iPhone app syncs with electric vehicles to track & share savings

GreenCharge is a new iPhone app designed to help electric vehicle owners track and share their driving patterns, fuel savings and environmental contribution over time.

We’ve seen a few different mobile apps aimed at helping drivers reduce their emissions — Toyota’s “A Glass of Water,” for example — but it was only recently that we came across one targeting drivers of electric vehicles specifically. Sure enough, GreenCharge is a new iPhone app designed to help electric vehicle owners track and share their driving patterns, fuel savings and environmental contribution over time. California-based Xatori is perhaps best known for PlugShare, its global electric vehicle charging network. Now, pursuing that focus further, its GreenCharge app aims to help drivers of such vehicles track the benefits over time using an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Priced at USD 9.99 on the App Store, the customizable app syncs seamlessly with the user’s Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt vehicle to display up-to-date information. Available in both English and German, GreenCharge connects driving data with local energy pricing to provide personalized data about the cost of operating an electric car, and users can keep a personal logbook so as to monitor those expenses, as well as their driving habits and carbon offset, over time. A vehicle’s remaining battery charge can be seen at a glance, without even opening the app, and data on charging history, carbon savings and more can be shared with friends via Facebook, Twitter or email. Besides targeting consumers who already drive electric cars, Xatori also suggests that prospective buyers of such vehicles use GreenCharge on test drives, bringing a whole new level of transparency to manufacturers’ sales claims. App developers around the world: Keep the energy-monitoring innovations coming! Spotted by: Raymond Neo