Electric Highway

Poorly tested. Doesn't shut down but remains active until force-stopped. This problem has existed since the first version.

This is a review of the app, as all reviews here should be. Personally I am happy with and approve of the new charging model but the app is dreadfully unreliable at best. An ap that is the only way of charging one's EV outside office hours needs to be absolutely Rock Solid. Please, guys, fire your CIO and get someone in from a banking or similar background they understands reliability first.

Still has the same problem as the last version, if you switch away from the app to do something else such that it gets kicked out of memory then whenever you try to come back to it, it will crash. Sad to see that after nearly a year they still haven't addressed that.

Downloaded to try with new PHEV. App worked OK initially on set up but then crashed. I only found out charging was complete when invoice arrived by email. On separate point cost model does suck. Connection fee and /kWh costs far too high

I still do not understand why we need to register to this and that to charge a car.... As if I had to do this for petrol. Still unfinished, today I charged 26minutes for 0.4kwh... Fortunately it is not true :-/

Great app and service . £6 for 80 miles in my opinion is value for money. The app sometimes freezes but the car charges and once you restart another session it resets itself and invoices are emailed straight away. Cannot believe all the moaners wanting everything for free. I have never had any issues at any pumps and without ecotricitys network we would be confined and unable to venture out in our evs. Keep up the good work.

The app wouldn't start the rapid charger. Had to carefully and nervously drive to a regular post off the motorway. The fee is one thing, but the app not working has made using our EV for longer journeys so unpleasant I prefer to rent an ICE now. It doesn't cost much more than a few rapid charges, and is much more convenient.

Most reviews relate to pricing structure. So far I've not had any problems getting charges underway. It is a bit silly that you need Internet access to get the charge going though... surely a contactless payment option would make sense as a back up

Good network, terrible app! I don't mind paying for a rapid charge but this app is terrible. Slow, crashes all the time on brand new nexus 5x. Also forgets login. This app is essential to enable critical infrastructure. Also please make is possible to use a rapid for a 10min top up without having to pay for a full 30min if not needed. This would help free up charge points at busy times.

The app is lousy, beta tested on forced rollout. Machines often crash at locations, much worse since switch to app that replaced the cards. Company enjoys a near monopoly on rapid chargers. Disgrace. First reviewed July 2016. UPDATED 03/12/16. Now no weekend support! Posts very unreliable. AVOID if possible. UPDATED.15/12/16. Now no out of hours support. NONE AT ALL. Arrogant in communications and indifferent to complaints. DECIDED TO REFER TO OLEV, (gov agency). ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO LIKEWISE. 0/5.

App crashed at the last update and didn't work again until I just updated my phone (s6 Edge) with the latest os. Left me completely stranded on the M25 with the only advice from Ecotricity being that I call a flatbed truck outside their working hours of 8pm. If I'd wanted to live under a curfew I'd still live with my parents! Absolutely appalling system that should never have been forced on customers until it had been tested to the nth degree and proven to work. Disgusting.

Easy to identify the right charger, start a charge and keeps me notified how many minutes and when ended. Then emails a receipt. Moto Play, Android 6.01. Lost one star because on startup appears to crash then come back to life. After that does what I need.

It's times like this I'm grateful that I have a PHEV, otherwise I would be stranded here. Everything was going fine, until I went to charge. It took ages to load an eventual error message saying that I could not connect to the app. What does that even mean?! After trying again for 10 minutes. I eventually gave up and carried on my way using the engine. Not what I wanted to do at all, however, when you cannot access the charging facilities what else can you do?

Ignoring payment issues this app is awful compared to the RFID cards. Slow, prone to crashing, impossible to charge car if you haven't got a good connection and outright lies about compatability between chargers and cars. Very badly thought through change from the cards.

Awesome. Just reinstalled the app so I can try and add my ecotricity account details (it only lets you do this on install it seems) and now it won't even load. Good job I'm not on the m6 services with 5 %!!! #designedfordisaster. Update 17th dec 2016. Yup it happened. Stuck on m6 with an app that wouldn't load and ecotricity have no support line after office hours. Shocking

£6 charge is ludicrous. If so Id be back to a non ev if it costs me more than diesel car. Heck I'd buy a Mustang to offset my years of EV use. At least that way I would be contributing to the incompetent brexit government in fuel taxes. A coupl days notice is not acceptable nor polite. App is so buggy that attempting to read the terms & conditions crashes it. So I gave up & accepted without reading the t&c. Finally this is android, please use developers that know what android is and doesn't think it is iOS

The old RFID card system was so simple and reliable. Being forced to use this app has turned Ecotricity charge points from the best ones into the worst ones. The app freezes, won't read the QR code, won't connect and all usually when either it's raining or you have an audience. The Ecotricity charge points are the most accessible in the country but sadly I now avoid them. Let us pay by contactless debit card - this technology works!

Was looking at buying a Leaf this summer, but the changes to Ecotricity's network put me off. I don't mind them charging, (though I think the tariff is too high and inflexible), and anyway I'm an Ecotricity customer. The change that clinched it is the smartphone method of charging - I would never rely on this kind of technology for such a crucial service (app issues/server issues/loss of signal etc etc), and it seems from reviews here I was right to be suspicious. Also I don't use data on my phone, and have a WiFi-only tablet, so would be useless for me. In the end I bought a diesel - sad really.

Utter rubbish app won't go past loading screen and left me stranded BRING BACK THE CARD SYSTEM. Will not go electric again unless this app is massively improved A backwards step

Went into app to see the available chargers, pressed the back button and it hangs... Memo to self - you only have one chance, so use it carefully as there are no options other than start again (no, this was not a hint to the developers!)

