Navagis and PLUGO: Reenergizing the EV experience with optimized routes.

Driving your EV while infrastructure is still under development can be challenging. Even if you know the shortest route to your destination, there is no guarantee the charging stations along the way will be available. And waiting for one charging spot to open can be the difference between a short drive and a very long one.

Navagis and PLUGO are looking to make EV driving simple and stress-free, even for beginners.
Based in Tokyo, PLUGO was founded in 2018 and has been elevating the Japanese EV ecosystem with a clear vision towards improving the quality of the EV charging experience.

Working together with Navagis, a global leader in location intelligence solutions since 2009, PLUGO is now gearing up to release an EV routing application for the Japanese market, allowing users to simply map their journey with the charging stations along the way.

In short, charge anxiety has been on everyone’s mind. Whether they are consumers considering the move to EV, those who are new to driving, or even those who have been driving EVs since the beginning, Cox Automotive found that 37% of consumers have frequent thoughts of charge anxiety.

Charge anxiety is the concern that while driving from A to B, a user will be stuck looking for a charging point to drive the remainder of their journey. This concern persists even with EV charging stations being installed at an incredible rate.

Beginning in March 2024, drivers in Japan can now be at ease knowing that their route will be the fastest because their journey will be accompanied by open and ready charging stations. This will be the world’s first app to provide custom routing with charging station bay booking features. What’s more, users can check prices ahead of time.

This is made possible by combining the real-time charging station data as well as forecasted data sets of expected congestion at charging stations provided by PLUGO with the EVCoDriver APIs provided by Navagis.

The newly developed routing algorithm leveraging Navagis’ EVCoDriver API will optimize the route taking into account all the key factors that will impact the users course, including: current state of charge, distance to destination, road gradient, currently operating charging stations in between current location and destination, type of vehicle, age of vehicle, charging station status (fully in use, out of order, totally available), and more.

Taking all of these elements into account and putting together the best, most highly optimized route is likely to be more than just a challenge for the average driver; it is probably impossible. But Navagis and PLUGO are looking to bring this to all drivers in Japan.

Users can create a highly optimized route in three simple steps:

1. Register the type of EV you will be using.
2. On the PLUGO App settings screen, specify the remaining battery level of the car, the remaining battery level at the time of arrival at the destination, and the charging service you want to use.
3. The map displayed will show the best route to your destination, including the best charging stations to stop at and the best time to charge at each station. Reservations can be made for charging stations operated by PLUGO.

By combining Navagis’ excellent EV routing algorithm with PLUGO’s charging experience design, the aim is to smoothly provide EV users with an optimal and convenient route for EV driving with simple operations.

The vision of this partnership is to improve the usability of EVs by realizing the route recommendation function described above and expanding the use of EVs.

Navagis provides tailor-made mapping solutions using more than 20 years of experience developing location intelligence solutions for enterprise-level clients globally. In the EV field, Navagis provides the EVCoDriver API, a dedicated EV routing service that searches for the shortest, most energy-efficient route to the destination via the most convenient charging station, alleviating concerns about charging station status and range anxiety. Navagis is committed to developing services for EV routing to make the world safer and easier for all EV drivers.

PLUGO’s mission is to “pursue the quality of the charging experience.” Currently, PLUGO is operating EV charging stations, providing apps for users, and promoting solutions to support the EV charging business. With a focus on expanding the number of EV charging stations in commercial facilities that are closely connected to people’s daily lives, in order to socially implement “My Charging Station” that allows everyone to secure charging opportunities on a daily basis. It is the goal of PLUGO to create an environment where all drivers are excited by EV driving.