Don’t you have your own charging station yet? Then you are depend on a public charging point. When you are on the road, it is possible to charge at a fast charging station. But how and where can you find those normal and fast charging points?
Find charge points through websites, apps and in navigation
For example, the Netherlands has many public charging stations. You can find 83.000(!) public charging stations when you don’t have your own charging facility or when you need to charge your electric car on the road. But how can you find all these charging stations that are located in the Netherlands (or another country)? You can drive around until you come across one, but there are better solutions.
Through websites
Of course, you can go to several websites for an overview of all (semi-) public charging points. These are usually displayed on an online map, allowing you to easily find a suitable charging station near your home, route or destination. In general, all these websites work in a similar way. You can zoom in on the map to see the exact location of the charging station. Then you can click on the individual charging stations for more details, such as charging rate, type of charger (AC or DC), charging connection (Type 1 or Type 2), charging power and address. Some websites – usually after registration – also allow you to see which charging points are currently available or occupied, and what the rates are. By using comprehensive data on EV charging infrastructure, providers can increasingly better map where the car can be charged. This EV charging stations dataset provides insight into where, how long and how much is being charged, which also allows more and more to be mapped
Through the navigation of the car
Many electric car navigation systems are equipped with a “find a charging station” function. Very often, that feature comes into play automatically when you enter a destination you can’t reach without charging on the road. Since the navigation system’s GPS knows where you are, the feature automatically displays charging stations near you, including relevant details such as charger type and charging capacity. You can then set the charging station of your choice as your destination. Some EVs, once you do this, automatically start conditioning the battery as soon as you get near the fast-charging station of your choice, something that makes charging faster.
