With almost two million app downloads and over one million registered users, Zapmap is the UK’s go-to app for finding reliable charge points - and for more than 10 years, it’s been helping EV drivers charge with confidence.
Whether you’re new to electric vehicles or just want to get more out of every charge, this guide will show you how to make the most of Zapmap - helping you find the right charge point, check live availability, plan smarter routes, and pay for charging with ease.
1. Quickly find your nearest available charge point
With over 80,000 public charge points across the UK, the chances are good that you’ll have a wide range of options both in your local area and along your regular routes.
When you open the app you will see your location, alongside nearby charge points, giving you an instant overview of available chargers. You’ll notice the different colour markers - these denote the different power types available, and over 80% of charge points display a colour-coded icon to indicate live status - in use, out of order, or available - check out the ‘i’ infotab for details of each.
Tap on a charge point to open its placecard where you’ll find key information like pricing, connector types, review score, user feedback and more. These placecards help you quickly get a sense of which chargers best suit your needs, based on feedback from other drivers and detailed site info.
You can use the search function to find charge points in specific locations or areas. To narrow your results even further, you can switch on the availability toggle to hide all the charge points that do not share a live status.
You can also apply filters to customise your results - these can help you personalise your search if you have a preference for network, power or location type - so you can be confident that the charger you’re heading to is the right one for you and is ready to use.
2.Pay for EV charging
We’ve made it easy to find and pay for charging all within the Zapmap app, in fact, you can pay in seconds across over 30 charging networks.
Here’s how to set up for your first ever charge in 3 simple steps:
- Add a credit or debit card in the app settings, just scroll down to ‘Payments’ in the settings menu.
- Easily filter for compatible charge points by using the payment filter.
- To start the charging session, simply select the charge point you're using in the app and follow the in-app instructions, then plug the cable into your EV and you're charging!
You can check the progress at any time within the app and access VAT receipts in the charging history section of the settings menu.
Now, whenever you want to charge you can pay through the app, saving you the hassle of downloading multiple network apps.
3.Add your EV model
For the best and most personalised experience you should add your EV model to your Zapmap account.
Just open the account menu and go to ‘Your EV Models’. Press ‘Add your EV model’, select your brand and model, then press ‘Update’. Adding your EV Model to your Zapmap account allows you to filter charge points which are compatible with your electric vehicle and accurately plan routes using the Zapmap route planner.
More than one EV in your household? Add unlimited EV models with Zapmap Premium - which also includes the Zapmap in-car experience via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a 5% charging discount when you pay for charging within the Zapmap app.
4.Plan a route
Use Zapmap’s route planner to plot out your charging stops. Whether you’re going on a longer journey or just venturing out to a new area, Zapmap allows EV drivers to plan a route in their electric car based on journey parameters, EV model range and driver options.
Select ‘Routes’ to view your saved routes or to start a new route plan.
The planner has three different routing modes – Autoroute, Suggest chargers and Show all chargers. Set your starting point and destination and let Zapmap do the work. You can customise your route as much or as little as you like. Choose your preferred charging networks and payment methods, add stops, and avoid motorways or tolls. You can even set your starting charge level, your desired charge on arrival, or how much range you want left when you return.
5.Check in at a charge point
You may have noticed that, upon opening a charge point on Zapmap, a ‘Check-in’ button displays on the placecard. Checking in is useful to other Zapmap users because it allows them to see whether or not a charging device, or connector, is functioning properly - you can also add a comment or a photo, report the bay ICE’d, or edit the information about the charge point for review by Zapmap’s data team.
Want to see what comments have been left by other users? Just click on the placecard to view the charge point in detail, and select the ‘Chat’ tab to see up to date and unbiased info from our amazing userbase of over a million EV drivers.
That’s it - five simple ways Zapmap can help you find and pay for EV charging and help you get the most from every journey.
Don’t forget to activate your one-week free trial of Zapmap Premium to see how drivers like you are saving money on charging and getting access to premium filters (like the pricing filter) and enjoying the benefits of the in-car experience.
Plus, we have loads more guides you can explore, as well as market news and stats to keep you informed and empowered, ready for your next EV adventure.
