Android Auto getting EV battery information integrated into Google Maps (starting w/ Mach-E)

[Roomba]

I doubt Google wallet will ever be enabled for our cars. The Mach E uses bluetooth. Google wallet for car keys looks to be for NFC or Ultra-wideband (UWB) only.

Ah you may be right. This Google Wallet article mentions does mention "passive entry"! Here's to hoping but yea, chance is slim to none.

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[Mach-E VLOG]

We were at CES this week and finally had a chance to check out the Google booth yesterday. I got a demo of the EV routing (video coming 'soon') and asked a few questions.

First of all, it will be several months before this is rolled out. The Google rep indicated they are ready but it will be up to Ford to enable via OTA. BUT... in my one test of the system, Google's EV charging route optimization needs some work before I'd use it. I did a sample route from Vegas back to our home in the San DIego area. The first stop it planned was at a rest area with a single 50 kW station. I tried the same route planning with the native nav and it routed to Barstow EA with 9 350 kW stations and a 150. I told the Google rep that would make it completely useless unless that was optimized. He was a PR rep but said he would take that back to the team.

 

[eStang]

We were at CES this week and finally had a chance to check out the Google booth yesterday. I got a demo of the EV routing (video coming 'soon') and asked a few questions.

First of all, it will be several months before this is rolled out. The Google rep indicated they are ready but it will be up to Ford to enable via OTA. BUT... in my one test of the system, Google's EV charging route optimization needs some work before I'd use it. I did a sample route from Vegas back to our home in the San DIego area. The first stop it planned was at a rest area with a single 50 kW station. I tried the same route planning with the native nav and it routed to Barstow EA with 9 350 kW stations and a 150. I told the Google rep that would make it completely useless unless that was optimized. He was a PR rep but said he would take that back to the team.

Without the ability to filter routing based on charger speed it's worse than useless. Bummer. I had higher expectations.

 

[su-ch+mache]

Without the ability to filter routing based on charger speed it's worse than useless. Bummer. I had higher expectations.

You're absolutely right, without selecting vehicle (SR, ER, MME, F150) and charging options (<50 KWh, >50KWh, >150KWh) it is a useless feature

 

[kodiakng]

We were at CES this week and finally had a chance to check out the Google booth yesterday. I got a demo of the EV routing (video coming 'soon') and asked a few questions.

First of all, it will be several months before this is rolled out. The Google rep indicated they are ready but it will be up to Ford to enable via OTA. BUT... in my one test of the system, Google's EV charging route optimization needs some work before I'd use it. I did a sample route from Vegas back to our home in the San DIego area. The first stop it planned was at a rest area with a single 50 kW station. I tried the same route planning with the native nav and it routed to Barstow EA with 9 350 kW stations and a 150. I told the Google rep that would make it completely useless unless that was optimized. He was a PR rep but said he would take that back to the team.

route optimization is all software and on google's side (in the backend) so we have pretty good chances of smoother operation and optional filtering before ford is even ready.

did you happen to ask about battery pre-conditioning en-route? that would be a key feature that requires both google and ford to work together on.

 

[dbsb3233]

Without the ability to filter routing based on charger speed it's worse than useless. Bummer. I had higher expectations.

At this point, I'm less interested in it finding the chargers for me (I plan those myself) than I am in it predicting arrival SOC% (with automatic recalculation en route). There's just too many variables from station to station for me to turn that over to the nav to find for me, unless maybe it's dialed into only looking at EA (or SC) networks. Too much variability in other networks for charging power, payment, pricing, activation method, etc for me to just blindly let the nav pick.

It's why I navigate (via AA) from station to station, not just to the final destination. I plan stops manually but use nav between them.

 

[dbsb3233]

did you happen to ask about battery pre-conditioning en-route? that would be a key feature that requires both google and ford to work together on.

I'm not sure Google would need to do anything for that. Ford already gets the miles-to-destination from AA, as they're grabbing that to display it on the driver display now.

 

[Mach-E VLOG]

route optimization is all software and on google's side (in the backend) so we have pretty good chances of smoother operation and optional filtering before ford is even ready.

did you happen to ask about battery pre-conditioning en-route? that would be a key feature that requires both google and ford to work together on.

The rep confirmed that pre-conditioning is not going to work via Google Maps routing. I asked if it was possible in the future and he didn't know.

 

[Eric_C_Boston]

A demo video is up on Youtube, plus information about Google built-in coming in future Ford vehicles.

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