There has been an unprecedented rise in the use of electric vehicles, and there have been many reasons for that. The foremost being that countries worldwide are actively trying their bit to reduce carbon emission. Moreover, the ever-increasing fuel-prices have also become a major reason for people switching to electric vehicles.
Many business organizations like Tata Power, Ather Energy, Fortum, etc. are focusing on developing major charging networks to become the front-runner in this growing market.
The huge number of EV charging stations gives rise to an idea of a mobile app that can assist vehicle owners to find EV charging stations in their vicinity. As an entrepreneur, you can hire a top automotive software development company to build the EV charging station finder app for you.
One must understand the nuances of an EV charging app before delving into the project. This blog will discuss the technicalities and other nuances that will help develop an electric car charging app, its popular players around the world, the work process, reasons behind its popularity, etc.
The app is used to find the location of different charging stations across your area or locality is called an electric vehicle charging locator app. Along with the user’s location, the user can book the nearby stations, see the waiting time, fees of charging, and other various aspects through the app.
Why invest in an EV charging locator app?
There has been a projectile increase in the electric vehicle market, which is a trend that will rise in the coming years. If we look at the stats, the EV market is projected to reach 26,951,318 units by 2030. It is why major businesses are shifting their focus on electric vehicles, and thus this market is attracting huge investments.
Another major reason you should invest in an EV charging locator app as a business organization is an improvement in technology. There are better batteries and readily available charging infrastructure available now. In addition, there are other statistical projections that electric vehicles will comprise of global vehicle sales:
10% by 2025
28% by 2030
58% by 2040
These are meteoric numbers that cannot be ignored. Thus, this is the correct time to invest in an electric car charging app finder and get the early bird advantage.
Cost to develop an EV charging station locator app
The total app development cost of an EV charging stations app depends on some influential and important factors. It includes:
Number of features included in the app
The geographic location of the app development company
Total experience of the app development company
How many app platforms the app is meant to be developed
In addition, the realm of EV is a growing and evolving platform, the business owner should refer to a competent mobile app development guide before going forward. The app development guide will help them in understanding their actual requirements and will allow them to make more informed decisions.
If you are looking for a region-wise cost location, the cost to develop an EV charging app in North America will be around $140-$160 per hour. Moreover, if you are looking to develop the app in the UK, it will cost somewhere around $100-$120. Moving towards the South Asian region, developing the app in India will be around $25-$40.
Here, an important thing that businesses should understand is that the low cost of development doesn’t mean that you won’t get optimal quality work. Thus, before selecting the app development service provider, the businesses must be thorough with their requirements.
List of popular apps for finding EV stations
There are some big players in the EV charging station location finding app. Moreover, the rise of smartphones has played a huge part in popularizing EV charging station finding apps. Here are some top apps that have made their mark in this market segment.
NextCharge
One thing that makes NextCharge one of the leading EV charging station finding apps is that it is available in various languages. Whether it is German, Spanish, English, French, or Romanian, NextCharge has everything. This automatically improves two things:
Native user experience
Increases the user base of the app
Along with this, NextCharge is available for both iOS and Android and has more than 200,000 charging station listings.
PlugShare
Along with finding electric car charging stations, the users can give reviews and connect with other EV owners through PlugShare. Due to its high accuracy in finding EV charging stations, the app has a huge user base in Europe, North America, and other major regions worldwide. There are more than 400,000 listing EV charging stations in the app.
The app allows the user to search based on the network, area, and type of connection they want to use. In its other features, the app allows payment directly through the app, and the user can add new EV stations as they find them. Available for both iOS and Android, PlugShare has more than 1 million downloads.
Chargemap
Chargemap is fast and allows the user to find the EV charging stations in fractions of seconds. This is why more than 330,000 electric car drivers use the app. Moreover, the app has a polished interface and numerous filter options that allow users to get what they specifically want.
An important thing that the users must know is that they cannot use Chargemap without creating an account in the app.
ChargePoint
This app has a huge network and thus provides a plethora of options for the user to choose from. ChargePoint is highly user friendly as it is based on near-field communication. With NFC, the user doesn’t even need to open the app to initiate the process. Moreover, the app has more than 100,000 charging spots and you can check in real-time on the app how much your car has been charged.
ChargeHub
ChargeHub is one of the most prevalent apps in the USA and Canada to find EV charging stations. It is popular for finding EV as well as Tesla charging stations as well. ChargeHub was formerly known as EV Charge Locator and this app has all the required options.
What makes the EV charging station finding apps popular?
With the increase in demand, there will be more EV charging stations available. An EV charging location finding app will help generate more revenue for the business organization as it will render an easier way for the users to locate their respective charging stations.
Another reason why EV charging apps are becoming popular is that it will save the time of the user. Through the app, the user can easily book their preferred time slot and reach there to get their vehicles charged without standing in long queues. Apart from saving time, the user will be able to track all the crucial statistics with real-time analysis in the electric vehicle charging location app.
The stats and analytics will inform the user about their electric fuel consumption daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Moreover, with the app, the vehicle owners can centralize all their transactions as well.
How does an EV charging app work?
The EV charging location finding app works in the following function:
The EV vehicle owner can register on the app by using their phone number, email address or social media account.
