Today, I am excited to be introducing Charged. Charged is a new iOS app for drivers of electric vehicles (EV's) around the world, helping them find available chargers.
With Charged, you can find EV chargers, check their availability in real-time, and be notified once availability is found.
What can Charged do?
Along with finding chargers, Charged can help you view real-time availability with up-to-date information for many charging sites globally. Perhaps my favourite feature is that, when there's no availability found for a charging site, Charged can monitor availability for you. It uses Live Activities to keep you informed of availability at a particular charger right from your lockscreen, and can also send a Push Notification once a charger becomes available. No more waiting around wondering, or constantly having to check an app to know when a charger is available!
Importantly, Charged is a global app. With information on almost 2 million EV charging sites worldwide - 800,000 of which provide real-time data - it's very likely to have you covered whether you're driving around your local area or planning an interstate trip in your EV. If you're wondering whether it has data for your region - the answer is probably. I'd encourage you to download and see for yourself.
Why Charged?
For years, I've worked on an app called Petty which helps Australian drivers find cheap fuel and save when they fill up. Some of the data sets used by Petty have added some brands of EV charging sites but with very few details about the site, and the data is far from comprehensive. Meaning that Petty was helpful to EV drives in only select situations.
Petty is known for being a modern-looking app that's nice to use, that feels at home on iOS with features like a Watch app, Siri Shortcuts, and CarPlay support. A few years ago I started getting suggestions from people to build something like Petty but for EV charging sites. After hiring an EV for the first time and taking it for an incredibly enjoyable drive through Tasmania, I realised that I could build something good here, and started taking the idea more seriously.
Petty has always been an app that you want to use and my goal is for Charged to be exactly the same.
The Future
It was important for Charged to not just be "yet another" EV charge finder map, and that's where the availability monitors come into it. This is a feature unique to Charged which really improves the overall experience when you're might be waiting around for a charge.
But of course, being a 1.0, there is still a lot to do. One glaring omission for an app like this is route planning. Another is a CarPlay app. These, and more, are on the roadmap. They'll take time, and didn't make the cut for 1.0, but my hope is that Charged has enough of a point of difference for the 1.0 to be compelling as-is.
Which features to prioritise next will depend on what people want to see - so please do get in touch via the app and let me know. It might even be something I haven't thought of yet.
Membership
Specific prices are available on a pricing page on the website, or by checking the App Store for prices in your region, but the gist of it is that Charged is a paid app and a membership/subscription is required to use it. Some features also have usage limits. This is simply due to the cost of the quality data Charged uses being high enough that we can't sustainably offer a free tier or unlimited usage.
All plans offer a one week free trial to start, so you can get a feel for whether Charged suits your needs before you need to pay.
I know not everyone will need all the features - especially the costlier features like availability checking and monitors - so membership is split into three tiers, each with different feature limits and access:
- Slow Charge: Find charging stations on a map with details like plug types and charger speeds. Filter results and get directions to nearby chargers.
- Fast Charge: All the features of Slow Charge, plus real-time charger availability at supported sites.
- Super Charge: All the features of Fast Charge with higher usage limits, plus charger availability alerts with Live Activities and Push Notifications.
All membership tiers offer weekly, monthly, and yearly plans allowing you to subscribe for only as long as you need access. Weekend getaway? The weekly plan will do. Longer road trip? How about monthly. Constantly using public charging? Yearly will suit.
I'm open to feedback on the pricing structure, so get in touch if you have thoughts.
Stay in the Loop
Maybe this sounds interesting, but you're not ready to use Charged today. I'd encourage you to the Charged mailing list where I'll be sending updates about the app and details about new features as they roll out.
Wrapping Up
You can download Charged from the App Store by following this link. I'd encourage you to check out the app, take advantage of the free trial, and set up an availability monitor at a charging site near you.
This is just the beginning for Charged, and I'm excited to be putting v1.0 out into the world today. Please feel free to get in touch with thoughts and feedback. The best way to contact me is through the Contact button on the Charged website.
Links
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/charged/id6578435971
Website: https://chargedup.app/
Press: https://chargedup.app/press