Public charge station lists

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T

tps

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
1,285
Location
Philadelphia, PA
This has probably been discussed before, but are there any GOOD and RELIABLE lists of public charging stations? From what I can see, the answer is no. I've been doing some explorarion in the Philadelphia area, which doesn't seem to have many, yet. I've personally visited 3 locations, so far:

Location: Ewing, NJ 40.286475,-74.808056
Network: ChargePoint
Facilities: 1 - 5-20R
Operator: Element Hotel
Access: 24x7

Location: Hamilton, NJ 40.256048,-74.702268
Network: N/A
Facilities: 4 - 5-20R, 1 - 6-20R (240V/20A you supply the EVSE)
Operator: Nexus Parking Systems
Notes: EV parking slots on top level of parking garage
Access: ??

Location: Philadelphia, PA 39.927309,-75.145259
Network: ChargePoint
Facilities: 1 - 5-20R, 1 - J1772 30A
Operator: Liberty Service Station
Access: 24x7

The lat/lng I've listed is very accurate (according to Google's satellite images); I've placed the markers right at the parking slot(s) where the EV charging is located.
 
I'd like to know too. I was pointed to http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/locator/stations/ on Priuschat (IIRC).

There's also http://green.autoblog.com/2011/03/13/google-maps-electric-vehicle-charging-stations/.
 
cwerdna said:
There's also http://green.autoblog.com/2011/03/13/google-maps-electric-vehicle-charging-stations/.
Click to expand...
That references Google Maps. I would not count on Google for locating charging stations! E.g., it lists the Hyatt La Jolla as offering EV charging. Curious, I dug into the basis for this information. I found a web page reviewing the Hyatt which listed some nearby shopping and attractions. Among these were a spa which was a great place for recharging your energy, and a gay and lesbian bookstore, which I suppose had "every genre of book" or something of the sort. I'm not sure, you see, because there appeared to be a character limit imposed on the reviewer and the text was cut off right at "ev". So I think that Google's idiot savant computers put these reviews together and concluded that the Hyatt must offer EV recharging.

Whoever first puts together a comprehensive and reliable list of charging stations that is accessible to all drivers regardless of model of phone or computer ought to have a market and advertising lead for years to come.
 
walterbays said:
cwerdna said:
There's also http://green.autoblog.com/2011/03/13/google-maps-electric-vehicle-charging-stations/.
Click to expand...
That references Google Maps. I would not count on Google for locating charging stations! E.g., it lists the Hyatt La Jolla as offering EV charging.
Click to expand...
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/03/find-electric-vehicle-charging-stations.html is Google's blog entry about this. If Hyatt La Jolla doesn't offer EV charging, then you can report a problem.
 
There are a variety of charge station lists, but all have serous shortcomings, and none appear to be emerging as the "standard". The ones I'm aware of that at least cover stations in Northern California are:

http://electric.carstations.com/
This one is being updated slowly, with a few stations being added each week, but there are many public stations missing.

http://www.mychargepoint.net/find-stations.php
Only lists the Coulomb Technologies network stations, and does so in a very difficult fashion. There are almost 200 stations in the Bay Area, but most are not accessible to the general public, and there is no way to filter them out when searching. Google alone has 65 of the 200, and they are for Google fleet and employee use only. Furthermore, there are stations that are not listed. Apple has about a dozen at one of their buildings in Cupertino which do not appear, nor do a pair of stations at the Whole Foods in Lafayette. I'd guess that only three dozen of the 200 are both available to anyone, and well located.

http://blinknetwork.com/locator.html
Blink network only, and just recently went live. There isn't much here yet.

http://www.evchargermaps.com/
To my knowledge the original list going back many years. It is a nice, fast interface with a smartphone app option, but the data is stale and not being updated. Why is a mystery. With a little bit of attention and a bit of housecleaning, this could be what we're all looking for. Data comes from http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/ind_state.php/CA/ELEC and user reports.

http://www.recargo.com
Contains much of the old data that evchargermaps has.

