4 Android Auto Apps Every EV Owner Needs To Install

Android Auto has been available for quite some time now, and as the ecosystem has developed, different kinds of vehicle owners have found it to be a beneficial part of their driving experience. There are any number of essential Android Auto apps that can be installed independently, but right out of the box drivers can access popular foundational apps like Google Maps. There are even a number of ways to use Google Gemini with Android Auto for those who are interested in AI integrations.

And while all sorts of third-party apps are available for owners of traditional gas-powered vehicles, the Android Auto ecosystem also features some helpful options for electric vehicle owners. With the right apps, planning long trips and tracking down available charging stations can be done through the Android Auto platform, as can finding charging stations with amenities and things to do while you wait for your vehicle to charge.

Here we’ve done the heavy lifting and tracked down what we feel are some Android Auto apps every EV owner should have on their infotainment system. Whether you regularly take your EV on long drives or use it in a more limited capacity, each of these Android Auto apps is a worthwhile consideration for your vehicle.

A Better Routeplanner, which is more commonly referred to as ABRP, is a navigation app designed specifically for EV owners. It may be particularly enticing to use with your family electric car, as the app makes it easy to plan road trips and other getaways. Once a starting point and destination are entered into ABRP, the app will provide a trip plan that includes charging stops, estimated charging times while at each stop, projected battery levels throughout the drive, and a lot more. ABRP even has a database of more than 1,000 EVs built-in, meaning it can provide precise estimates based on the specific vehicle you own.

While there’s a free version of ABRP that includes features like route planning with pinpointed charging stations and in-app navigation, Android Auto support is locked behind a premium subscription that costs $5 a month. Going premium also offers features like live charger availability in plans, weather forecasts, and a logged history of your driving and charging stops. But with more than one million downloads and an overall rating of 4.5 stars in the Google Play Store, ABRP is a worthwhile app for taking on routes you’re not used to and for planning adventures along roads you haven’t yet traversed in an electric vehicle.

While ABRP is designed around detailed EV trip planning, Waze is a navigation app that can help EV owners get from one place to another with a clean UI. It offers broader navigation tools such as real-time traffic data, arrival time estimates, and turn-by-turn directions. Similarly to ABRP, Waze can be set up to show charging stations along a route, even if that route is much shorter than a weekend getaway. With the ability to reroute during heavy traffic times, Waze is meant to be an all-purpose navigation app, and in many ways Waze is better than Google Maps. It also has a crowdsourcing element, as it allows you to share car accidents and road hazards with other Waze users.

The broad-stroke nature of Waze is what can make it beneficial to EV owners in a general sense, but it’s also something that could be seen as a drawback. Its ability to point out nearby charging stations can help EV owners when the time to plug in is nearing, but unlike ABRP, it isn’t as detailed and works best when paired with your own foresight. Waze is a solid navigation option for driving an EV in cities or along routes in which you’re already familiar with the distance between charging points. It’s a regular recommendation for those looking for a Google Maps replacement, and it has more than half a billion downloads from the Google Play Store.

While navigation-focused apps are capable of showing EV drivers the way to the next charging station, PlugShare offers EV owners a much more detailed overview of those charging stations. It covers charging stations from major networks and allows drivers to search for locations compatible with their specific EV. On Android Auto, users can not only locate charging stations by specific charging networks, but also by features and services. PlugShare searches can be filtered by connection type, charging speed, and even nearby amenities, such as restaurants and restrooms. PlugShare doesn’t have built-in navigation, but it is capable of sending the location of a charging station right to a user’s navigation app of choice.

The app has reached more than one million downloads in the Google Play Store and has an overall rating of 4.6 stars. PlugShare’s community features are some of the things that set it apart from other Android Auto apps. Through PlugShare, EV drivers are able to leave reviews of charging stations, as well as connect directly with other EV owners. While PlugShare claims to have “the most accurate and complete public charging map worldwide,” it also has a crowdsourcing element to it, as users can submit charging stations they find that aren’t on the PlugShare map. They can also submit photos of any charging station to help other EV drivers determine whether each location is the right stopping point for them.

Electrify America is one of the larger charging networks out there, and the Electrify America app is one of the most useful Android Auto apps for drivers who regularly access public fast charging. It makes Electrify America charging stations discoverable right on a vehicle’s main display. There you’ll find details about each charging station, and directions can be provided without having to switch to a dedicated navigation app. EV drivers can also save their favorite stations for future stops. Once charging, the Electrify America app offers controls for the charging station, and it can even send notifications to your smartphone throughout the charging process.

Of course, the app is limited to charging stations within the Electrify America charging network. Long-time EV owners may have already fallen into a different preferred charging network, in which case you may want to consider an app like the aforementioned PlugShare. But many charging networks have their own dedicated app just like Electrify America. If you prefer to keep your Android Auto interface simple and clean, it’s worth doing a little research to determine if there’s a single charging network app that’s right for both your specific electric vehicle and your EV driving needs. If Electrify America ends up being that app, perks come with a paid membership for $7 a month, including significantly reduced charging costs.

There are quite a few Android Auto apps worth installing, but here we looked at such apps under the microscope of EV ownership. The EV app ecosystem is still building itself out, and it can be difficult to track down Android Auto apps that can be truly beneficial to owners of electric vehicles. Because of this, our main goal was exactly that: to find apps that can benefit EV owners across the board.

We relied on our own knowledge of EVs and of the apps available within the Google Play Store as a starting point, whittling things down to apps that interact well with the Android Auto platform. We know that finding charging spots and route planning are some of the biggest concerns of EV owners. Each app we’ve chosen alleviates these common concerns, whether it’s finding something to do while you wait for your vehicle to charge or figuring out how to drive long, unfamiliar distances without ending up on the side of the road with a dead battery.