Is finding public EV charge station easy? Or like ‘Where’s Wally?’

Interstate travel the trick is to research and plan your pit stops for recharging the EV battery. Hopefully you have checked the relevant app or contacted the provider to ensure the charger is working before arriving and have the right connectors (if needed).  It helps to have plan B to charge at different location so you don’t get stuck on the road with no charge. I map out my locations of available chargers on route and depending on time/weather factors will select the best option for charge stops to ensure that I get to my destination with plenty of charge.

Finding a public charger in new location or place while travelling is like playing a game of “Where’s Wally”.  I have discovered that if a charger is attached to a shopping mall, the chargers are can be located in the underground, 2nd level or top floor of car park, yet the apps never tell you this helpful piece of information.  Hence you end up driving around looking for the charger hopefully not on 1% battery charge. Plugshare has reviews and photographs of charger locations yet info can become out dated.  Chargefox app includes photos and live status of charger that can be helpful. Evie app, Nextcharge app and EV charge station app show location, connectors and costs yet not widely used to provide user reviews and photographs. Jolt only has info about their chargers around Sydney. It would be really helpful to have one map with all charging stations.  Google maps is improving yet does not list them all.

Locating charge stations via logos of NRMA, Chargefox and Telsa can be used to identify the location of the charger. However, I must admit theft Tesla chargers are more plentiful and far easier to find because of the coordination of the app and inbuilt car screen locator. The Telsa program also preconditions the battery for rapid charging and determines how much charge you have left to reach your next charge destination. Hopefully NRMA release app with ping destination, photos and live info on the current usage (ie in use/available)and status of charger (ie working, in repair) also estimated time when charger will be available if currently in use. Hopefully more chargers will reduce wait times to recharge.

Some hotels/motels are adding electric chargers and offering free limited or overnight charging as part of stay.  However motels tend to be the more upmarket places. Airbnb sometimes advertise if a place has a home charger, yet EVs should be able to charge with normal plug.  Tend to look out for three phase electricity as it will charge faster than single phase if a short trip is intended.