EV charging station app development

The electric vehicle market is boosting up fast nowadays. Many entrepreneurs are looking for EV charging station app development to capture a vast user base.

Every brand ultimately wants users on its app platform. Learn how to develop your own EV charging station finder app in this blog.

What is an electric vehicle charging station finder app?

This app helps users locate nearby electric vehicle charging stations. Also, users can make advance slot bookings. Its features allow riders to find and locate nearby stations and pay fees for charging their electric vehicles.

What is the need for an EV charging stations locator app?

Why would anyone use charging stations if they can charge cars from their home?

This question has a simple answer. 

• Some e-vehicle owners don’t have enough space or don’t have the facility to charge their vehicle from home. 
• Despite charging their e-cars at home, cars can get discharged in the middle of the road. Hence, they will need charging support. Hence, using EV charging stations in such emergencies is useful.
• Ultimately, the rider doesn’t have to modify their trip to return home. 

How does an electric vehicle station finder app work? 

The EV locator mobile app functions in a few easy steps. Here’s a detailed description:

1. User registration/login: After downloading the app, users can register by entering details. Alternatively, registered users can log in to the app. New users need to verify their phone number or email address by OTP or clicking the verification link.

2. User location: The user can allow the app to access their site or enter location name(s) manually to find a nearby EV charging station.

3. Station details: App users can see station details such as an available number of charging slots, user reviews, station images, station operational hours, etc.

4. Slot booking: e-vehicle owners can find available charging slot(s) on stations and make a booking right away.

5. Payment options: The user can make payments in cash or use other payment options such as credit/debit card, Paypal, Crypto wallets, or other payment options.

6. Notification: Users can be notified about the latest updates via push notifications about the nearest charging stations, payment confirmation, latest offers, etc.

Let’s find out why to make investments in the e-car station finder app.

Why invest in an EV charging station app?

With crossing over 2.9k billion USD, the EV market will take its annual growth at the rate of 33.6%. 

Your apps can act as a gateway to help users explore nearby charging stations. Also, it is a perfect opportunity to bring these EV users to your platform and make profits.

Before developing such apps, it makes sense to research and find their profit potential. Many reasons exist for such adoption, such as:

1.  e-vehicle rides are more economical and pollution-free, in comparison to petrol and diesel vehicles. Hence, it further increases the demand for charging stations.
2. EV charging apps are simple and easy to use
3. Using an app is a better option than the available online sources. They are trustworthy, mindful of your security and are put together by a very knowledgeable group of people. 
4. Since most of the cost is related to electricity consumption, by showing the price info upfront can help customers budget better. Investors can set different prices based on price band, day or time.
5. Building a mobile app gives you a wide range of advantages, like increased exposure and improved customer retention.

So, you can imagine all the possibilities of making a bank on this business idea!

In the next section, you’ll find different ways to make money with your electric vehicle charging stations app.

The business model of an EV charging station app

These app offers many ways to make money. Look at the two most popular methods many app owners use to monetize and make money from your app.

Let’s discuss them in detail:

1. Premium app model

In this business model, you can charge your app users to subscribe to your service. It is best when you don’t want to annoy your customers with advertisements on your platforms. Also, this ad-free app model will make your app UI clean and navigation friendly.

You can also go for a one-time app purchase model. In this model, you need to decide the app price, and the user will need to purchase your app.

2. Freemium app model

You can also use this method to bring a massive audience to your platform. Much used in the app market as many users choose to have free app download instead of paying. Go with this blog to find more about many ways to monetize and make money from your free-to-use app.

You can monetize your app in many ways with this model. The most popular one is putting ads on your app. Or, you can offer a 30-day free trial.

After looking at both business app models, you can go for any revenue model to find out which one will suit you better for your EV station finder app business. Also, there are many ways to monetize your app and make money from your company. 

7 Key features of an EV charging station app

After understanding how the app makes money, you can integrate these necessary features into your charging station finder app.

Let’s understand in detail.

1. Filters

The advanced filter options can help users search for more focused results by eliminating unnecessary factors. App users can search for stations based on their preferences, such as available payment options, stations with fast charging options, etc.

2. Station details

Users can see station details such as the operational hours, facilities they provide, setting equipment, available quantity, etc. It’s great for users to get a quick idea about charging stations to decide to locate at that place or not.

3. Charging slot booking

Booking a charging slot in advance can help users to save time waiting for their turn. Users will love this feature as it saves time and makes an easier journey.

4. SOS button

Users can use the SOS button in an emergency, such as discharge of batteries, bursting of tires, etc.

You can use this button within the app to send an email and SMS immediately. Once you send the message, the station app will share your GPS coordinates in Google Maps with all your emergency contacts.

5. Sharing home charger

If users want, they can offer their chargers with the community. The users can share their domestic charging location with other e-car riders to help them for charging their EVs. 

