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We're building Porta, charge with any network from one app, seeking feedback!

SuperfastBananaSlug | 2024-11-03 19:31 | 239 views

Comments (83)
SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-03 19:33

Hi there! I’ve been driving a Model 3 since 2019, love the car and the supercharger network but I despised using any other networks (which I had to do since we had various L2 chargers at our office I would use), their apps felt so clunky and having to maintain a balance across multiple accounts was super frustrating. In the US, there’s over 33 charging networks in total.  My friend Alper and I have been building an alternative, all of the data on chargers, including pricing, comes from the networks themself… and you can initiate a charging session with any of them. We support 7 of the largest charging networks but we’re actively adding more, and you can use Apple Pay or credit card, with no balance requirement! iOS App: [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/porta-charge/id6449201933](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/porta-charge/id6449201933) One of my favorite things is the pricing view, the pricing varies wildly between chargers across networks and this also helps me find the cheapest place to charge.  In terms of costs, the app is completely free to use to find chargers, but we take a small service fee on top of a charging session initiated through the app, this covers our Stripe fee and server bills, you can also just initiate a charging session directly with the network to bypass that if you’d like, in case you already have an account with them.  The app is built with Swift / UIKit, we’re starting to work on an Android-native app, we love native built apps… We also have a web app which has all of the same chargers in our app, we’re about to add web payments so you’ll be able to initiate a charging session from the website itself on mobile: [https://portacharging.com](https://portacharging.com) Please let us know what you think, any feedback is super appreciated! Thanks, Eliot & Alper

[deleted] 2024-11-03 20:00

Please update when the Android app is available. I only have a work iPhone and don't want to use Apple to create an account.

fjwi9 2024-11-03 20:02

Looks great! Also, very intuitive to use. Are ChargePoint stations missing though? Some in San Francisco don’t seem to show up.

speel 2024-11-03 20:03

Your pricing seems to be off at my nearest super charger. Otherwise I love the look of the app. Much cleaner and easier to read vs your competitors.

[deleted] 2024-11-03 20:06

How can I report missing chargers? There's a ChargePoint unit in West Boylston, MA that isn't showing up on the map. If the data is coming from ChargePoint why would that be?

comoestasmiyamo 2024-11-03 20:11

Doesn't Plugshare already do this?

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-03 20:13

Oh shoot! Would you mind sharing which supercharger that is? Will fix! And thank you for the compliment, appreciate it :D

mistsoalar 2024-11-03 20:13

I hope your best, but honestly, I don't even want any charging app on my phone and my OEM apps (Tesla, GM, Ford, etc.) takes care of every charging including 3rd party stations.

Ahoy12 2024-11-03 20:14

Great app! Thanks for sharing Really love the UI and ease of use

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-03 20:17

Completely understandable, I appreciate the feedback! I'm not familiar with the other OEM apps, I'll take a deeper look and see if we can add more differentiation 😬

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-03 20:19

Thank you! Yes we are missing some ChargePoint's, I just checked our database and we have 80k of them but they have even more than that, digging into it 🔎

[deleted] 2024-11-03 20:21

[deleted]

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-03 20:21

Hi there! We have a "Contact Porta Support" button on the bottom of any charger detail which we support a charge session with, like any ChargePoint, and that will pre-fill a message to our support line.. Adding this to the list however!

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-03 20:22

Hi there, there's a "Pay with Plugshare" feature but I believe it only works with EVgo and one other network? It's been a minute since I've checked

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-03 20:22

Hi there, thank you! Ah, that's a great point, I did not think of that... Will fix this momentarily!

ConsiderationSea56 2024-11-03 20:23

So like Bluedot without the benefits?

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-03 20:24

I'm not too familiar with BlueDot, I tried to sign up for it but it wanted my social security number which is a big no no...

tesrella 2024-11-03 20:26

You stole my app idea ![gif](giphy|KOobSqJrq9lA2ypra6|downsized)

Yirgacheffe13 2024-11-03 20:28

Amazing app. Just downloaded and love it. Hopefully it’s the app to replace all apps

Befreeman 2024-11-03 20:28

How do you plan to make money ?

tesrella 2024-11-03 20:29

How’d you get the Supercharger stall availability data? Isn’t Tesla actively discouraging and blocking 3rd party access to that API?

Classic_Delivery4026 2024-11-03 20:37

We have something very similar here in Québec, Canada with the “Electric Circuit” app. You should check it out. Maybe it would give you some ideas to make your app even better than ours. One of the main complaints I have is the fact that although the location of the chargers is usually very precise, there a no pictures of where the chargers are! Having this on an app would be awesome, if that’s not already the case

ZetaPower 2024-11-03 20:47

Yes please. Europe…

29erforthewin 2024-11-03 20:52

Insert xkcd [standards proliferation comic](https://xkcd.com/927/)

HeyBeers 2024-11-03 21:06

I’m see potential, but competing with the data plugshare has may be difficult. I just reported a missing charger in my area.

anon__a__mouse__ 2024-11-03 21:07

Having looked at it yet but if you guys can nail this, it will be unbelievable. I rented a Tesla for a road trip to test out a new Highland a few months back and the absolute insanity of having to download 6 different apps for Chargepoint, shell, evgo etc and then work out the rules for each charger, pricing etc made me give up and just stick with Tesla superchargers. Will be following this closely. Edit: took a quick look, can you implement charger reviews? That’s definitely big feature from other apps that is very handy to find out about chargers issues, tips, hidden locations

farmyohoho 2024-11-03 21:10

Bring this to europe. I'm sick of having 7 apps to charge

F32ForgeCarbon 2024-11-03 21:25

Have an option to sort by pricing would be cool.

