Charge your electric car with Google Maps
Looking up nearby gas stations on your Google Maps route is one of the easiest things to do on the navigation app.
But if you need some juice for your dying battery in your all-electric car, it's not so simple.
That is, until now. Starting Tuesday, you can search for "EV charging" or "electric charging station" on the Google Maps app on iOS and Android. The nearest "fill-up" spots will show up on the map.
The listing will also show you information about the station, what type of plugs are available, charging speeds, and other business details crowdsourced from other users.
If a business has a charging station available, it'll also be listed.
Here are some of the different charging networks that'll show up on your search: Tesla, Chargepoint, SemaConnect, EVgo, Blink, and, in the UK, Chargemaster and Pod Point. In Australia and New Zealand you'll also see Chargefox.
Here's what comes up from a search here in San Francisco:
The ability to search for charging stations will be coming to Google Maps on desktop in a few weeks. To start charging with your phone as your guide, just update the app.
Topics Electric Vehicles Google
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
