A quick chat with Alexa can start charging your EV

If you drive an electric car and would rather not venture into the garage (or wade through a phone app) to start charging, you can now rest easy. ChargePoint has introduced Alexa support to its Home system, giving you voice control over your EV charging. You can start charging, stop charging or find out whether you're plugged in just by talking to a device like an Echo speaker. If you have Nest hardware, you can link charging to multiple parts of your home. And if you top up at ChargePoint stations away from home, you can check your balance or see how much you've spent on electricity so far.

The ChargePoint app itself has a pair of upgrades. You can get notifications when a nearby station opens up, and upload photos of stations so fellow travelers know what to look for. There's a third-party app update for Tesla owners as well -- Teslarati now shows ChargePoint stations, which might save your hide if you're nowhere near a Supercharger. If all goes well, you should spend less time hunting for a top-up and more time actually driving.