There's also Plugshare, which is an iPhone app that doesn't have a web interface. It seems to be stagnant and has some erroneous entries.

That's my take on these different resources in Northern California. I'd like to hear what others think, especially how they compare in other regions.
 
leafarmer said:
http://electric.carstations.com/
This one is being updated slowly, with a few stations being added each week, but there are many public stations missing.
Click to expand...
By the way, the owner of this web site is ranchleaf on this forum. He is genuinely interested in making the informtion available to all drivers - not just those who share his favorite brand of phone. And he truly listens to feedback to improve the user interface.

I agree with your assessment of the directories overall, and hope they improve.
 
leafarmer said:
There are a variety of charge station lists, but all have serous shortcomings, and none appear to be emerging as the "standard". The ones I'm aware of that at least cover stations in Northern California are:

http://electric.carstations.com/
This one is being updated slowly, with a few stations being added each week, but there are many public stations missing.

http://www.mychargepoint.net/find-stations.php
Only lists the Coulomb Technologies network stations, and does so in a very difficult fashion. There are almost 200 stations in the Bay Area, but most are not accessible to the general public, and there is no way to filter them out when searching. Google alone has 65 of the 200, and they are for Google fleet and employee use only. Furthermore, there are stations that are not listed. Apple has about a dozen at one of their buildings in Cupertino which do not appear, nor do a pair of stations at the Whole Foods in Lafayette. I'd guess that only three dozen of the 200 are both available to anyone, and well located.

http://blinknetwork.com/locator.html
Blink network only, and just recently went live. There isn't much here yet.

http://www.evchargermaps.com/
To my knowledge the original list going back many years. It is a nice, fast interface with a smartphone app option, but the data is stale and not being updated. Why is a mystery. With a little bit of attention and a bit of housecleaning, this could be what we're all looking for. Data comes from http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/ind_state.php/CA/ELEC and user reports.

http://www.recargo.com
Contains much of the old data that evchargermaps has.




There's also Plugshare, which is an iPhone app that doesn't have a web interface. It seems to be stagnant and has some erroneous entries.


That's my take on these different resources in Northern California. I'd like to hear what others think, especially how they compare in other regions.
Click to expand...

I use the iPhone app EV Charger Finder.
 
Besides the dealership data, how does Nissan Carwing get their information about other charger locations? Does Nissan sources their data from these web urls listed?
 
tps said:
This has probably been discussed before, but are there any GOOD and RELIABLE lists of public charging stations? From what I can see, the answer is no. I've been doing some explorarion in the Philadelphia area, which doesn't seem to have many, yet. I've personally visited 3 locations, so far:

Location: Ewing, NJ 40.286475,-74.808056
Network: ChargePoint
Facilities: 1 - 5-20R
Operator: Element Hotel
Access: 24x7

Location: Hamilton, NJ 40.256048,-74.702268
Network: N/A
Facilities: 4 - 5-20R, 1 - 6-20R (240V/20A you supply the EVSE)
Operator: Nexus Parking Systems
Notes: EV parking slots on top level of parking garage
Access: ??

Location: Philadelphia, PA 39.927309,-75.145259
Network: ChargePoint
Facilities: 1 - 5-20R, 1 - J1772 30A
Operator: Liberty Service Station
Access: 24x7

The lat/lng I've listed is very accurate (according to Google's satellite images); I've placed the markers right at the parking slot(s) where the EV charging is located.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this info bro! this will be a big help to me since I will be going Philadelphia this weekend. At least, now I have peace of mine that I can charge my car when i go there.
 
I recommend you try http://www.plugshare.com - this is a user-based website where you can put in charging stations from any vendor. I looked in your area, and at least one of the charge stations you list is on this map. It's more comprehensive than the 'Blink' or 'Chargepoint' maps, as it has all EVSE vendors.

I've been trying to use it to also add information as I try out a station in the 'review' section for the station, to help others know what's around this area. It's helpful to list some nearby restaurants, shopping, wifi hotspots, etc.

