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Apart from charging at home, there are a lot of places where you can charge an electric vehicle in public in America. According to the Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC), there are 52,000 public electric car charging stations in the United States and that number is only expected to grow with the recent Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passing. You can charge at Walmart, hotels, parking garages and national parks. When you choose an electric vehicle charging point, you want to consider how much charging you need, how much time you will be at the location and what the power (kW) rating of the electric vehicle charging station is. Some charging points at retail stores have 3kW charging stations, which will only add about 10 miles an hour. This will not suit your needs if you only plan to spend an hour at the location and need to add more than 10 miles of range.
A good electric vehicle charging station map will provide the type of connectors available (Tesla, J1772, CCS or CHAdeMO), number and power(kW) of charging connectors, if the connectors are in use or not, the hours of operations and ideally, the nearby amenities (for example, whether there are restrooms nearby), the cost to charge as well as any other hidden fees (for example, parking fees). A routing feature is also a great feature to have on a map. There are a number of maps available. We cover a list of electric vehicle charging station maps below.
Google shows electric charging stations on its map. You can simply search ‘electric car charging stations’ on Google to get a list of nearby stations. In addition, to the address of the station, Google shows the number of connectors at the station, which ones are available and the kW of the station, which will determine the speed that you can charge your vehicle.
Tesla has the largest network of electric vehicle charging stations in the United States and provides a map of Tesla stations on their website, app and in their car infotainment system. In the in-car infotainment system map, you can see whether the stations are in use or not, the nearby amenities and the charging costs. The map available on the Tesla website does not provide as much detail as the in-car map, but you can find key information, like the power of the stations and the number of connectors available.
Tesla charging stations are open to only Tesla vehicles at this time. But, that will change in the near future. The company has already begun opening up a few Tesla charging stations to non-Tesla vehicles. You can find which Tesla stations are open to non-Tesla vehicles on the website and app.
Plugshare is one of the most comprehensive charging station maps around. The plugshare map has the charging stations for most, if not all, electric vehicle charging networks. On the Plugshare app and website, you can find the number and power of the stations and nearby amenities. You can also view reviews from other users, which might provide important information about the charging connector status (for example, whether it is out of service or not).
Charging station network operators, such as Chargepoint, Electrify America and EVGo, provide maps of their charging stations both on their websites and on apps. They only show charging stations in their network. However, you can find information such as the connector type, number of connectors and price on these maps (Chargepoint does not provide pricing on the map since Chargepoint allows the station owner to set the price of charging).
In addition to the charging station maps listed above, there are other maps serving niche markets, for example, maps of hotels with charging stations and chargers at national parks.
At Charging Center, we recommend that you check at least two maps, since not all stations may be available on a particular app. With these tools, it is easy to find a charging station to ‘fill up’ your electric car.
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