PlugShare on Tesla: find every charger through Android Auto
Tesla’s built-in navigation is great at one thing: finding Superchargers. The moment you need anything else, a third-party network, a charger on a rural route, a backup when the Supercharger is full, the car’s map falls short. That is where PlugShare comes in, the crowd-sourced charging map that covers everything. The catch is there is no native PlugShare on Tesla, because Tesla curates its own apps. With TaaDa, PlugShare runs as a proper Android Auto charging app on the Tesla screen.
Why Tesla owners need more than the built-in map
Tesla’s map is Supercharger-first by design, and for many trips that is enough. But EV charging is bigger than one network. PlugShare maps over 700,000 charging locations worldwide across every network, including Tesla Superchargers, Electrify America, ChargePoint and countless local operators. Its real edge is the community: drivers leave check-ins and reviews, so you know before you arrive whether a charger is working, occupied or awkward to reach. Tesla’s map cannot tell you that.
The problem is getting PlugShare onto the screen, since Tesla ships no PlugShare app and has no app store to add one.
How TaaDa puts PlugShare on the dashboard
TaaDa handles the display side, purely in software. You install it on your Android phone, share that phone’s connection with the car, and open TaaDa in the Tesla browser, which turns into an Android Auto screen. PlugShare then runs there as one of Android Auto’s charging apps.
On the car screen you get the driving-focused version of PlugShare:
- A live charger map, filtered by plug type and network, so you see what fits your car nearby.
- Turn-by-turn navigation to the charger you pick, straight from the Android Auto interface.
- Hands-free control through Google Assistant and steering-wheel buttons, no phone in hand.
Because PlugShare runs on your phone and the Tesla only mirrors Android Auto, your account, saved chargers and check-ins are all there.
Read the reviews before you commit
PlugShare’s community data is what saves a trip. A charger that looks fine on a map may be broken, blocked, or behind a barrier, and other drivers will have said so. Before you route to a station, the check-ins and photos tell you if it actually works and how to find the plug. On a long drive with tight range, arriving at a dead charger is the worst case, and PlugShare is the app that prevents it. This kind of real-world reliability data is exactly what Tesla’s own map does not provide.
One map for every network
The strength of PlugShare on a Tesla is coverage. Instead of toggling between a Supercharger map and separate network apps, you get one map with all of them, Superchargers included. On a route where Superchargers thin out, or in a region where another network dominates, that single view is the difference between confident driving and range anxiety. You still use Tesla’s own nav for pure Supercharger trips, but PlugShare is what you open when the charging picture is bigger than Tesla.
Hands-free and safe
Finding a charger while driving has to be safe. Running PlugShare through Android Auto on TaaDa, Google Assistant takes voice requests and the steering wheel handles the rest, so you search and navigate without touching your phone. Sending yourself to the nearest working charger is a spoken command.
Tesla is not going to add PlugShare natively, and there is nothing to wait for. With TaaDa, PlugShare on Tesla works today, through the browser and screen the car already has, turning a Supercharger-only map into a view of every charger on the road. Explore the rest of this silo for more app guides and never guess where to charge again.