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Google Maps adds improved EV route planning

17K views 51 replies 25 participants last post by  krheinwald 
#1 ·
Apparently we're getting AI to help plan our charging stops and routes more effectively in the latest update to Google Maps ...


It also mentions taking in to account memberships, but not sure how you tell Google you have a preference for a specific charging provider currently.
 
#8 ·
Some background information on the routing algorithm: Addressing Range Anxiety with Smart Electric Vehicle Routing
This was a great read! I learned something new - spanners.

Apparently we're getting AI to help plan our charging stops and routes more effectively in the latest update to Google Maps ...


It also mentions taking in to account memberships, but not sure how you tell Google you have a preference for a specific charging provider currently.
Looking very promising!
 
#5 ·
Apparently we're getting AI to help plan our charging stops and routes more effectively in the latest update to Google Maps ...


It also mentions taking in to account memberships, but not sure how you tell Google you have a preference for a specific charging provider currently.
I do wish there was a way to directly get feedback to the Google engineers, a la the (possible black hole) of our pings to CS and the polestarfeaturerequest.com site.

My main wish list would be:
  • Indicate the expected time and % battery left at the end of the suggested charging stop, so I know what % to shoot for in case charging rate is low due to cold-gating or the like.
  • Specify chargers to not use or specifically use - I know that certain chargers are broke or invariably blocked from PlugShare or similar apps; let me specify that
  • Add ability to search for food/recreation/rest options nearby - like filter by places with nearby food courts and restrooms
  • Filter by charging speed - my last road trip Google kept suggesting I use a level II charge point station when there was a 150kW rapid station <5 mi away. I see no way that a 7kW stop would be net faster than a 150kW stop - so something in the algorithm is screwy.
  • Filter by vendor - e.g. "I have $500 in ChargePoint - please use those". Maybe also an indicator of how much cash you're willing to pay? Like "Electrify America is fine, I'll pay it" or "Electrify America is stupidly expensive; no"

Basically I'd like to merge Google's accurate predictive algorithms of battery % over a route and all of ABRP's features re charging prediction and how much info it gives re different routes
 
#6 ·
  • Add ability to search for food/recreation/rest options nearby - like filter by places with nearby food courts and restrooms
  • Filter by charging speed - my last road trip Google kept suggesting I use a level II charge point station when there was a 150kW rapid station <5 mi away. I see no way that a 7kW stop would be net faster than a 150kW stop - so something in the algorithm is screwy.
  • Filter by vendor - e.g. "I have $500 in ChargePoint - please use those". Maybe also an indicator of how much cash you're willing to pay? Like "Electrify America is fine, I'll pay it" or "Electrify America is stupidly expensive; no"
From what I've read today, I'm thinking the new update will pretty much cover these.
 
#7 ·
The new routing algorithm is already there. Fast-Chargers along the route are already selected:

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No more picking from a list with chargers ranging from 11-150kW. Nice.

I wonder why it is planning for a 35% arrival SoC, though. You could probably save 10mins on the second stop.
 
#10 ·
That's great - would be great to know what % you're meant to charge to at each stop and not how much time to spend there since the charging curve seems to be so variable and I doubt Google has all that variation modeled out just yet
 
#13 ·
Haven't used ABRP, but tried this and it looks good. Only limitation is it doesn't do longer trips, so from near London I can plan a trip eg to Monaco, but not much further out, which is fine because I wouldn't even drive that far on a single day anyway.

What makes ABRP better?
 
#15 ·
Apparently we're getting AI to help plan our charging stops and routes more effectively in the latest update to Google Maps ...


It also mentions taking in to account memberships, but not sure how you tell Google you have a preference for a specific charging provider currently.
Off subject it appears we are identical twins
 
#20 ·
I've only driven there once, in a rental, with the family. It struck me as the ultimate poser spot. There were incredible cars there. I remember one guy got into one and really wanted to gun it and impress everybody as he left, but the traffic was so jammed up, he only had about 50 meters to pull it off. It came off as a weak effort.

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#24 · (Edited)
Despite the recent update (dec 19) of Google Maps with its new fast charging station algorithm, this only seems to work for long trips with 2 or more charge sessions.

For example, when I plan a route to lets say Hamburg in Germany, from my home in Netherlands, this is a trip of 498 km and google suggests automatically most efficient charging stops alongside the route to get to the destination with optimised travel time. Without charging 4hr:44min.

(In this case my start SoC is 50% at home)

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When I go along with the suggestion to add charging stops (blue button), google maps chooses effective fast charging stops along the route to charge as short as possible to reach destination:

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Which brings me there in 6hours 14 mins, not bad.

So, this works reasonable, still no possibility to filter on charging speeds, find alternatives if occupied, or select a type/brand of charging station to match compatibility with your charging pass/subscription.

HOWEVER, when I try to navigate closer to home, still a descent trip of 244km, let's say to Groningen in the North of Holland, then google maps still recognises that I need to charge in order to reach my destination - which is good - BUT then it suggests ONLY slow charging options along the route, which charging times ranging from 4.5-13 hours (!!). AND not a single fast charge station along the route, which MANY are available in Netherlands. Fastned, Ionity, Shell Recharge, all on the highway route route to Groningen every 20miles of so... These fast charge startions are now suddenly all ignored by Google maps and no option/filter to select these!!

