- Google Maps will now show Tesla Supercharger availability
- Out-of-action charging stalls will be easily identifiable
- Tesla has opened up its network to a number of rival automakers
Tesla owners have long benefited from the company’s mapping system, which takes live data from the extensive Supercharger network and intelligently routes drivers to the nearest, fastest and most available stalls.
However, with Tesla opening up its network to other manufacturers, such as Ford, Kia and more, it has fallen on Google to offer a similar service, with the tech giant now listing live availability data for Tesla Superchargers across North America.
This follows reports from earlier this month that Electrify America – one of the largest public charging providers in the US – has also just integrated its live charger information into the popular mapping application.
The presentation of this data is relatively simple. When you search for a nearby Supercharger you now not only receive important information, such as the speed of the charger, the address and contact details (if there are any), as well as its opening times, but also the number of available stalls.
This makes it easier to not only plan a route, perhaps selecting those charging providers with the fastest and most abundant outlets, but it can also help when on a journey, so users aren’t routed to congested charging locations.
That said, Tesla’s charging stations can still only be used by those vehicles with the North American Charging Standard compatibility, or via an adaptor that is often sold separately by the manufacturer.
Good news for the US, old news for everyone else
While the recent Google integration is good news for EV owners in the US, it’s something that the UK, Europe and many other markets have been using for a number of years now.
In many markets, charging providers are required by law to share data through an open API, which allows navigation software, both on smartphones and vehicle infotainment systems. to display this sort of information.
A quick search for “EV charger” via Google Maps in the UK, for example, will return a list of all the charging providers in the area, almost all of which will have “live” data to show how many are available – or if any are out of service.
Of course, the information that Google displays is only as good as the data feed it uses and, from personal experience, some charging providers are much more reliable than others.
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