With the increasing popularity of environmentally-friendly electric cars, the number of EV charging stations across the countries are taking a huge leap as well. Just like we have filling stations for petrol, diesel, and other fuel types, there is an abundance of EV charging stations as well and Google Maps makes it easier to find the nearest one as well. However, a new feature has been added to Google Maps app which is a must-have.
Unlike previously when you could search for EV charging stations and get the locations of the nearest or whatever location you are looking for, the new update adds support the plug types as well. Auto manufacturers are adding proprietary plugs with their EV cars which causes a bit of confusion since you didn’t get to know if the station you are visited has the same plug or not. Turns out the new update will solve this problem once and for all.
The new update will let users search for EV charging stations and as per a screenshot grabbed by the folks at Android Police, it will also have a feature to filter out stations by plug types. As of now, Google Maps supports six types of plugs that are CCS (Combo 1), CCS (Combo 2), Type 2, CHAdeMO, J1772, and Tesla. This should cover brands like Tesla, Renault, Honda, and others running their own lineup of EV cars.
Google Maps also showcases available plugs at any given charging station and real-time info if it is available at this moment or not. This is a great feature if you hate waiting in a queue if there are no plugs available. Next up, you can setup compatible charging stations that will search for the set plug by default. You can set it up under the app’s settings with the new “Electric Vehicle Settings”.
Although there are plenty of apps available to search for charging stations, getting it built-in on Google Maps gives it a much wider audience. The feature has been rolled out on Google Maps for Android so it is unknown when it will arrive on iOS devices. The feature is not available in India and it is highly likely that it won’t be available for some time as EV cars haven’t made a buzz in the country yet.