Very very poor. The app doesnt work. Just freezes on the log in screen. Glad i tried it before i set off. Shocking pricing structure. Your worse than a ticket tout. Taking eu / gov grants and nissan funding to set the network up then implemeting an extortionate pricing system robbing the ev drivers of the uk. We are willing to pay a fair price but this is just wrong. Even if your an ecotricity customer how can more than 1 charge a week be classed as being over fair usage. What are you doing Dale???

They need to fix the price if they want to survive. Great placement but over priced. Using the app only a bad move. Have card ability too.

App locked up on my brand new Samsung J3, that I replaced due to my Windows phone not supporting this very app! Luckily we had my daughters iPhone to start the charge. This app system takes much longer to start the charge than the old card system and is less flexible as you feel compelled to get your full 30 minutes. Charging for charging had to come, but this is a step backwards.

if you register a credit debit card, no facility to delete it without phoning them, phoned them hung up after 10 minutes. A reviewer says £6 for 80 miles is reasonable, no doubt an employee as that cost is no better than a diesel car! i can confirm today that my i3 charged from 0 battery to 71% or 81 miles range for £6. Anyone know the charge per kwh????? Home charging is £2.20 for 114 miles

I'd be much happier with this app if it remembered my username and password for longer. I usually have to log in every time, which kind of negates the app. Why not just do it online with a browser if you have to do it every time?

When it works it's easy enough to use and just works. This is however only 10% of the time. Sometimes I have to go to the machine to try connecting again as it doesn't detect the car connecting to it (leaf). The most common problem though is the app will stop working part way through a charge and not see that I am charging meaning a call to ecotricity to end early. Surely the app should have an option to reconnect to the pump if the app stops working or I loose signal.

If and when it works OK, it's way too expensive. Better would be £3/20m minutes or £5/30m (makes money, represents decent value for users). When it doesn't work, you have to call before 6pm on a weekday or there's no help. The app is not good enough for a sole payment solution. There needs to be a pre pay card as an alternative when the app fails and customer care is shut. Given the dominant position Ecotricity enjoys (and largely at public expense), it should have already attended to these shortcomings.

Won't load on my Galaxy S7, Wife's S5 or my old S6 and on neither of our ipads. Just hangs on loading screen. Tried all the uninstalling tricks etc and nothing solves it. Messaged electric highway and ecotricity several times on social media and they were as useful as a chocolate fire guard! Worse in fact as that would at least work until it melted. May have to seriously rethink being a dual fuel customer if their customer service is like this!@!

Full of bugs and very slow. Have used it twice to charge - first time it worked ok, second time (at same location) the app kept saying 'loading'. Tried restarting it a few times and gave up after 40 mins and drove somewhere else (non-Ecotricity) to charge. Very annoying and have just tried the app at home and found more bugs (and a long 'loading' process). As a result I have no trust that I can use Ecotricity charge points so will have to avoid them in future and am no longer considering signing up with Ecotricity for electricity. What a shame!

Having been forced to start using this app to use electric highway chargers, my charging experience has become suddenly worse. The app doesn't have a map so it's hard to find chargers on your route so you can plan charges and check status. (instead I use the website where there's an OK map, and only check status in the app if desperate). Since you have to use the app to pay and start a charge I've only been able to charge half the times I've tried - compared to more than 95% success with the previous rfid card setup. The app crashes, or fails to communicate effectively with the servers or chargers. Very disappointing.

Worked perfectly well, fast to use and glad to get rid of the swipe cards. All in all app does what its supposed to (few crashes though). I'm an ecotricity customer anyway so get get it in the package, less people using them now is a massive bonus

£6 in Nissan leaf gives me 40 to 60 miles on a motorway, a bit more if I drive 55mph. After 60%, charging slows down, so no longer can do 20min full speed top ups. I aim to arrive with less than 10% so i get more for £6 but i have no plan B, so it is risky and I have to spend time checking if charger is working, which is not possible when charging, inconvenient for longer journeys when I don't know in advance which chargers I will use due to other variables. Relying on app only is risky (no card option).

Luckily i checked this app before setting off for the NEC only to find it hanging on the loading screen. Had to revert to petrol power in case i couldn't get a charge at Corley services. Have emailed "support" but no response. Definitely not going to take ecotricity as our home energy supplier if this is their idea of progress. Will assume all motorway chargers are unavailable when planning journeys from now on. The cost per charge is the final insult. Just need to find a way of complaining now if public money has been used to fund this abortion.

Fiddly to start charge via the app. Just about works. Worse when on a long journey and it is confused that when arriving at next stop you need to first disconnect from prior pump that it already knew had ended - really?!? now 70 miles away and need to force close to forget prior session. Failure to connect to server at one stop cured only by phone reboot but may be circumstantial. Future needs to be pay at pump with contactless or chip & pin. In meantime an RFID card linked to account needs to be offered for simplicity and reliability. Lack of out of hours or bank holiday support is worrying.

The app is extremely buggy and very prone to crashing and restarting. Reliability has to be number 1 priority over bells and whistles especially when it is the only way to initiate charging at rapid chargers on the motorway.

You have to use the app to access their charge points but the app just freezes right from the off, despite updates. Crazy system when you need an app to use a service and the app has never worked.

This app needs to be bullet proof, as people will depend on it. I have stopped to charge, but can't get the app to work. Luckily I can make a detour on my way home to a Tesla supercharger. Otherwise this could have ruined my day!

The app has worked consistently every time I have used it so far. I've charged about 10 times over the last couple of months and it has been faultless. The availability has improved to the point I don't need to plan my journey & journey times have reduced.

Very buggy. Crashes more than it works. Charged me several times for the same session. Hundreds of error message push notifications from a single charge. Be prepared for this system to fail, have a backup charger in mind.

Had issues adding a payment card and changing vehicle but that has been resolved. Managed to start a charge ok.