14 DAY TRIAL // Google has introduced an interesting new capability in Maps, you can now search for electric vehicle charging stations around a location to help owners find a place to recharge their batteries. Google uses data from several sources to maintain a list of charging stations, though it's coverage is still incomplete.
"As consumers embrace electric vehicles, we’ve also been adding information to Google Maps over the past few months to help users find charging stations," Cynthia Yeung, Strategic Partner Development Team at Google, wrote.
"Just search on Google Maps for 'ev charging station' plus the appropriate area, for example, 'ev charging station near mountain view ca'," she explained.
Using the feature is as simple as typing the query, just search for a charging station and Maps will retrieve all the locations it knows of. Since many people now carry a smartphone with them, Maps could prove very useful when you're in an unfamiliar place.
Electric vehicles are not exactly common place, but they are starting to enter the market in a few developed countries, such as the US.
Deciding to buy an EV involves more than just deciding on the car, not that there are that many options in that department, potential owners have to think about the infrastructure as well, in particular charging stations.
This is where tools like Google's come in. Already, there are apps that help owners find charging stations, but having the functionality built into Google Maps is more convenient.
Google is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) which provides the charging station location data. But the data is incomplete so NREL has launched the GeoEVSE Forum, an organization which aims to create a comprehensive database of these locations.
There aren't that many EV owners now for this type of tools to have a huge impact, but, on the other hand, potential owners are put off by the lack of data and infrastructure, it's a chicken versus egg problem.