Choosing the right public charging app can save you more than £8 on a single long trip. Our public charging app comparison puts Octopus Electroverse and Zapmap through the same 404-mile test, from Leeds to Cornwall. We priced 12 rapid chargers on the same day in October 2026.
Both apps are free to download. However, they earn money in very different ways, and that changes what you pay at the plug. Furthermore, one of them hides extra session fees until the final payment screen.
How we ran this public charging app comparison
We drove a 77 kWh family SUV and averaged 3.2 miles per kWh. Wet motorway conditions and a steady 70 mph kept that figure realistic.
We left Leeds with 55% battery, which covered 119 miles. The remaining 285 miles needed 84 kWh of public electricity, drawn across six charging stops.
Crucially, we logged the quoted price at all 12 rapid chargers we passed. Therefore, the comparison covers far more sites than we actually paid for.
The Leeds to Cornwall route in numbers
Our route followed the M1, M42, M5 and A30. It mixed motorway service areas with town centre hubs, which is how most drivers actually charge. Here is what each app quoted on the day, per kWh (Electroverse first, Zapmap second):
- Gridserve, Wetherby services — 72p vs 79p
- Osprey, Woodall services — 74p vs 74p
- InstaVolt, Nottingham — 79p vs 79p
- MFG EV Power, Leicester — 79p vs 79p
- bp pulse, Northampton — 75p vs 79p, plus a £1.20 session fee
- Ionity, Warwick — 69p vs 79p
- Shell Recharge, Strensham — 79p vs 85p, plus a £1.00 session fee
- Fastned, Gloucester — 76p vs 74p
- GeniePoint, Bristol — 79p vs 89p, plus a £1.00 session fee
- Osprey, Taunton — 74p vs 74p
- Gridserve, Exeter — 72p vs 79p
- Tesla Supercharger, Bodmin (open to all brands) — 62p vs 78p
These figures exclude the extra 2p to 5p per kWh discount that Octopus Energy supply customers receive at selected networks.
Per-kWh pricing: where Electroverse pulls ahead
Electroverse quoted a lower price at seven of the 12 sites. Zapmap matched it at four. Only Fastned in Gloucester was cheaper through Zapmap.
The biggest gaps appeared at Ionity and at Tesla Superchargers open to all brands. Electroverse showed 69p and 62p per kWh. Zapmap showed 79p and 78p.
Gridserve also split the two apps. Electroverse listed 72p per kWh, while Zapmap showed the 79p contactless rate. These differences look small on a screen. Over a full year, they are not.
The networks that quietly add a session fee
Three networks in our test added a fee on top of the per-kWh price. bp pulse charged £1.20 per session. Shell Recharge and GeniePoint each added £1.00.
These fees never appear in the Zapmap pin price. They surface only on the final payment screen. Consequently, our Zapmap total rose by £3.20 before a single extra kWh was added.
Electroverse showed the all-in cost before we tapped the card. That transparency matters most on short top-ups, where the fee is spread across very little energy.
A £1.00 session fee on a 10 kWh top-up adds 10p per kWh. That is more than the price gap between most networks on our route.
Zapmap still wins on route planning and filtering
Zapmap remains the better map, and it is not close. Its filters cover connector type, power, network, live availability and user ratings.
You can also filter for sites open to every driver, which quickly removes Tesla-only stalls. Meanwhile, Electroverse filters are limited to network, power and connector type.
Live data was more reliable on Zapmap. Three sites showed as available in Electroverse that were actually busy on arrival. Zapmap reviews also flagged a dead connector near Taunton, and that warning saved us a 20-minute detour.
Offline reliability when the signal drops
Cornwall has genuine mobile blackspots, so offline behaviour matters. We tested both apps with aeroplane mode switched on.
Electroverse stored our charging history, and the free RFID card worked without any signal at all. That got us moving at a remote site near Bodmin.
Zapmap’s free version needs a connection to load the map. Offline map downloads sit inside the £3.99 per month Premium tier. However, £3.99 is still cheaper than a failed charging session at 79p per kWh.
Roaming fees and payment friction
Roaming fees are the quiet tax of public charging. Several networks add 3p to 5p per kWh when you pay through a third-party app instead of their own.
Electroverse absorbed most of these on our route. Octopus Energy customers also receive a further 2p to 5p off selected networks, which widens the gap.
Zapmap Pay covers around 20 networks. Everywhere else, you scan a QR code or tap a bank card, which usually means the full contactless rate.
As a result, Zapmap users pay a premium at any site outside the Zapmap Pay list. Check the payment options before you plug in, not after.
Total cost for the 404-mile trip
Here is the bottom line for 84 kWh of public electricity:
- Octopus Electroverse: average 74.7p per kWh, total £62.72
- Zapmap: average 84.6p per kWh, total £71.10
- Difference: £8.38, or roughly 12%
Over 1,000 miles of public rapid