You’re talking about users noting how much they paid, right? Because the app does provide prices (which you can edit):

$4/kWh is literally highway robbery.

—Eric

 

$4/kWh is literally highway robbery.

—Eric

That depends, is the site profitable even at $4/kWh?

If gasoline loses the tax breaks and some would say should be tariffed, how much would a gallon of gas cost at the pump? And would you call that price highway robbery?

 

Exactly. People could readily report their highest rate for charging.

Alternatively PlugShare could scrape the amounts from the apps / websites.

 

Only accurate way is to download the app for that charging network (Blink, EVGo, Chargepoint, EVConnect etc..) and look up the price. Relying on people to accurate report the price is problematic and can get OBE quickly.

 

To be useful CPO’s would need to provide current pricing per site through a common API navigation software could use. IMO

 

And the app would have to integrate with all your charging accounts to know if you are a non-member, member, or premium member to provide the correct prices.

 

I've been experimenting with a new app named "Saldo" ... they have a website and an app on the App Store. Their app is somewhat basic, but it can show either cost or available charges.

Web - Saldo

iOS - ‎Saldo • EV Charging Stations

Android - Saldo - EV Charging Stations - Apps on Google Play

 

If you touch a Supercharger icon on a Tesla’s navigation, it shows you the number of chargers free as well as all the prices, including congestion and time of use prices and whether they are currently active. In estimating available chargers at your time of arrival, it also knows how many other Teslas are navigating to that site, when they should get there, and their state of charge.. With other brands now having access, I don’t know how accurate that is these days.

 

Saldo sounds good, but the Google Play store would only wait list me for when it becomes available.

We can only hope that the id.4 gets some of the features which make the Tesla more usable. VW has managed to fall short with ongoing support to products after they're sold. Very disappointing.

 

Someday we need one app that shows us all of the available chargers and their prices and let us pay for charging right in one place… that would make life so much easier

 

So this wasn't about highway robbery, it was about effective use of charging infrastructure. Effectively a GasBuddy type app for EV charging.

After thinking about it, an ABRP type map, with color cues to show one costs, and allow a final destination. Really, the optimization heuristics are readily implementable. The issue will likely be scraping pricing from apps or from charge providers. If someone in the industry wants to do this, it could be the go to app for charging.

As for the outfit that charged $4/kWh. Here's a bit of a backstory. They are on a route that I travel frequently that is under served by CCS chargers, although there is a Sheetz in the same town, with Tesla chargers. The area is rather rural, and it is a stretch to make it across that part of the state. One night I pulled into that place, at 1:30am, and fully charged, at no cost. The next day I sent them an email thanking them for providing the charger. About 3 months later, the price on PlugShare was $4/kWh. Now they require pre-registration. So they clearly don't want people charging there.

I have had some good experiences, particularly in the North and North West, charging at dealers with 50kW or larger chargers. At least as the infrastructure grows. But I get it, quite a few dealers don't want people roaming through their lots after hours while they wait for their car to charge.

So I don't think they set to price to gouge people, but I truly wished they had set it at a reasonable rate.

Now, for the EV version of Gas Buddy with route planning, and time vs cost optimization...