Special_Command7893 2024-11-03 21:28

you are doing what should have been done from the beginning. and for that, I commend you. seriously, thank you. so much. thank you

priamXus 2024-11-03 21:31

Any plans to include Electric Circuit from Canada?

voodoo_mama_juju1123 2024-11-03 22:04

Just downloaded excited to try it out!

hevakmai 2024-11-03 22:11

Why do I need to log in at all to try this? Whats the point of having an account? This isn’t explained by the app.

x5nT2H 2024-11-03 22:20

Was also thinking about this. I think this app https://apps.apple.com/app/id1521424253 might have had the same idea?

Stephancevallos905 2024-11-03 23:02

Android when?

S3kelman 2024-11-03 23:14

check electroverse, free account free card with free shipping, and almost all chargers

kingralph7 2024-11-03 23:15

The ONLY thing anyone cares about is whether you can beat on pricing.

Zazzeria 2024-11-03 23:15

Just downloaded it, love the interface! I noticed that the pricing for superchargers shows the non-tesla pricing, it would be nice to have a toggle to switch between tesla vehicle pricing and non-tesla pricing

Glaciersmeltingfast 2024-11-03 23:18

Second this don't leave us hangin

thotpatrol101 2024-11-03 23:37

Looks really nice. I think you need to include some kind of feature for parking garages entry/hourly fees as well

dtpearson 2024-11-03 23:46

I disagree, I have no problem with them making a few percent profit off me if I could legitimately walk up to ANY charger anywhere, plug in and it would just immediately work, no matter the network. I wasted SO MUCH TIME on holidays in Germany this year with a rental Merc EQS with all of these random network chargers that needed crappy apps downloaded, buggy webpages, unreadable QR codes, etc all needed ALL of my contact details, ALL my credit card details, almost all were VERY open to fraud. It was just so painful compared to my Tesla at home using superchargers.

sawariz0r 2024-11-04 00:14

This is about to change I think. But yeah, it’s one of the reasons Teslas are so popular here..

olifuck 2024-11-04 00:27

Does it work in Canada? (Quebec ?) if yes you should look for Circuit électrique & Flo those are our largest network (more than Tesla) Those app allow for roaming on other networks but they charge something like 1,50$ fee, if your fee can be the same or lower you could be really competitive!

carsonthecarsinogen 2024-11-04 01:56

Even if it did, why not try and make a better version

B0lill0s 2024-11-04 02:41

Lmao *literally* my first thought

mechmess 2024-11-04 04:20

Please add the ability to filter out superchargers that aren’t Magic Dock - I sometimes am taking our family’s non tesla Ev and it doesn’t have supercharger access except for Magic Dock locations.

mechmess 2024-11-04 04:20

Otherwise great app

shadowthunder 2024-11-04 04:46

> and my OEM apps (Tesla, GM, Ford, etc.) takes care of every charging including 3rd party stations Err, are you saying that you can use the Tesla app to initiate a charging session at a Chargepoint station?

farmyohoho 2024-11-04 05:00

Ow shit! That's what I need! 1000x thanks!

mistsoalar 2024-11-04 05:13

Yes

TiramisuAlreadyTaken 2024-11-04 05:51

All of you who are making this type of app must come together. Because there are some serious money to be made, and therefore big name players are in the game. https://xkcd.com/927/ I have to throw this XKCD in here. Watch out for competition https://monta.com/en/monta-charge/

shadowthunder 2024-11-04 06:18

How do I set that up? I can't find mention of it anywhere online.

mistsoalar 2024-11-04 06:32

Sorry, that's yes as my wish. There's no way to use tesla app to activate non tesla chargers

numsu 2024-11-04 07:33

Do you charge more than the "native" apps to make money out of convenience of not switching apps?

zarborak 2024-11-04 08:35

Can you change the regions in the AppStore so that people with non-U.S. region phones can install the app? Last time we were in the U.S. we couldn’t charge our car because we couldn’t install any of the charging network apps on our phone.

mahfysh 2024-11-04 09:18

Can you please make it available in all regions, so it's not limited to US appstore?

kingralph7 2024-11-04 09:19

When electricity costs 30c/kwh, and an app is charging 79, 89 cents, nah (EnBw+ Mobility, etc. etc.). And another app charges 55c, then take the 55c app. EVDC is their competitor as a universal app. They have to beat their pricing or they will get no users.

