The Maps app on your phone already knows a lot about charging. Most drivers never switch it on. Here are 9 features, and #8 tells you if a stall will be free.
Tap your profile, then Settings > Your vehicles. Choose Electric, tap Add vehicle and pick make, model, year and trim. Every feature below builds on this.
Maps fills in plugs from your model under Your plugs. Tap Edit if you carry an adapter: options include J1772, CCS (Combo 1), CHAdeMO and Tesla.
Search for EV charging, then under EV plugs tap Your plugs instead of Any plugs. Stations your car can't use drop off the map.
On a road trip, tap the Fast charge filter. It keeps stations with chargers rated 50kW or higher, so you skip slow Level 2 posts.
Tap a station to see connectors, max speed and, for networks like Electrify America, live port status. Tesla Superchargers show stall counts, not live status.
With your EV saved, trip overviews on the phone show estimated battery use. It won't adjust to real-time driving, so leave yourself a buffer.
Since March, Maps on Android Auto supports 350+ EV models: enter your charge level and it suggests stops, arrival battery and an ETA that includes charging.
On Android Auto and cars with Google built-in, Maps uses AI and past usage to predict how many chargers will be free when you arrive, so you dodge queues.
Staying overnight? Google's hotel search at google.com/travel has an EV charging filter, so you wake up to a full battery instead of hunting for a plug.
Save your EV, filter plugs and speed, then let Android Auto plan stops. Maps has more AI tricks beyond charging, too.