This New App Puts 200,000 EV Chargers Across North America in One Place

The operators’ original pricing is passed through with no markup on energy costs. There is one big caveat, though.

Photo by: Miss GoElectric

By: Iulian Dnistran

Aug 20, at 5:12am ET

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Octopus Energy has launched a new smartphone app that integrates over 200,000 individual EV chargers in North America.
The Octopus Charge app offers information on the charger’s speed, compatibility, pricing, and live availability.
It eliminates the need for over a dozen individual apps, and there’s no markup on energy costs.

A new smartphone app that integrates over 200,000 individual EV chargers in North America is now available to electric car drivers. Octopus Energy’s Octopus Charge aggregates information from over 10,000 charging stations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, eliminating the need for individual apps for over a dozen operators.

The company, which has been running a similar service in Europe and other parts of the world for a few years, says it passes through the charging prices of the original network, without marking up energy costs. So, if one stall sells energy for $0.50/kilowatt-hour, that’s the price that will be used in the Octopus Charge app, too.

What’s more, EV drivers can set up a payment method in the app and use that for billing across all the supported networks, making life a lot easier, especially when traveling long distances. Octopus Energy’s app shows real-time availability, charger speed, compatibility, pricing, and nearby amenities. Drivers can also input the make and model of their car, and the app will select the best settings for that particular EV to ensure that charging works flawlessly every time.

That’s the same functionality that General Motors offers through its brands’ apps, but those only work with GM-made EVs, while the Octopus Charge app works for any EV out there.

"We built Octopus Charge to remove unnecessary friction from the charging experience, helping drivers spend less time managing charging and more time enjoying the drive," said Sebastian Blake, Head of Product at Octopus Energy US.

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All this being said, there is one big caveat: some of the best and largest networks out there are not yet integrated, including Tesla Superchargers, Ionna, and Electrify America, so you’ll still need additional apps on your smartphone to access every charger out there. (Or have a credit card at hand for stations that have built-in payment terminals.)

The Octopus Charge app, which is available for iOS and Android devices, still looks like a great choice, though, as it integrates a large number of the other charging operators in the U.S. and Canada. The company lists over 20 partners like EVgo, ChargePoint, Blink, Shell Recharge, Circle K, and Red E, so there’s still a lot of diversity.