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-04 14:33

In the EU, we found that all of the roaming / oem apps are all using a middleman called “Hubject” which adds a 10% markup, and then the roaming or oem app adds around 8% usually, so an 18% premium so we are definitely interested in expanding, but beware of this!!

BiffBanter 2024-11-04 16:27

Feedback 1: Bad name. 99.5% think of Porta-Potty when they see your name.

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-04 17:45

Hi there, completely hear ya... In the EU, the pricing for roaming is super expensive because there's multiple middlemen (Hubject is the biggest, they charge a 10% markup just for negotiating an OCPP contract, no other benefits) so we want to expand and keep the service fee as small as possible, 5% or less... or even 0 in some cases, we have a lot more work to do but the current state of roaming in the EU is quite bad in my opinion, common but extremely expensive

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-04 17:47

It depends, for some charging networks yes, but this will change as we are partnering with some networks and can offer the same pricing as they would as we have negotiated a lower rate..

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-04 17:48

Hi there, absolutely, we're working on localizing the app for more regions so it'll be available in the EU and AU soon!

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-04 17:50

Hi there, thank you for letting us know! That's definitely not what we want when users see the name of our app... Will ponder this

shadowthunder 2024-11-04 19:59

Ah, I see. If we're wishing, I want all third-party stations to work like Tesla's do, where all payment and notification communication is done over the charging cable, and I never even need to launch an app.

mistsoalar 2024-11-04 22:24

Yeah. plug-and-charge (ISO15118) is happening bit by bit. You still need to create account, register your car, and prepay $X to your account. Inter-network payment is also happening, but that's still like a matrix to solve. If Tesla(or any OEM) app is the only one to keep my credit card info, and 3rd party networks can charge to my Tesla account at plug&charge, EV charging will be so much better.

EfficiencyNerd 2024-11-06 20:29

Even without the ability to pay, a cost comparison app is sorely needed... basically GasBuddy for EVs. I recently got a CCS adapter for my Tesla and it is a pain to explore pricing as PlugShare often doesn't have it or is inaccurate... but pricing varies by 2-3x depending on the network and location around here, so it is worth checking stations. Please add more Canadian networks and bring to Android.

jonas_man 2024-11-06 20:47

Not with electroverse. They actually loose money. Send pm if you want a ref with 5€

JudgePurple4132 2024-11-07 08:16

How this different to EVDC? Their app is pretty good and you can invest as it’s a crypto

853246261911 2024-11-08 01:01

IOS 15 support?

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-08 03:08

I'm sorry, we're using some libraries which are only available in iOS 16 :/

flodschi22 2024-11-08 12:39

Would be interested in europe as well😳😍👍🏼

vgyliu 2024-11-09 01:29

It won’t be like electrify America where it auto reloads right?

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-09 08:57

Nope, no auto-reloading / account balance! :)

martial-nerd 2024-11-10 01:23

Great app. Maybe letting users add photos for the charging station would be a plus, like Google Map photos. How the environment feels would be an important factor to consider whether to go there to charge

sandin0 2024-11-10 01:34

How do you prevent from having a balance or auto reload? Genuinely curious because a lot of vendors seem to require this, I have a bunch that min is 10$ and I have money spread out on a few 😂

sandin0 2024-11-10 01:36

Ha! I thought the same. OP what does it stand for?

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-11 00:40

Hi there! Thank you so much for checking out the app and feedback, we'll start to work on this soon! We were hesitant at first since we wouldn't have any photos to start with but we could pull it photos from the google business API (which I think you were recommending) or street view if it's viewable from there etc, some work to do here but completely agree with you :D

martial-nerd 2024-11-11 05:22

Wish your business a success

Flashy-Bandicoot889 2024-11-16 17:32

Nice work on the app. Impressive!

Flashy-Bandicoot889 2024-11-16 17:52

Are the prices displayed your app's inflated/higher prices for if we charge through your app? How do we see actual cost if we go direct?

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-16 20:49

Yes, we show the price that you would pay for our app if "start charge" is listed, otherwise it shows the price from the actual network directly.. We could add a toggle, but we're working on partnering with the networks and soon the price you pay with us will be the same you'd pay with the charge network, so no premium price difference, so I think we'll keep it as is for now! :)

SuperfastBananaSlug 2024-11-16 21:08

Thank you for checking it out, much appreciated! Responded to your other comment, but if you see anything else you think we should add / fix please let me know! :)

Flashy-Bandicoot889 2024-11-16 23:38

This is great. Totally can support paying a premium to eliminate needing 5+ apps all with credit card info stored, etc. meaning, will pay for this type of usefulness. Other questions I had was around privacy and security of financial info. Any selling/bundling of data, and what are you doing to secure all your customers financial data- credit cards, transactions etc. Keep up the great work 👊

xQcKx 2024-12-03 19:56

Sorry I actually peeled off some of your porta stickers from an EA station before I knew it was legit. The stickers were poorly placed and printed like a scam. There are scams out there with fake qr codes. Do you have permission to put stickers on the stations?

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