Who is who in electric charging networks?

For electric cars, it seems that there are lots of different charging networks, many of which have their own cards, subscriptions and pricing scheme.

I'm about to get my first electric car and I'm already confused which charging option would be the right one for me: eCharge, evpass, energie360, Plugsurfing, MOVE, NewMotion, ChargeNow, ...

Who is who in these networks? What is your experience and which one would you recommend?

Edit: btw, I'm getting a Polestar 2 and I live in VD. I mostly go between Zurich ~ Lausanne. During the ski season I go a lot between as Lausanne ~ Valais as well as other places. Finally, once in a year or two I might go on longer trips to Germany or France.

It's a nightmare!

Tesla decided from the start that a charging network was a vital asset and strong selling point.

Just plug in and it works - no card required. (Just a Tesla!)

There are a lot of attractive new EVs coming on the market, but the question is the one you've raised - what's it all about?!?

Sorry, can’t really help you here as I have only used a public charger once, when I was bringing our new Citigo-iv home from Lucerne.

I’ve got the provided charger plugged into the mains in the garage and charge it up every night to a 80% charge. The app allows me to limit charging to the ‘off-peak’ hours of 23h to 06h.

We thought about installing a fast charger but that was going to be 1k francs and so far we haven’t needed it. I doubt we ever will.

For some the so-called range anxiety may be real, but not for us.

Well, it seems that Tesla will open its charging network to the others sometime this year. So soon one more player will be added to the mix

I agree that charging at home is probably the most logical thing to do. I'm getting a charger installed (though the problems with the PPE with that is another story). However, I do travel often between Lausanne and Zurich and few times per year even further than that. So charging on the road is something that I'll need to figure out.

It depends on what electric car you actually want to get - and where you want to travel (mostly) with it.

This seemingly little but vital piece of information was unfortunately missing from your post.

Tesla has their own.

Others offer subsidies for other networks.

True, sorry for the missing info. I'm getting a Polestar 2 and I live in VD. I mostly go between Zurich ~ Lausanne as well as Lausanne ~ Valais.

Well I used the one at the Rose de la broyre services near to Payerne. 30minures and it was full.

Never had to charge away from home until now but the Polestar came with a 1 year sub to plugsurfing. We charge off the normal socket at the moment, may change.

I'm also in VD and I charge at public chargers, mostly using evpass. There is one in my neighborhood and one near work. I also have MOVE, which I can use to charge in MOVE or other networks when I'm traveling. It isn't quite the same price, but close enough for the little I use the card.

The plan of the Swiss government of having a charger every 40km in a rest areas in highways will be completed soon. So, no matter what car you got, you can recharge.

The plan: https://www.astra.admin.ch/astra/fr/...ationales.html

And the map https://map.geo.admin.ch/?lang=de&to...1&N=1223076.97

Assuming there's an open spot. The only public charging spot I know around me is at Migros, and it's almost never available.

Funnily enough our Migros two charging points are usually filled with Teslas.