It's also useful to add more information that will help others 'find' the station. For instance, one of the ones in our Phoenix, AZ area is literally in an 'alley', and someone's post on this site helped me find it!

You can add commercial stations and also volunteer your own home station as a 'public' charging place if you don't mind that.
 
Ok, so, now I have:
-ChargePoint
-PlugShare
-CarStations
on my droid device; oughtta be able to find a charging station with all that :lol:
 
coqui said:
Ok, so, now I have:
-ChargePoint
-PlugShare
-CarStations
on my droid device; oughtta be able to find a charging station with all that :lol:
Click to expand...
The OpenChargeMap project lists over 100 EV Charging Stations apps and websites here;

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openchargemap/forums/forum/1250135/topic/3889257

A growing number of apps and websites are coalescing around the open database including LEAF Control;

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.applications.lawsystems.leafcontrol
 
I am the author of the Carstations iPhone app and the EV Charger Finder app. I wanted to chime in a little.

EV Charger Finder was created based on the EV Charger Maps website from Tom Dowling. That database is no longer being expanded though is still very useful for locations for the last gen of EVs (SPI, Avcon). But it is considered deprecated.

I am working with RanchLeaf on Carstations. All of our work is now going into Carstations both on iPhone and Android. We just released a new version for iPhone that allows you to view full details, photos, and user comments easily. You can also post a new comment or photo, or add a new station from in App.

We are also working with Kevin Sharpe to try and share data with OpenChargeMaps. We support that effort.

The big issue we have getting the most up to date data is the existing sources are really bad. We are spending a lot of time verifying and cleaning data from sources like Chargepoint. We could just put the raw data up like a lot of other apps, but we have found addresses, names, and gps coordinates far off. So we are cleaning the data.

Though I have a horse in the race, I suggest you find an app you like (whatever it is) an contribute to it through updates, added locations, photos, and comments. Also support OpenChargeMaps for worldwide data. This is the only way all the apps get better.

Also send us any feature requests you may have. We really want to make life better for all of us.
 
KevinSharpe said:
coqui said:
Ok, so, now I have:
-ChargePoint
-PlugShare
-CarStations
on my droid device; oughtta be able to find a charging station with all that :lol:
Click to expand...
The OpenChargeMap project lists over 100 EV Charging Stations apps and websites here;

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openchargemap/forums/forum/1250135/topic/3889257

A growing number of apps and websites are coalescing around the open database including LEAF Control;

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.applications.lawsystems.leafcontrol
Click to expand...

FYI - LEAF Control v1.7 now updated with initial support for fast vehicle updates, USA and more EU country localisations. Now available in Android Market...

OpenChargeMap integration (see menu..EV sockets map)
Battery status.
Charge start.
AC start / stop.
Fast data updates to/from vehicle.
Added support for USA.
Added support for Belgium (French).
Added localisation of distances.
Press battery information section to show range charge table.
Free to download. No ads. No charges. No restrictions.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.applications.lawsystems.leafcontrol" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Leaf Control (Android app) does not seem to work for me. If it gets battery status, it does not display it.

It wants OpenChargeMaps (OCM) to display a map, but I cannot find a way to get such an app.

The browser version of OCM does not seem to work well: erratic, lists but does not show some stations, no info on many stations.

PlugShare seems to be much better.

Perhaps the crowd-sourcing data entry is too difficult and fragmented. Also, some bad data is too difficult (or impossible) to fix.

Showing a 120v socket as "none" at a location still lists a 120v socket there.
 
garygid said:
Perhaps the crowd-sourcing data entry is too difficult and fragmented. Also, some bad data is too difficult (or impossible) to fix.
Click to expand...
I think the OCM data is at least as good and certainly better than many of the closed and proprietary solutions.

The data is improving all the time and I think with data sharing agreements with apps like carstations it will only get better.

The bottom line here is that it's up to us all... no single app will ever be able to capture and maintain quality data but a crowd sourced and open system just might.
 

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