Google Maps is gaining a feature that may prove to be of immense help for those with electric vehicles: information about electric charging stations. This isn’t limited to locating an electric charging station – that information has been available within Maps for a while, though to varying degrees depending on the country.
What’s significant about this feature is that it allows Maps to display real-time updates for individual charging stations, including things like what types of ports that station has, what kind of charging speeds it offers, and perhaps most importantly, how many of those ports are available for use at that moment.
However, real-time updates are only available for these supported charging stations:
Global: Tesla, Chargepoint
U.S.: SemaConnect, EVgo, Blink
UK: Chargemaster, Pod Point
Australia & New Zealand: Chargefox
Additionally, users will be able to rate charging stations, as well as adding photos to their Google Maps listings, along with reviews. If a business has charging stations, Maps will also feature a link to information about that station on that business’ listing.
The new feature is rolling out for iOS and Android users at the moment, and will arrive for desktop “in the coming weeks.”
Source: Google Blog