Google Maps EV Integration - a road trip frustration

spicy_taco

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jack
Joined
Sep 23, 2022
Threads
41
Messages
582
Reaction score
414
Location
Bay Area, CA
Vehicles
2023 Mach-E Premium AWD
Country flag
Hi,

I finally took a road trip and tried to use Google Maps with the EV integration to plan out my EV charging stops.

I ended up with two frustrations
1) No way to filter on specific networks (such as only Tesla or EA)
2) No way to tell how long to charge at each stop.

1 is quite frustrating because Google Maps will auto populate chargers from random networks and there is no way to filter (that I know of). Yes, te ebuilt-in ford nav also did that, but at least it stuck to the Ford network ones.

2 was actually the main pain point for me. Once it adds the stops for you, it doesn't tell you what % to charge up to on each. It just tells you "charge for 25 min". I'm not sure if it takes into account the charge curve, so to me not only is the duration based method cumbersome, but also inaccurate.

I ended up reverting to ABRP and the internal navigation for much of the trip. I also made use of the Public Charging app to get directions to the Tesla chargers, since the internal app still lacks that. On the other hand, Google Maps SOC prediction was better than the built in nav one.

Has anyone successfully used Google Maps with the EV integration for long trip planning? Were you able to work around issues 1 and 2, and if so, how?
Sponsored

 

Deleted member 19354

Guest
Maybe because I’m an Apple user? I find it almost useless.
Apple Maps I can’t figure out to single of certain public chargers. I disk like BLINK and EVgo for the main reason they charge a fee before even the charge is initiated. Suctions. I’ve been on the settings of Apple can can’t figure it out. I’m personally a fan of EA and Charge Point
 

TheSeg

Well-Known Member
First Name
Seg
Joined
Oct 5, 2020
Threads
9
Messages
330
Reaction score
731
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Website
seg.fyi
Vehicles
2021 Mach-E Premium EB-RWD (Built: Feb 2021)
Country flag
Apple Maps I can’t figure out to single of certain public chargers.
As of iOS 18 it's inside the Apple Maps app itself. iOS 17 is similar, if not the same:
  1. Open Apple Maps app.
  2. Tap on your account picture (to the right of "Search Maps" input box).
  3. Tap Vehicles.
  4. Tap your Mustang Mach-E
    • This should have your car(s) that you already paired to CarPlay.
  5. See list of Charging Networks
    • To add:
      • Tap the "Add Network" at the bottom of the "Charging Networks" list.
      • Add as desired.
    • To remove:
      • Tap "Edit" on the top-right.
      • Remove "Charging Networks" as desired by tapping "(-)" then "Delete" to confirm.
      • Tap "Done".
  6. Tap "Done".
 

B177y

Well-Known Member
First Name
Bill
Joined
Sep 17, 2023
Threads
16
Messages
417
Reaction score
630
Location
Olympic Peninsula, WA
Vehicles
'23 J2 MME Premium, '24 Lightning Pro ER, '20 Bolt
Country flag
Hi,

I finally took a road trip and tried to use Google Maps with the EV integration to plan out my EV charging stops.

I ended up with two frustrations
1) No way to filter on specific networks (such as only Tesla or EA)
2) No way to tell how long to charge at each stop.

1 is quite frustrating because Google Maps will auto populate chargers from random networks and there is no way to filter (that I know of). Yes, te ebuilt-in ford nav also did that, but at least it stuck to the Ford network ones.

2 was actually the main pain point for me. Once it adds the stops for you, it doesn't tell you what % to charge up to on each. It just tells you "charge for 25 min". I'm not sure if it takes into account the charge curve, so to me not only is the duration based method cumbersome, but also inaccurate.

I ended up reverting to ABRP and the internal navigation for much of the trip. I also made use of the Public Charging app to get directions to the Tesla chargers, since the internal app still lacks that. On the other hand, Google Maps SOC prediction was better than the built in nav one.

Has anyone successfully used Google Maps with the EV integration for long trip planning? Were you able to work around issues 1 and 2, and if so, how?
I did a 3300+ mile round trip from WA to ND in my Lightning at the end of Oct and had the same experience as you. I tried Google Maps but ended up reverting to ABRP (paid version) with an OBD connection on Android Auto. ABRP with the OBD is, in my opinion, what the Ford nav SHOULD be. ABRP was much easier to use and filter charging stops, as well as pre-planning the entire route and syncing it to the app.

My trip report on the Lightning forum:
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...t-i-love-road-tripping-in-my-lightning.22582/
 

Deleted member 19354

Guest
As of iOS 18 it's inside the Apple Maps app itself. iOS 17 is similar, if not the same:
  1. Open Apple Maps app.
  2. Tap on your account picture (to the right of "Search Maps" input box).
  3. Tap Vehicles.
  4. Tap your Mustang Mach-E
    • This should have your car(s) that you already paired to CarPlay.
  5. See list of Charging Networks
    • To add:
      • Tap the "Add Network" at the bottom of the "Charging Networks" list.
      • Add as desired.
    • To remove:
      • Tap "Edit" on the top-right.
      • Remove "Charging Networks" as desired by tapping "(-)" then "Delete" to confirm.
      • Tap "Done".
  6. Tap "Done".
Excellent. Thank you!
 