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Charging stops suggested by Google, option 1/2/3: 5 hours, 4.5 hours, 4.5 hours ....

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Charging stops suggested by google option 4/5/6: 5.5 hours, 13 hours (!!), 4.5 hours

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Charging stops options 7/8/9 suggested by google: 3x 4.5 hours

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Highly annoying! You cant plan a trip with your EV like this.

I havent been able to find a workaround in Google Maps in the polestar, other then using a third party charge/navigation app on my phone, like ABRP, Shell recharge, fastned, etc.....

And this is how it should work, with ABRP, simply 1 fastcharge stop on the way....

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@Polestar/Google maps, this is a huge failure/bug in the current navigation system for an EV. The navigation to charge stations is completely USELESS. Depending fully on fast charge options during longer trips, google maps should provide the user with options to actually navigate through these fast charge stations. And not only for a trip for 2 stops or more.

Am I missing the point here maybe? How do you experience this in other countries?

I am planning to file my report to google maps support and polestar support.

Regards
Skywalker.
 
#26 ·
fairly useless for me too in California. I plan out the route in ABRP and check against local restaurants or rest stops in regular Google maps. Then I manually select the route in the car’s Google maps. At least my search history seems to sync nicely between desktop/mobile Google maps and the car Google maps, so just have to click the right next stop after checking it on my phone

but yeah. Definitely frustrating that Google maps in the car is so insufficient
 
#28 ·
Why have they still not fixed the navigation waypoint system?
It's horrible to come to the charge point after 2.5 hours of driving only to see it disappear from the plan and being replaced with "drive on" while not having a clue how long you needed to charge for.
It just baffles me that this information is deleted as soon as you reach the waypoint. Makes it so hard to know how many % to charge to before I can set off.
I've seen this behavior on several multi-chargestop journeys now and it is completely useless...
 
#29 ·
i feel like the only explanation for Google Maps’s continued fail at route planning is they’re deciding whether to bring that in via acquisition of a firm that’s already figured it out. They could easily fix this if they devoted resources to it. They just clearly haven’t done that
 
#31 ·
So I've been on a long trip (returned home yesterday), and while Google Maps in the car is good at estimating SOC at arrival, it is still terribly lacking in many areas. The biggest issue is that you can't really use it when you want to have multiple destinations on a long trip (while still keeping the end destination). If you want to drive a particular route, that's also not possible unless Maps chooses that route as the fastest route.

It is also annoying that it just displays 0% if it thinks you can't get there with the current charge. I really would like it to do what Tesla does, which is simply to show a negative percentage. It is extremely elegant, and very intuitive to understand. It also shows you in an instant approximately how much more charge you need to get there.

I did try ABRP, but with that you can't have the map show in the instrument cluster, and I simply prefer Google Maps also on the center screen. ABRP was also less accurate (I don't have premium) at estimating charge at arrival, and it fluctuated a lot underway. Maps usually starts off a little bit conservative, but it is seldom far off the mark when you arrive.

@KreAture A workaround for the "how much to charge" issue is to enter the next destination while charging, and then look at the estimated charge at arrival. It will update as the car is charged, so even if it starts at 0%, it will eventually rise (as long as your destination isn't completely out of reach on one charge) to a positive number and whenever it reaches a "safe level", for example 10 og 15%, you can leave. Not very user-friendly, and only works if you're sitting in the car, but in some cases it can be useful.
 
#32 ·
You can have multiple destinations you just have to do it in the right order. Input your destination and then add stops from furthest to closest by telling Google to add a stop.

You can also do both Google and ABRP at the same time, so Google stays on your driver display and ABRP on the big screen. You'll notice the driver display doesn't show maps estimate of remaining % so you'll end up switching main display back and forth. ABRP is also a nightmare at not realising you've reached a stop and so it should start directing you to the next one
 
#37 ·
Nope, it's not been enabled - I suspect because it uses a lot of data over the cellular connection.
 
#39 ·
I didn't want to start a new thread, so adding here . .

Over the weekend I discovered that Google Maps now not only shows my expected State of Charge at the destination, but also the SoC likely for when I return.
Quite a good improvement in my opinion, and surprisingly accurate for a change, a couple of percent out on a up and down rural route on a cold day.
 
#40 ·
I didn't want to start a new thread, so adding here . .

Over the weekend I discovered that Google Maps now not only shows my expected State of Charge at the destination, but also the SoC likely for when I return.
Quite a good improvement in my opinion, and surprisingly accurate for a change, a couple of percent out on a up and down rural route on a cold day.
Noticed this too, and it was very welcome data for my trip down to the midlands (192 miles all in) with no charge stops last weekend. Got back with 20%, which is pretty much bang on what Google predicted when I set off.

edit: also extrapolates to 239 miles on a full charge, with a lengthy cooldown period in the middle, which is fantastic really for the time of year.
 
#44 ·
I expect too see a list of upcoming chargers along my route, filtered to my criteria, with the SoC at arrival. Then at any time I should be able to select one of those chargers to set as a waypoint.

Not a novel idea; my previous century Audi showed upcoming petrol stations along the route.
 
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