The app doesn’t look all that different than the competition, but having access to 350-kilowatt chargers will be pretty important when production cars grow to handle that much juice.
Electrify America
Most EV charging-network providers offer an app that makes using a charger even easier. VW’s Electrify America subsidiary has a pretty decent network, but it always lacked an app. Now, it has one.
Electrify America on Monday unveiled its new mobile app. Available later this month for both iOS and Android devices, the new app lets people handle charging from their phones, simplifying the process a bit. At the same time, the company also unveiled two new membership plans that offer discounts to more frequent users.
Let’s start with the app. Working like EVgo or any other charge-network provider, Electrify America’s app lets you locate chargers, see how many actual plugs are at each location and whether or not they’re available. Members can also see other cars’ charge rates, letting them know if someone is close to finishing a charge. The app also handles payment, and it can track one’s own charging session, offering notifications when the battery reaches its “bulk” charge (about 80%) and when it’s fully topped off.
In addition to the app itself, there are two new membership offerings. The Electrify America Pass requires a $1 session fee per juice-up, with charging costing the standard per-minute rate. Electrify America Pass Plus drops the per-minute pricing and adds a $4 monthly subscription fee. To ensure people aren’t paying for more power than they need, Electrify America has broken its pricing structure into three power levels: 0 to 75, 76 to 125 and 126 to 350 kilowatts. The membership plans go into effect later in May, at which point the app will hit your phone’s app store.
Electrify America is a brand-agnostic initiative aimed at easing the transition into electric cars. Established as part of Volkswagen’s Dieselgate penance, the VW subsidiary hopes to have 484 stations with more than 2,000 DC fast chargers installed or in development by the end of 2019. Its first charger was established approximately a year ago in Massachusetts.