Charging on a road trip, the first time

Before you leave

• Install the apps for the networks on your route and add a payment card to each while you are on wifi at home, not in a car park with one bar of signal. The stops on a plan name their network.
• Open each stop's page on ChargeAlong the night before. Look at how many plugs it has, what other drivers have said lately, and whether the price is what you expect.
• Know your car's plug and where the port is. Some cars charge at the front, some at a rear corner, and a cable that does not reach means reparking.
• Leave with a full battery. The first leg is the cheap one.

At the charger

Park so the cable reaches your port without stretching. Plug in first, then start the charge from the app, the screen or your card; most chargers want the cable in before they will start. The car and the charger talk for a few seconds, the connector locks, and the charger's screen or your car shows the power flowing. If nothing happens within about thirty seconds, unplug and try again, or try the other plug.

Once it is charging you can lock the car and go. The connector stays locked until the car is unlocked or the charge is stopped from the app. To leave, stop the charge in the app or on the screen, unlock the car, and unplug. Hang the cable back up.

Paying

There are four ways, and a site often takes more than one.

• The network's app. Still the most common. Start and stop the charge from your phone, see the power and the cost as it goes, and pay from a card saved in the app.
• An RFID card or fob from the network, tapped on the charger. Handy where phone signal is poor.
• A bank card, tapped on a reader on the charger. Newer fast chargers in most countries have one, and in the UK new rapid chargers are required to.
• Plug and charge, where the car identifies itself and the charger bills the account linked to it. Tesla Superchargers work this way for Teslas, and some other networks and cars support it.

Prices are per kilowatt hour, and some sites add an idle fee once you are full and still plugged in. The cost guide explains what a price means in practice.

How long to stay

Long enough to reach the next stop with your reserve, and not much longer. Charging is fast up to about 80% and slow after it, so the last 20% can take as long as the first 60. On a road trip, leave at 80% unless the next leg needs more. The planner's timeline says what to charge to at each stop.

A useful habit: set the charge limit in the car before you plug in, so it stops itself and you are not watching a phone over lunch.

When the charger does not work

• Try the other cable, then the other charger on the site. Faults are usually one unit, not the site.
• Restart the handshake: unplug, lock and unlock the car, plug back in. Cars and chargers occasionally fail to agree the first time.
• Call the number on the charger. Most networks can reset a unit remotely, and it takes a minute.
• If the site is down, the page for each stop on ChargeAlong lists the chargers nearby. Your reserve is what gets you to one; that is what it is for.
• Tell other drivers. A note on the site's page saves the next person the same stop.

Manners

• Move when you are done. A charged car in a charging bay is the thing drivers resent most.
• Do not park in a charging bay unless you are charging, even for a minute.
• At a busy fast charger, charge to what you need and go. Someone behind you may need it more than your last 15%.
• Hang up the cable, and leave the bay as you found it.
• Say hello. Charging stops are where you meet the people who will tell you which sites to trust.

Ready to try it? Put a drive into the trip planner and pick a first stop that is close to home.