Google Maps Now Helps Users Find EV Chargers They Can Use

With electric cars becoming a more common sight on the roads, one would think that charging an EV would become easier. However, with many companies using proprietary charging plugs for their cars, the problem of finding an EV charging station that’s actually compatible with your car is only getting worse.

Google Maps has already had a feature that can show electric car owners EV charging stations around them so they can quickly top-up their car’s range while on the go. However, with a new update, the map application is making that feature more useful for its users. According to a report from Android Police, Google Maps is adding a feature that lets users search for EV charging stations by the plug-type they require.

This means users will now be able to find EV charging stations that will definitely work with their cars. That’s pretty neat.

With the new feature, users will be able to add the kind of plug(s) their car(s) supports, and Google will then only show them charging stations compatible with that plug-type. From the screenshots shared by AP, there are six different types of plug-types supported by Google Maps including Tesla, J1772, CHAdeMO (used by manufacturers such as Honda, Renault, and others), and CCS (Type 1 and Type 2).

Image courtesy: Android Police

According to Android Police, the feature is available on Google Maps on Android, but it’s unclear if it has rolled out to Google Maps on iOS as well. With electric cars basically being non-existent in India so far, at least as far as mainstream adoption is considered, I’m not sure if Google has even rolled this out in India at all. However, I checked on my iPhone and there’s no such feature there.

- Hitarth Langaliya