Whether you’re a new or seasoned Tesla owner, you’ll be able to use third-party apps other than the official Tesla smart app. Developers have jumped at the chance to make use of the EV manufacturer’s open Tesla API to offer drivers deep insight into various statistics related to the vehicle, locate charging stations, and make use of operational functions.
Tesla is particularly open with its Tesla API and although the Tesla API is technically private, its endpoints are accessible to developers who can reverse-engineer it for an external app to directly communicate with the API allowing them to develop some of the best Tesla apps.
Here are the best apps for Tesla for iPhones:
TEZLAB
Rated as one of the best apps for Tesla owners, you can access this free app to analyze the energy used to power their Tesla vehicle. This nifty app recently launched a new feature to give users a breakdown of the type of energy mix and percentage of fossil fuel and renewable energy that comes from charging stations across the US, which includes Superchargers and third-party networks.
TezLab’s CEO, Ben Schippers explained, “We’re tracking the origin of data as it relates to energy, so we know if you’re in Tucson or Brooklyn (or any location) where the energy is coming from and what the mix of that energy looks like. As a result, we can see how much carbon is being pushed out into the atmosphere based on your charge, whether you’re charging at home, or whether you’re charging at a Supercharger.”
TezLab uses ElectricityMap that provides the energy data. After installing the app, it can detect where a Tesla owner plugged into and can determine the energy mix feature to show you how clean or dirty the charge is.
Tesla’s Las Vegas Supercharger, Linq High Roller is a V3 Supercharger station that gets 1.7% of the energy from solar and 65.6% is hydro, from the Hoover Dam. The remaining energy mix is an estimated 33% natural gas.
The TezLab app shows the cleanest Superchargers are located in Washington, Centralia, Leavenworth, and Moses Lake and Seattle through hydroelectric power. Other Superchargers in areas such as Oxnard, Barstow, San Diego, Mojave, and Santa have shown energy mixes of 22.7% solar, 15% wind energy, 0.2% battery storage, 2.9% biomass, 5.6% geothermal, 6.3% hydro, 6.6% nuclear and 40% natural gas.
TezLab also lets owners track efficiency, total trip miles while being able to control some functions of the vehicle, like locking/unlocking the doors, and heating and air conditioning. All data is aggregated and anonymous.
REMOTE S
Remote S for Tesla was developed by a member of the Tesla community, and it incorporates almost every function supported by Tesla’s official APIs. Remote S handles a comprehensive list of remote operations to unlock/lock the car, start/stop HVAC, roof, and temperature, honk the horn, flash the lights, enable/disable Valet Mode, summon reverse/forward/stop, and more.
The app is also designed to help drivers spend less on charging and view car statistics. It is actively developed and supported with regular updates being released. You can download and install the app on all iOS 8.0 devices or later and costs $9.99.
PLUGSHARE
PlugShare is a free iPhone app that offers accurate and thorough public charging maps. The app’s database includes around 100,000 charging stations from major networks in North America and Europe, including Tesla Supercharger, EVgo, Blink, ChargePoint, GE WattStation, SemaCharge, AeroVironment, and Enel X. There are half a million reviews on the included stations, which are also displayed with photos.
Tesla owners can easily locate a public charging station compatible with your Tesla vehicle, and what really stands out with this app is that you can use it to pay for charging using your phone, which is not only highly convenient but also very secure. If you happen to visit a charging station that doesn’t appear on PlugShare’s database, you can simply add it to the app, which is helpful to other Tesla drivers. Every station is rated by users and it allows community members to report any discrepancies on its station listings, so the database is always kept up to date.
Disclaimer:
Tesla, Inc. was not involved in the development of this document and did not provide any input or otherwise edit, review or authorize it.
