The famous navigation application evolves and takes into account the evolution of its users. Are more of them driving electric cars? Google Maps will offer them dedicated paths.
The new version of Google Maps in beta, version 11.39 includes a new navigation filter that should delight owners of hybrid and electric cars. Indeed, Google’s mapping application will soon offer to define your route according to your charging needs. How ? Thanks to a sorting filter in the options which will allow you to specify the type of engine of your vehicle (fuel, hybrid, or 100% electric).
The 9to5Google site found this information by digging into the code of the next version of Google Maps. Our colleagues discovered that the application offered as a novelty to “find routes according to your type of engine” or even “to save energy by choosing your type of engine”. According to their information, this new option would not be as advanced as a dedicated application (in which the vehicle model and the capacity of its battery are entered), nevertheless, this is an important shift for Google which sticks to the energy transition initiated by car manufacturers.
Will Google Maps be useful in an electric car?
However, will Google Maps win back the hearts of electric vehicle owners? Indeed, due to the lack of consideration of their specificity, some of them have turned to other solutions. For a route calculation taking into account the autonomy capacities of a vehicle, the solutions are not legion. Most often there’s the in-vehicle OS, which proves oddly optimistic about its own capabilities. There are also dedicated applications such as Chargemap or the essential ABRP (A better Route Planner). It is these two and particularly ABRP that we use during our tests of long journeys in 100% electric vehicles.
As it stands, despite its awareness, Google Maps does not yet appear able to compete with a dedicated application. Nevertheless, with its popularity and the quality of its navigation, the Google application could still appeal, before improving further on the needs of electric cars?
Source :
9to5Google