2FlyMache

Well-Known Member
First Name
Patrick
Joined
Aug 9, 2021
Threads
10
Messages
685
Reaction score
791
Location
Martinez GA
Vehicles
2021 Rapid Red Ex4 MachE
Country flag
As of iOS 18 it's inside the Apple Maps app itself. iOS 17 is similar, if not the same:
  1. Open Apple Maps app.
  2. Tap on your account picture (to the right of "Search Maps" input box).
  3. Tap Vehicles.
  4. Tap your Mustang Mach-E
    • This should have your car(s) that you already paired to CarPlay.
  5. See list of Charging Networks
    • To add:
      • Tap the "Add Network" at the bottom of the "Charging Networks" list.
      • Add as desired.
    • To remove:
      • Tap "Edit" on the top-right.
      • Remove "Charging Networks" as desired by tapping "(-)" then "Delete" to confirm.
      • Tap "Done".
  6. Tap "Done".
The main problem with Apple though, while it will let you select Tesla as a charging network, it won't allow a non Tesla to route to one. No adapter selection in the plug menu. Had to use ABRP for my last trip so I could charge at Tesla stations
 

Guss-E 2021

Well-Known Member
First Name
Pierre
Joined
Aug 12, 2021
Threads
67
Messages
1,895
Reaction score
2,327
Location
New Hampshire
Vehicles
2022 Mach-E Prem AWD ER
Occupation
Compliance Specialist
Country flag
I do not believe my car has been updated to allow Google Maps access to SoC data. I rarely road trip beyond the cars single charge range (New England is a very compact region compared to the rest of the country). I'd have to let my SoC get pretty low to even test out Maps recommending a charge stop on a route.

I also hope there are plans to do this with Waze.
 

YeOldeTraveller

Well-Known Member
First Name
Clark
Joined
Jul 12, 2024
Threads
6
Messages
329
Reaction score
378
Location
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Vehicles
2024 MME Rally
Country flag
I used Google Maps on my current road trip, and the previous one.

I abandoned the attempt on the previous one as it was routing me to a 62 KW charger when there were multiple 150+ KW chargers nearby, and there was no reasonable way to replace that charger. (You could try, but it was really looking for chargers near your current location, and I was unable to get the nearby Tesla and EA chargers to even show as options.) I ended up using ABRP for that trip.

This trip, I planned the route with ABRP as there is no way to plan the trip with Google Maps. I use ABRP to determine the next stop, and select that as the destination in Google Maps. Google Maps was a bit optimistic in the segments between Michigan and Colorado. The two segments over and through the mountains were very close in the arrival SoC estimates. I tried to route further than the next charger, but the route would get cleared when I disconnected my phone from the car. Finally, I would route to the next charger when I arrived at the current charger. I would add my desired arrival SoC to the current negative arrival estimate and the current SoC to get my target SoC for this session.

Things that need to be improved:
  • Report target SoC for each charging stops
  • Remember the last active route when reattached to the car
  • Improve the method to select replacement chargers
I have not checked for these myself, but they are also needed features:
  • The ability to set desired Destination and Charger arrival SoC
  • The ability to filter routing options by network and available power

I would just use ABRP, but ABRP cannot tell the car that the next stop is a charger, and it cannot report the remaining miles to next stop to the car in a way that works. I always get 0 miles in the display. ABRP reports these fine in its display on the center console, but I don't really want to have to keep looking over there.
 
OP
OP

spicy_taco

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jack
Joined
Sep 23, 2022
Threads
41
Messages
582
Reaction score
414
Location
Bay Area, CA
Vehicles
2023 Mach-E Premium AWD
Country flag
I used Google Maps on my current road trip, and the previous one.

I abandoned the attempt on the previous one as it was routing me to a 62 KW charger when there were multiple 150+ KW chargers nearby, and there was no reasonable way to replace that charger. (You could try, but it was really looking for chargers near your current location, and I was unable to get the nearby Tesla and EA chargers to even show as options.) I ended up using ABRP for that trip.

This trip, I planned the route with ABRP as there is no way to plan the trip with Google Maps. I use ABRP to determine the next stop, and select that as the destination in Google Maps. Google Maps was a bit optimistic in the segments between Michigan and Colorado. The two segments over and through the mountains were very close in the arrival SoC estimates. I tried to route further than the next charger, but the route would get cleared when I disconnected my phone from the car. Finally, I would route to the next charger when I arrived at the current charger. I would add my desired arrival SoC to the current negative arrival estimate and the current SoC to get my target SoC for this session.

Things that need to be improved:
  • Report target SoC for each charging stops
  • Remember the last active route when reattached to the car
  • Improve the method to select replacement chargers
I have not checked for these myself, but they are also needed features:
  • The ability to set desired Destination and Charger arrival SoC
  • The ability to filter routing options by network and available power

I would just use ABRP, but ABRP cannot tell the car that the next stop is a charger, and it cannot report the remaining miles to next stop to the car in a way that works. I always get 0 miles in the display. ABRP reports these fine in its display on the center console, but I don't really want to have to keep looking over there.
Thanks for confirming that I'm not the only one who considers Google Maps inadequate for route planning at this point. It feels like the feature set is in its infancy. I hope Google takes steps to enhance it soon, since it's lacking some very basic functionality. But I can also see Google not doing anything to improve the functionality for a while, unless it brings them money.
Sponsored

 
 







Top