Finding a public charging station is a bit like finding a gas station, but a little trickier as there are fewer.
However, the numbers are increasing. According to the Department of Energy, there are around 41,400 points in the USA, of which fewer than 5,000 are fast chargers.
With a huge population and the extra space, the US will need millions of chargers.
A recent report by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (PDF link) found that there are around 25,000 public charging points in the UK today, but that number must rise to almost half a million as electric cars become increasingly popular.
However, the chargers of the future will not help us today. When you need to charge your electric car, you need to find one. So go ahead.
How to Find Electric Car Charging Stations in the United States
Outside of major cities and off the coast, EV charging points in the U.S. can be a bit far apart, but at least there aren’t any hydrogen filling stations that are unique to California.
Most of EV charging takes place outside of homes, but there are public chargers available if you know where to look. A map on the Alternative Fuels Data Center website shows exactly where they are, but you will likely find that smartphone apps like Plugshare, Chargehub or Nextcharge are more convenient on the go.
Many public charging stations in the states offer free charging, but they can also run on low voltage and your car will take a long time to charge. The compromise can be worthwhile if you’re in no hurry.
However, chargers standardize around the combo port, which can provide fast charging, but some older devices may have different ports – check an app beforehand to see if you have a compatible adapter.
Payment is made by smartphone app or credit card – you’ll need an app and account for the brand of charger you want to use, but these are usually free.
How to find electric car charging stations in the UK
First of all, having a smartphone will help. If you’re not lucky enough to have a charger at home to charge your battery while you sleep, your electric vehicle’s navigation device should be able to direct you to a charging point, but you can get more details from websites and apps like Zap-Map, Chargemap, or Open Charge Map.
Well worth planning in advance, but you never know who will be using the charger when you get there. Therefore, it is also good to keep a few alternatives in mind.
Tesla’s announcement that it will open its Supercharger network to non-Tesla owners means you can basically roll up and use any charger, as long as you have the right plug or adapter.
You usually need an account with the operator – and there are many different ones – and of course a payment method, often through contactless payment.
Alternatively, some operators offer a membership program that lets you pay in advance and get unlimited usage.
Generally, you pay a connection fee that also sets the amount of time you can stay connected, e.g. B. 45 minutes, then a certain amount per kWh that you use.
How to find charging stations for electric cars in Australia
There are several different networks of charging stations in Australia that expect electric vehicles to account for 30% of the vehicle fleet by 2040.
Like the US, they’re mostly along the coasts, in cities, and along the Stuart Highway that bisects the country, but there are fewer than 3,000 of them with an additional 150 Tesla Superchargers.
New Zealand is well supplied, of course, a much smaller country with lots of fast chargers, but Australia has more fast chargers on the east coast than in the west.
Home chargers are common here too, but you can find public stations on highways and in supermarket parking lots and parking lots.
There are free chargers available, but most accept payment through phone apps, credit cards, or dedicated network account cards.
Mapping apps such as Plugshare or Google Maps can help to find a public charging station more easily, but they don’t always indicate whether they are currently free – you are more lucky with apps from charging providers such as ChargeFox or EV Connect.
