Google Maps Adds EV Charging Station Info (engadget.com)

Google Maps is adding a new feature that will let you search for charging stations and provide you with useful information about that station. The feature is rolling out today and will be available on both Android and iOS. Engadget reports: Just search for "EV charging stations" or "EV charging," and Google Maps will locate those nearby. It will also tell you what types of ports are available, how many there are as well as the station's charging speeds, and businesses with charging stations will now have a link that will lead you to more information about their setup. Additionally, you'll be able to see what other users thought of the station, as Google Maps will bring up user-posted photos, ratings and reviews. Google Maps will include information about charging stations from Tesla and Chargepoint worldwide. In the US, it will also source info about SemaConnect, EVgo and Blink stations. UK users will have access to Chargemaster and Pod Point stations, while Australia and New Zealand EV drivers will see info on Chargefox stations. Unfortunately, you won't be able to tell if individual charging stations are occupied. Also, Google doesn't have Electrify America, a Volkswagen subsidiary that's building a nationwide network of fast-charging stations with universal technology.

Comments

Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

Tesla app already does this and tells if you the station is free.

Re:Too late

[DontBeAMoran]

The Tesla app already lists all the charging stations from other companies?

Re:Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

A lot of them do. There's already a unifying search service called "PlugShare" that a lot of companies use for their charging station apps.

The real question is if Google Maps will offer the ability to filter by only charging standards your car can use, since there are currently something like 10 different charging standards.

Re: Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes lord knows that the first app is always the best.

Re:Too late

[Trogre]

Two.

There are two rapid charging standards.

• CCS-Type 2
• CHAdeMO

Teslas use an adapter to connect to CHAdeMO chargers.

Every rapid charger I have seen provides cables for both standards.

Re:Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

You're forgetting that a ton of EV manufacturers and older EVs do not support rapid charging. The summary mentions "ChargePoint" which doesn't provide either of those standards: they're J-1772 only. (As far as I know, I've never seen a ChargePoint station that's anything but J-1772, and their home page is all about J-1772.)

Re: Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

There's also the jk2048592-667680.21bf-d standard.

Re:Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

The PlugShare app is already "the app" you're supposed to use to tell other people you are charging. So now when people find an open charger, plop their car there, and don't check-in on plugshare, they're definitely getting keyed! LOL.

Re:Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does chargepoint typically charge FAAAR beyond what the kilowatt hour for electricity costs? Why are Level-2 J1772 "chargers" called chargers when they are actually just a smart relay contact and do no voltage regulation or step up/down? (The actual "charger" part that does voltage step up/down is inside of the car.) Overpriced smart relay = $700+

Re:Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

Voltage conversion would provide zero benefit and add substantial cost.

Re: Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

I charged at a Chargepoint DCFC station on my way home from buying my car. Might have been a special deal with Georgia power as, yes, everything Iâ(TM)ve seen in Alabama (yes, we have electricity) is plain J1772 (not combo).

Re: Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

Chargepoint supports chademo and DCFC, but they're rare. They also support and list 110v outlets for slow charging.

But yes, the most common by far is J1772.

Re:Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

Openstreetmap has all the charging stations in my country, thus OsmAnd+ shows them. You still have to go to the operator's homepage to see if slots are free.

Re: Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

A quick glance at a few regions on plugshare suggests between 25-50% of all chademo and CSS stations are chargepoint... not sure if that's really all that rare.

I mean there are a bunch more J1772 plugs compared to DCFC stations, (bound to happen when installation costs for a DCFC is ~100X that of a J1772) but chargepoint is clearly a major player in the DCFC market (probably the most significant player in the Chademo/CSS DCFC market).

Re:Too late

[DrXym]

Proprietary charge formats suck. At best it means carrying around expensive adapters. At worst it means being locked into a particular charging network because of the inconvenience of using another.

Europe recognized this issue and has adopted type 2 CCS as the standard. Legislation means that soon all public chargers in Europe will soon be required to support CCS type 2 as the baseline and offer charge on a non-discretionary, impartial basis through common payment forms. i.e. you can plug your EV into a charger and pay by credit card.

Most new EVs are using type 2 CCS. Tesla and Nissan Leaf will eventually have to adopt CCS type 2 in Europe at least. The Euro launch of the model 3 would be a good time for Tesla to start (existing Teslas have a type 2 charge with proprietary DC fast charge). The Leaf also has a type 2 for AC charging but a CHAdeMO for DC charging - so they should just drop the CHAdeMO and/or add the CCS DC pins.