6. AI-powered chatbot

An AI-powered chatbot can be integrated in the help & support section of your mobile app. These chatbots in your app will save efforts to answer every user’s doubts and questions. Also, you can transfer users’ some non-answerable questions to your staff, or you can answer them by yourself.

7. EV journey planner

In this feature, users can decide activities between their start to end journey destination, such as slot booking, scheduling time for EVs charging, etc. 

Let’s find out app development costs for the station finder app.

How much does it cost to develop an EV charging station finder app?

The cost depends on many factors, such as choosing the app’s publishing platform features, like Google Play or Apple’s app store. Along with app development, you may need to invest in advertising, branding, and other marketing factors to promote your app.

Other factors on which mobile app development cost depends are:

1. Tech stack used
2. The complexity of app functionalities
3. API integrations
4. Type of users and mobile devices
5. The time frame for development and revisions
6. Number of platforms to be implemented 

App development life cycle of an e-vehicle charging station app like PlugShare

Let’s break down the app development process into four stages to understand better what happens at each location. Each step duration will depend on technical feasibility, kind of features, etc. Let’s discuss them all in detail.

Stage 1: Idea Gathering

Idea gathering is the first step of app development. In this stage, we decide on the app’s purpose and how the user will use it. Also, we decide which features to include and exclude in the app.

Stage 2: Deciding on an app type and platform

We choose a platform for publishing in this step. You can do this by looking at your competitors’ apps and seeing which ones perform better in downloads and user engagement.

Stage 3: Monetization Model

You can look out for many options to monetize your app. Many monetization options are available, such as in-app purchases, paid apps, displaying ads on free apps, etc. You can try all these options to decide which options will be better to make money from your app. Also, you can use the app’s competitor to select a monetization option for your app.

Stage 4: Design Phase

This phase includes selecting a design for your app. You can discuss your app design with the app developer and designer. It is essential to have a simple UI and catchy design to perform well against your app’s competitors.  

Stage 5: Development Phase

It is the programming phase for your app development. In this phase, develop write codes to integrate finalized features into the app such as slot booking, AI-chat support, integrating SOS button, etc. 

Also, this stage involves app testing where the developer or app tester uses the app’s all features to find any bugs and defects. After finishing everything in the development phase, the app is ready for publishing. 

Stage 6: Testing and deployment

Quality testers will test the mobile app against bugs and defects. These will be fixed before app launch to ensure the smooth functioning of the app. With a green signal, the app will be published on Google Play Store or Apple App Store for users to download.

Essential Technology Stack For EV Charging Station App

Choosing the right technology stack for mobile apps is necessary to create efficient projects. Follow these modern technologies to develop charging station finder apps for electric vehicles.

Front end	React JS, VueJS, HTML, CSS
Push Notifications	Push, Twilio, Firebase, Cloud Messaging
Back-end	Node.js, Python, Golang, Laravel
Server	NGINX, Apache
Cloud Services	AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
Database	MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis
Analytics	BigData, Hadoop, Spark, Apache Flink
Mobile Platform	Swift, Kotlin, Java for Native, Flutter, React Native for cross-platform
Find Location	Google Places API, Google Maps, Core Location Framework

Final words

It would be better to conclude that new inventions bring new opportunities with electric vehicles. 

App development in these EVs business is profitable as more people move towards electric vehicles and adopt them quickly. Contact Idea Usher if you want to develop apps as they are experts and well experienced in the app development business. 

Don’t miss out, and contact Idea Usher now!

Frequently asked questions

It’s common to have questions and doubts when starting an EV charging station app development. This section has some common FAQ that helps you to know this electric station app development opportunity much better.

Comment below if you have any doubts, use the chat feature located at the right bottom, or even better, contact Idea Usher to help us understand your situation better.

1. How to bring both EV charging station owners and app users on my platform?

It is a common challenge for all new startups which can be resolved by the chicken and egg problem techniques. You can apply this blog’s all tricks to your business to scale it quickly. 

2. How to promote an app after publishing?

After developing your app, you can try promoting it on social media. Alternatively, you can contact a digital marketing business that will help you promote your app campaigns. 

Also, along with app development, Idea Usher can help you with app promotion with their successful digital marketing strategies.  

3. How to solve technical issues after app publishing?

It’s common to have a technical issue after making some changes in-app, or sometimes it happens unexpectedly. If you face some technical problems in your app, then you can contact the Idea Usher team to get a final fix for your app’s technical issues.

4. How big is an electric vehicle market?

UtilityDive report says that EV’s global market rises to 80% with a sell of overall 5.6 million units, which is 83% higher than 2020. 

You can expect this sales rate will go higher in upcoming years due to the significant demand for electric vehicles.