Plugshare.com Suggestions

[NeilBlanchard]

Plugshare.com is the best way to find (almost) all charging stations, as far as I know. And, you can usually see how dependable a given charging station is, by looking at the check ins and comments. But there is room for improvement:

Ideally, charging stations would have REAL TIME status shown in Plugshare. To be able to see if the station is both WORKING and AVAILABLE before you arrive would be the biggest improvement I can think of. I would pay a subscription for this.

It would be good if the check in occurred automatically.

I have had a lot of difficulty setting up a route - we need to be able to set up the route options (like avoid highways, etc) in Plugshare, so that gets carried over to Google Maps without a lot of effort.

I hope that the Chevy Bolt EV will support Plugshare on the car's system. This would be KEY for any EV, so hopefully Chevy will work with Plugshare to get this working!

Until, we have ubiquitous EVSE's in all the places anybody needs them, using Plugshare.com is the best way to drive an EV. The better it works, the more people will be able to drive EV's.

 

[user 744]

There are mutterings in various places in plugshare that indicate that ChargePoint recently stopped letting them get real-time availability info. ChargePoint lost much of their shine with that move.

 

[SparkEVPilot]

There are mutterings in various places in plugshare that indicate that ChargePoint recently stopped letting them get real-time availability info. ChargePoint lost much of their shine with that move.

My experience with getting help from ChargePoint has not been so good. Usually, when I contact them about a problem station, I am told they do not own the station - the property owner does - and I have yet to get any corrective action response from ChargePoint nor status update. On the other hand, EVgo has been quite responsive.

 

[SeanNelson]

Ideally, charging stations would have REAL TIME status shown in Plugshare.

They should also have their power rating included, and a means to filter which stations are shown based on a minimum power capacity.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

I have only been using Chargepoint up until now, and I have been tripped up twice (out of about 12-14 occasions) by inoperable charging stations. I think both are because the cooling air filter is clogged - which should be something they can stay on top of.

I just joined EVgo a couple of days ago, and should get the RFID tag soon. At the prices they charge - they better be responsive; and if they are proactive, paying 2-3X more per charge would be worthwhile.

Does Plugshare have a "suggestion box"? Are they looking for beta testers?

 

[Pigwich]

They should also have their power rating included, and a means to filter which stations are shown based on a minimum power capacity.

AGREED! Also, has anybody suggested a filter by score? Nobody cares about the chargers at Kia dealerships that nobody can use that consistently score 2.0 or the 10kw CCS rigs in parking garages along their route, which ought to be reserved for cars with small packs and 3.3kw onboard chargers anyway.

As far as Chevy supporting Plugshare? That's not their bag. Thank god, because, like every other proprietary in-car system, it's done badly and would be done badly again.

In actuality, Plugshare needs instead to support CarPlay and Android Auto, however, if WAZE is any indicator, getting certified to do this is a total pain in the arse. I'm positive it's been discussed at Plugshare. And if not? Drop them an email!