Range anxiety is somewhat of a fact of life on long-distance road trips in an EV, but smart planning about charging stops along the way can help. While we’ve seen plenty of efforts to help users locate chargers that are compatible with their vehicle, fromGoogle Maps itself, to dedicated apps likePlugShare, the trickier problem has been integrating that data with your route, when you’re already in the middle of a trip. Beating Google Maps to the punch, Waze has now announced its own EV-charger-routing solution.
In February, we reportedGoogle Maps would soon supportplanned EV charging stops. While we’re still waiting for that, Waze justannounced official supportfor the feature. You just need to enter your electric car make, model, and plug type in the app’s settings to find compatible charging stations in your vicinity and along your route.
Waze helpfully shows you how long the detour to the station will take, the charging station’s working hours, charging speed, and number of installed connectors. This way, there’s minimal risk of driving to an incompatible charger if you’re already worried about range. Waze also provides helpful on-site tips for actually locating the chargers, so you don’t miss the ones tucked away in alleys and behind buildings.
Like most Waze features, this is community-curated as well, meaning users like you and me can inform other Waze users if chargers are defunct or unavailable at certain hours. The data is synced in real-time, so there’s a much lower chance of turning up to a charging station with limited range, only to discover you can’t use it.
The new feature is rolling out already, although it may take a few weeks to show up worldwide. It will surely make longer EV trips a breeze for Waze users. This also gives us hope that Google Maps won’t lag too far behind. The app currentlyshows you charging stations, installed connectors, operating hours, charging wattage, and all that good stuff, but doesn’t yet allow adding them as charging stops.
