TechSoftwareAppsAndroid Automotive is the future I want, but its Google Maps app has a long way to goWhen it comes to driving an electric car, Google Maps isn’t up to scratch. Yet.When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechSoftwareAppsAndroid Automotive is the future I want, but its Google Maps app has a long way to goWhen it comes to driving an electric car, Google Maps isn’t up to scratch. Yet.When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When it comes to driving an electric car, Google Maps isn’t up to scratch. Yet.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Volvo)
(Image credit: Volvo)
Ever since it first arrived on the Polestar 2, I have sung the praises ofAndroid Automotive.
But, while I have no doubt that the future is bright forAndroidAutomotive (not to be confused with the smartphone-poweredAndroid Auto), I have recently discovered how its Google Maps app still has a long way to go. Especially when it comes to driving an electric car.
I had borrowed a Volvo C40 to drive from London to Cornwall and back, and almost immediately it was clear thatGoogle Mapsisn’t as good as some manufacturer-made mapping apps, especially the gold standard that is Tesla’s navigation system.
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
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When entering another destination (for a rapid charger I had found on my phone), Google Maps then followed its usual preference for the fastest route. This was 20 miles further than another option, yet saved just one minute and meant I would ‘arrive’ with -11-percent battery. So I’d have to stop. Why doesn’t the app recognise this, and then prioritise a route that either includes a rapid charger, or ends with some charge remaining?
I had hoped that digging into the app’s settings menu would help. But instead, this only has the simple options anyone who uses Google Maps on their phone will be familiar with: avoiding motorways, toll roads and ferries. Nothing about prioritising rapid chargers, and frustratingly there’s no way to tell the system you’d like to arrive with a certain battery percentage remaining. This could be useful when visiting friends who live remotely and have no charger of their own.
(Image credit: Volvo)
(Image credit: Volvo)
I also found issues with Google Assistant, which at one point was no longer able to tell me the car’s range, and instead tried to find local businesses with ‘range’ in their name. This issue fixed itself later in the journey.
The app should also remind drivers of the maximum charge speed of their car. That way, drivers will know that any rapid charger of 150kW or above (up to the fastest 350kW options) will fill their car at 100kW or 150kW, if that’s the vehicle’s limit.
Charger companies also need to share real-time data with mapping apps when it comes to charger functionality. I arrived at an Ionity station in need of a short, rapid charge, plugged into the only available charger, and then discovered it was faulty, so would only operate at 10-percent of its maximum speed (about 30kW, about a quarter of what the Volvo could handle).
As the ban on internal combustion car sales looms, the public charging network still has a long way to go. And, as I discovered on this journey, so too do navigation applications and infotainment systems. So while Android Automotive shows the most potential (along with the huge updateApplehas planned forCarPlayover the next couple of years), there’s still a lot more work to be done.
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