit/debit cards, just like most gas pumps now do. Heck, even the car wash takes regular cards these days...

I've had pretty good luck with Recargo iPhone app being up to date. But, I have every app available and compare them all.

pstroud said:

Is anyone else frustrated with the public charger networks? Several times I've gone to garages that had EV only to find that they have proprietary card access with no ability to use a credit card. How do I know which ones are really available, and how many cards do I have to carry to actually be able to drive my car someplace more than 40 miles from my house and still get back home ifthere are hills or a freeway involved?

Click to expand...

Take a breather.

Get a blink card: http://blinknetwork.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And a ChargePoint card: https://www.chargepointportal.net/index.php/authz/signup.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Both cards are free, and many (most?) of the charging stations are now free.

Take a look at Plug Share: http://www.plugshare.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bill

rawhog said:

I've had pretty good luck with Recargo iPhone app being up to date. But, I have every app available and compare them all.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info - looks like a neat one.

Bill

Blink and Chargepoint cover only a subset of stations by design - their own. Carwings is rarely updated and they make no effort to differentiate between Nissan dealers who allow public charging and those few who do not. So crowd sourced directories, which can note pros and cons of various sites, are most useful. However if a directory is available for only one phone OS (any one) then its utility will be much less because it will capture information only from a minority of drivers.

Recargo has a web site which is a big improvement, in that you can look up stations near your destination or route at your desk, regardless of which phone you own. But it is not mobile friendly, so I'd expect they are getting updates only from Apple users. Plugshare covers Apple and Android users, but omits Blackberry and Windows Phone users.

Just noticed that Recargo has released their Android App. Looks great and easy to use.

http://www.recargo.com/

The Android Market says Recargo is not compatible with my Vizio Android Tablet.
Why, what is missing?

However, their web-browser app works on the Vizio tablet.

how many cards do you have to carry?
I put them both in an envelope in the glove box. not very heavy.

kudos to those with dissections of the various find-charger sites and apps.
boo on dealers who are asshats about access.

Don't forget http://www.semaconnect.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I carry their free card as well as Chargepoint's here in the DC area.

They have an iPhone app while the Android one is soon to arrive.

Cheers.