Re:Too late

[unimacs]

I'm sure PlugShare would like to be "the app" but as long as it relies on self reporting to know whether a charger is in use or not, you're taking a chance.

The Charge Point app shows the status of its chargers and for those that it doesn't know the status of, it will list them as unknown so at least you have some idea.

Re:Too late

[Trogre]

I said rapid chargers. J-1772 is trickle charging at best.

Re:Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

True.. and Google maps cannot tell the availability of those chargers. So I still have to use Tesla Navigation or Chargepoint apps. Google really needs to connect with these companies and get real time availability information.

One good thing Google maps generally has a graph that shows the busy times at a location.. that maybe be helpful sometimes.

Electrify America

[whoever57]

"Also, Google doesn't have Electrify America, "

Since Electrify America has only installed 24 charging locations at this time, that's not too much of a loss.

Over the next year, it will become significant, but not today.

Any chance this universal tech works with bikes ?

[Crashmarik]

Just outfitted mine with an Ewheel. Seeing as the weather is almost always good in my neck of the woods and I am reading elsewhere here that insects are going to disappear biking seems much more attractive for long trips.

Copying PlugShare App - not nice

[Anonymous Coward]

Plugshare already does this - and you can "check-in" and see if the charger is busy. Goggle, stay out of this!

Re:Copying PlugShare App - not nice

[jrumney]

No PlugShare does not already do this. When I go to the PlugShare website, after giving it permission to use my location, I am taken to a map of the US. Scrolling the map out to the correct location, I see that PlugShare has absolutely no coverage anywhere outside the US.

Google is providing global coverage.

Re:Copying PlugShare App - not nice

[bakes]

This is not true for me - the plugshare website for me shows chargers throughout Australia, Asia and Europe as well as the US.

Re:Copying PlugShare App - not nice

[unimacs]

And more importantly, PlugShare is not Google Maps. It's much nicer to have a single app provide directions AND show EV charges in the same vicinity,

Re:Copying PlugShare App - not nice

[jrumney]

Yeah I was too quick to judge, I found if I leave the browser sitting there for 5 minutes, it eventually loads the data for where I moved the map to. And now that it has loaded that once, it seems to load quickly now, and properly jump to my location instead of showing me the US.

And Google's data isn't great - for my city, they only have the local BMW dealership, but every shopping mall, major hotel and council recreation venue has free charging spots. PlugShare has about half of these spots covered.

Nowhere complete, even for free chargers

[Anonymous Coward]

As soon as I saw this was added to Google Maps, I checked an area I know and found two different locations with free public chargers not on GM.

So far, this is nowhere near as useful as plugshare.

Re:Any chance this universal tech works with bikes

[Anonymous Coward]

>electric bike

Bruh, just buy a scooter and be done with it. Using an electric bike is like rolling around on a segway and telling people you're jogging.

Lame, but it's a start

[linuxwrangler]

As a Bolt owner I was surprised that Google didn't do this long ago. But in my first look it is pretty bare bones.

Zoom out and see charge stations for a road trip?: No

Filter by paid/free?: No

Filter by ChargePoint, EVGo, Greenlots, Electrify America, ...?: No

Filter by CHAdeMO, CCS, Supercharger, Tesla Destination, 14-50 outlet?: No

Show chargers along route?: No

Trip planning?: No

Tesla owners will probably stick with the Tesla apps and I'll wait till it is better than Plugshare, A Better Route Planner and the like.

Re:Lame, but it's a start

[AmiMoJo]

In Europe Zap Map is pretty good. The app is okay, at least you can filter by charger type, check status and see them all on a map as you drive. Unfortunately it doesn't support Android Auto.

Charging networks need to get their act together and have live data available to app developers.

Re:Lame, but it's a start

[Anonymous Coward]

Zoom out and see charge stations for a road trip?: No

Show chargers along route?: No

Trip planning?: No

These seem very similar.

Oh Noes!

[r1348]

Where will I get my Bitcoin investment tips now?

This sucks

[fluffernutter]

I'll wait until I can drive ten minutes in one direction and find.a free charging station.

Re:Too late - Nissan LEAF driver here

[Kevoco]

That's nice for Tesla drivers, but what about everyone else?