From what I know, most of these need a separate app installed on your phone to use them. Does anyone know how many different networks there are? How many different apps I'd need to install? What about just for the "main" networks (e.g. top 5, or enough to cover all motorway services?)
How many different networks are there? Too many to count and it changes weekly! I used to maintain a list but I've given up.
"Cover all motorway services" is pretty much just
Ecotricity (poor reputation, but near monopoly on motorway services). There's also
Ionity at two sites now and probably more to come, but they take contactless bank cards so no advance preparation needed. Ionity are much more attractive where they are available, as they offer near-supercharger speeds to a Model 3 (or to S/X with the recently-available CCS adapter)
Several others are now starting to take contactless bank cards:
Instavolt (good general reputation),
Engenie (very few sites until recently so not yet established a reputation),
BP Chargemaster/Polar (the Ryanair of charging), Tesco (equipment actually provided by PodPoint, but the ones at Tesco specifically support contactless).
BP Chargemaster/Polar really want you to sign up for their monthly subscription that then gives you reduced cost usage; they have tried to coerce you to do this by making their app unusable and their bank card support charged at an extra-premium price. For only an occasional user, this is not what you want; however, some people find them useful enough to be worth subscribing to.
TheNewMotion/ShellRecharge have relatively few locations, but if you get their RFID card (no cost to sign up), that unlocks quite a few of the minor networks via roaming agreements (also good coverage in Europe).
The two other large networks worth mentioning are
GeniePoint/ChargePointGenie (mobile-friendly website rather than app, but can also register any RFID card you happen to have) and
PodPoint (primarily slow rather than rapid charging, app access only).
(NB. Engenie and GeniePoint are not the same thing!)
Has anyone else found a need to do install lots of apps for different networks?
Personally, every time I hear of a new network I download the app to my phone and plonk it in a folder of "minor network apps", on the off-chance I will need it. Takes (at home, over WiFi) almost no time and avoids the risk of needing to do so at the side of the road with a dodgy cellular connection. I was once at a chargepoint with another Tesla driver - he was still trying to download the necessary app to get started when I'd finished my charge and was departing!
I only bother to take the further step of setting up an account if the network looks particularly useful, especially if it's a network that demands pre-loaded credit.
To get a feel for which networks are in the places you travel to, use
zap-map. For actually checking up on a location before planning to charge there, it's worth checking both Zap-map and
Plugshare - both have user-provided status info so you can see if the point actually exists and works (which can't be universally relied upon!). Plugshare has photos which are often useful in locating where the point is - particularly for slow charging locations, the equipment is quite small and can be surprisingly difficult to find eg. in a large carpark.
