Ev apps? What do you use?

[sac602]

Never had an ev. R1S reservation 12.21, so probably still 2nd half of 23, but starting to look at the logistics of charging / route planning / energy monitoring.

There are a ton of apps, (abrp, optiwatt, Emporia, evgo, electrify America, plug share). What do you all use & for why/how. Is there one that is the main go to?

Note I have 13kw solar and Emporia home charger (60 amp circuit) installed. Emporia vue home monitoring is supposed to send Excess solar to ev charger during the DAy, so I'll only be charging on trips I think. Need my S to sh up to test it

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[SingleMalt]

The R1T is my first EV as well. For what it's worth I use Plugshare for locating chargers. I like it because you can filter results on a map that shows chargers that are compatible with your vehicle, charging speeds, provider, etc. It also has a trip planner that allows you to plan a route with chargers that meet your needs and distance requirements. The other apps that you mention (Electrify America, Chargepoint, EVGO, etc.) are all provider specific and some work pretty well and others don't (for me). Electrify America's app works most of the time to initiate a charge session when I use it. Chagepoint has been similarly reliable. EVGO is a hot mess of an app and I've never been able to initiate a charge session with their app but I have charged using a credit card.

An additional advantage of Plugshare is that users will "check-in" when they use a charger and that helps if you're wondering whether or not a charger is functioning (good to know when that might be the only option on your route). Also the app provides a status on networked chargers (which most of the fast chargers are).

That's been my experience so far, others might have better experiences to share. I will also share that I've had zero issues with the R1T so far, it's been a great vehicle to drive. There are some quirky UI things that I believe will improve over time, so for the most part I've been and am very pleased with the vehicle.

Good luck!

 

[DirtyJester]

I use PlugShare, FLO, bchydro, and ChargePoint. I wasn’t sure which I needed when I got my Ev so I installed like 6 or 7 of them. But the ones stated above are the only ones I’ve used so far. I normally just preload a balance onto them and too it up as needed. But I think plug share is one of the better ones as people will often leave a note on there saying things like “just topping up, go ahead and disconnect me if you need the charger” or saying how long they will be at the charger.

 

[sac602]

I'm guessing it's a different FLO app...

 

[connoisseurr]

Plugshare is my top app right now. Currently planning a trip from DC-area to Michigan, and I can plan a trip right in the app, while also selecting charging stations to use. I'll end up comparing this to what the Rivian navigation suggests.

ABRP is becoming obsolete to me. Google Maps and Apple Maps are incorporating more EV-related features. I've also switched from Google Maps to Apple Maps, when using CarPlay in the Mach-E.

 

[MoreTrout]

I'll add a plug (cough) for Plugshare too. The quick comments from users on which stations are or aren't working recently is helpful when trip planning and options are limited. While it's nice that Plugshare can show which stations are occupied, it is dependent on the Plugshare user to actively do that so it isn't always reliable. The app from the charger company itself is more reliable to see what stations are currently in use. I tinker with ABRP before trips and it is ok. I installed and have used the apps for Electrify America, EVgo, Chargepoint, Shell Recharge, and Powercharge. The last one is the only one that never worked, but apparently the level 2 public charger I used hadn't been activated by the site owner yet.

Side note, if your solar array is 13 kw that likely means peak output is between 11-12 kw. A 48A charger is going to take 11.5 kw, so assuming your house has something on drawing even a minimal amount you are unlikely to have any excess solar and will more likely be importing some from the grid while charging.
The EVSE that comes with the truck is 32A, and typically draws around 7.6kw. My 8kW solar array peaks around 6.6-7.2 kw at mid day, so I'm typically net importing 1.5-2.5 kw for the home and truck combined when charging at peak hours.

 

[DirtyJester]

I'm guessing it's a different FLO app...

yeah different one. Although to be honest I’ve never looked to see if it has an ovulation thing in there.
This is the one I mean lol.

 

[Tarkus]

I've been in a company provided rental (2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid), since 01/2022, learning the in's & out's of EV ownership (with an built-in ICE for backup). I've used most of the apps noted above, plus here in Atlanta, GA we have EnviroSpark as well. One app/charge station to stay away from is "EVBox/AmpUp", they allow the owner of the property to charge whatever $$ they want & in my case, a motel in Austin, TX charged $5.00 per hour & "AmpUp" added "11% Service Fee" & the worst fee was a $6.00 per hour "Idle Fee", so by time i was ready/able to go down stairs & disconnect I got charged $0.10 per minute ($0.90 for 9 mins). This is wrong. I moved to another hotel (Best Western) & charging was free & so was my charging during work visits to the new Apple Campus for two+ weeks of work.

R1S Pre-Order 04/2021, CY, BM+Ash Wood, 21" Wheels, New Delivery Est: Jul-Sep 2023

 

[Baldewin]

On the Rivian phone app (Iphone) I open the charging icon at the bottom center and it shows me a map of charging locations in my area. My question is why do the Electrify American locations show as out of network? What does that mean?

 

[EarlyAdptr]

On the Rivian phone app (Iphone) I open the charging icon at the bottom center and it shows me a map of charging locations in my area. My question is why do the Electrify American locations show as out of network? What does that mean?

I'm wondering the same thing .....

 

[tg_cid]

My question is why do the Electrify American locations show as out of network? What does that mean?

Because they are not run by Rivian, but instead by Electrify America.

I've had a Model S since 2016. In addition to the base Tesla (now, Rivian) app, I'd go for Plugshare (still ugly, still incredibly useful) and ABRP (though, yes, more features are being rolled into G/A Maps, but having a dedicated tool is still useful.)

I would strongly recommend downloading the EA, EvGO, and any other charging network apps that you find on a route ahead of time. I've got like half a dozen random ones. You don't want to be at a charger figuring out how the app works.

On iOS specifically, i'd also go ahead and add any charging apps you can to Wallet.

 

[SANZC02]

It just means they know where they are but have no information on availability.

They are in the navigation, I was using ABRP on my trip and was putting the EA chargers in the navigation so it prepped the battery as I was arriving for charging.

 

[EarlyAdptr]

Because they are not run by Rivian, but instead by Electrify America.

Hmmm, but there are other non-owned Rivian charges that show up on the map and don't have that disclaimer - like "ChargePoint" as an example.

 

[mikehmb]

Rivian has established a partnership with ChargePoint to enable billing directly from the Rivian app. They have not done so with other networks (esp EA) AFAIK.

Download the individual apps, regardless of integration status. You don’t want to get stuck because of some sill API interoperability problem that the vendors haven’t sorted out.

 

[Jhawk]

I will give another vote for having PlugShare.

We had owned a Tesla for 6 years prior to getting our R1T in January. The PlugShare app was very helpful for finding Chademo chargers the few times we used them instead of routing through a supercharger. However, I think the best use we have had for PlugShare is all of the great destination charging information the users have shared. It’s very useful for deciding whether you want to attempt a trip in your EV and where you may want to stay when you get there for the most convenient charging. The best example I can give is when we traveled to Omaha last year for a basketball tourney. The team picked the hotel so I was at the mercy of whatever charging was available in the area or going to the Superchargers 15mi away every day. A quick check of the PlugShare app showed there were 110v outlets available on a few light poles in the parking lot of our hotel and they didn’t care if you used them as long as you asked the front desk. The 3mi/hr was easily enough to cover our driving to and from the courts everyday and we made a quick stop by the super chargers to head home our last day.

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