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User en EV Charging
Sparkilo isn't only for fuel — it integrates EV charging station data worldwide via OpenChargeMap.
Open Settings → Vehicles and create an EV vehicle profile, or flip the Show EV on map toggle in the map overlay.
An EV vehicle profile has:
- Battery capacity (kWh)
- Max AC charging power (kW)
- Max DC charging power (kW)
- Supported connectors — Type 2, CCS, CHAdeMO, Tesla, Schuko, Type 1, 3-pin
When you search, the app filters stations down to those compatible with your vehicle's connectors.
All EV charging data in Sparkilo comes from OpenChargeMap (OCM) — the world's largest open, community-maintained registry of charging stations.
Sparkilo queries the OCM POI API live for the area you're looking at:
- Map overlay — with Show EV on map enabled, chargers around the map centre are fetched and drawn as blue pins.
- EV search — picking the EV type in the Criteria sheet runs a radius search against OpenChargeMap.
Fetched stations are cached on-device, so the last results stay visible offline. If OpenChargeMap can't be reached, the app falls back to a small built-in demo dataset instead of an empty map — if you see the same handful of generic stations everywhere, that's the fallback telling you the live fetch failed (check your connection or your API key).
Sparkilo ships with a built-in shared OpenChargeMap key, so EV data works out of the box — no setup needed. You can still use a personal key: you get your own rate limit (the shared key is throttled across all users) and OpenChargeMap sees real usage of its data. A key is free:
- Create an account at openchargemap.org — Sign In → Register.
- Signed in, open My Profile → My Apps (map.openchargemap.io/#/profile/applications).
- Choose Register an Application, enter a short description (e.g. "personal use in Sparkilo") and submit. Your API key (a UUID like
123e4567-…) is generated instantly.
Copy the key and paste it into Settings → API keys → OpenChargeMap. It is stored in the device's secure storage (the same vault as the Germany key), never leaves your device, and is only ever sent to OpenChargeMap itself. Clear the field to return to the built-in shared key.
OpenChargeMap is open data maintained by its community. If a charger is missing or wrong, sign in at openchargemap.org and add or edit it there — Sparkilo picks up the correction on the next fetch, and so does every other OCM-based app.
Tap the central Search button, pick the EV fuel type in the Criteria sheet, and run the search. You can also use:
- Radius search — same as fuel, but returns charging stations
- Filters: connector types, minimum kW, only stations currently available (real-time status when reported)
EV stations appear as blue pins on the map. The color intensity reflects charging power (light blue = AC slow, dark blue = DC fast).
An EV station detail page shows:
- Connectors — type, quantity, max power per connector
- Tariff — price per kWh when known (not all operators publish)
- Network — e.g. Ionity, Fastned, Tesla
- Availability status — real-time when reported
- Amenities — food, restrooms, shopping
- Opening hours — 24/7 or operator-specified
- Reviews — from OpenChargeMap users
EV stations can be favorited just like fuel stations. On landscape phones and tablets the favorites list and alerts pane render side-by-side (see Favorites & Alerts). Price alerts are less useful for charging because most operators use flat per-kWh tariffs — but connector-availability alerts are on the roadmap.
Earlier versions silently filtered out stations outside your "active country". This was intentionally removed — if you drive from Germany to France you see both countries' charging infrastructure on the same map. With 17 supported countries and OpenChargeMap's worldwide coverage, road-tripping across borders works out of the box.
See also: Finding Stations · Route Planning Next: Consumption & OBD2 →
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