After the signing up process, they have to enable the geolocation, enter their area details and give the app access to find their location
Along with searching the stations, the app will also show other information such as cost of charging, images of the charging station, availability, etc.
The app will also have advanced slot booking facility so that the app user doesn’t have to wait for their turn
The app will also have multiple payment options through which the app user can pay at the charging station
Monetization techniques for the EV charging station finding app
There are several ways to monetize the app, the top being: ecommerce integration, advertisements and many more. Let us see the top ways to monetize the EV charging station finding app below.
Ecommerce integration
In a revenue model, it is important to deploy a technique that helps the users and does not confuse them. Thus, in this, ecommerce integration becomes vital as membership can help you earn profit.
Here, the user has to subscribe by paying a fee to use the facilities in the app. Thus, the business owner will make money every time a user subscribes to the app. Moreover, if, as a company, you intend to give memberships for free, there is also an option to charge the user for making a booking at the charging station.
Advertisements
One can include a plethora of advertisements in the EV charging location finding app such as sidebars, videos, pop-ups, etc. Many EV charging stations find apps that put up advertising displays instead of charging even a single penny from their users.
Key features in the EV charging station finding app
The features of the EV charging station location finding app will help it stand apart from its peers and make its own identity in the app market. We have curated a list of top-rated features that will allow the electric car charging station’s app to soar ahead at a rapid rate:
Book charging station
This feature will seamlessly allow the user to book a place and time at the charging station so that they don’t have to wait in line and get their work done quickly.
EV filter station search
It is a straightforward fact that the user of the EV charging app must have the liberty to filter out the charging stations as per their requirements. Below are some station filter categories that must be included in this feature:
Filter by charging networks
Filter by station category
Filter by facilities rendered by the charging station
On a long trip, the charging station finder app should be able to notify the user about the availability of the charging stations. The notifications should be based on the nearest charging station available and the battery level in the vehicle.
Payment facility
With this feature, the user would be able to pay digitally in advance from anywhere. In addition, the user would be able to track their expenses on charging on a regular basis easily.
Add the station
Through this feature, the user would be allowed to add the new EV charging station app that is not available. Thus, another user would also find it easier to find new charging stations without any hassle.
Share the residential charger
With these features, the user of the EV charging station finder app can lend a helping hand to other users and provide their personal residential charger either for free or paid.
Advanced features
Along with the above-mentioned essential features, as an IT business owner, you need to include something extra to make your app a leader in its genre.
Multiple payment options
Multiple payment options will give your EV charging location finding app an extra edge and lure more customers to the app. Through multiple payment options, the user can pay through credit/debit card, UPI, different popular wallets, etc.
GPS tracking
As the name suggests, GPS tracking will allow the users to find the nearby charging stations easily. It is the same as in-app navigation.
CRM integration
CRM integration will assist you as a business owner to manage healthy relations between existing and new customers and keep your app relevant in the long run.
Chatbot integration
Integrating chatbots will add extra support to your users as they don’t have to wait for any of the executives to get their work done. The AI-enabled chatbots will be capable enough to solve all the common queries of the users in real-time.
Technology stack for EV charging station finder app
To build a robust EV charging station finding app, it is essential to have state-of-the-art technology stack for every function. This is because in the app, modern technologies such as cloud services and Internet of Things (IoT) must be included. Also, along with a competent tech stack, a business company must hire dedicated developers for best results.
Below is the full overview of the required technology stack:
Notifications: Push.io, Twilio
To verify mobile number: Nexmo, Twilio
Server: NGINX, Tomcat, Apache
Database: MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, PostgreSQL
Payment methods: Braintree and PayPal, Stripe, UPI
Cloud services: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud
Framework: Flutter, Laravel, jQuery
Analytics: Hadoop, Spark, Flink, Kafka
Find user location: Google Maps, Core Location Framework, Google Places API
Steps to develop an EV charging station finding app
As a business organization, to develop an EV charging station finding app, you need a clear vision and a dedication to addressing people’s real problems. Although, the final result of the app will depend on the competency of the hired mobile app development company.
Let us see the key steps that are essential in developing a competent EC charging station finding app:
In-depth market research
Finalize the app features
Understand the mobile OS platforms
Hire competent outsourcing company
Testing the application thoroughly
Final Thoughts
For the betterment of the climate, it has become essential for humankind to ‘Go Green’. Fortunately, the campaigns to save Mother Nature worldwide are getting greater responses and more and more people are now switching to electric vehicles.
More use of electric vehicles would demand for more charging stations and so the applications that help trace them. The blog here provides a complete mobile app development guide to build customized apps for EV charging.
That said, Electric vehicles are on the rise and businesses must look to invest in the idea of developing an electric car charging station finding app as future market trends will be defined by it.
Pragnesh Modh
With a deep interest in new technologies, analyzing mobile application trends and impressive technical concoctions keep him inquisitive. In addition to managing the Operations and Delivery of projects at Prismetric, he likes to read and write a lot about the latest in technology. New app technologies, gadget fascinations, and big technology announcements kindle the writer in him spontaneously. His articles are his passion for innovative technologies.
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