Got a surprise notification yesterday that the MINI app was updated to 2.9.2, and the biggest update for me, is that the MINI app can now locate fast chargers here in NZ, I don’t have to type in the exact location of a fast charger anymore, we are now at least at par with the rest of the world . Now, if only the MINI app can tell me which fast charger to use when it tells me that my destination is out of range; that will be awesome!
I haven't used the Mini app for this purpose. Will it tell you if a charger's broken? If not, it's worthless.
In my experience, there is no app that reliably tells you if a charging station is broken. With Plugshare's crowdsourcing, you have a better chance of knowing if a charging station is broken, but someone has to be the first to discover a broken charging station and that person (me) was very disappointed the crowdsourcing didn't warn him. Also, a broken charging station is likely to be repaired at some point, but some brave soul has to ignore the crowdsourcing and give it a try before others can discover its availability on an app. What needs to happen is for the charging stations to have the capability to self-test when queried by someone using a universal Plugshare-type app (or, at the very least, the app for that charging network). The next level of support would be to establish painted queue lines for cars waiting on an open charging station and a queue-cam the apps can access.
Lol I just checked my app, it doesn’t show any of the hundreds of charging stations within a 25 minute drive from me.
The MINI navigation seems pretty good at showing nearby chargers, but you have to go into the settings to enable that (and disable gas stations).
My point exactly. It renders the app pretty much worthless and you're better off using something like plugshare. Agreed, it's not perfect but it's currently better than the Mini app. A great idea! It would give you the current status of the charging station.
