But only for EV charging stations in Thailand for now
The Nation Thailand.com reports that Google maps has just added a new feature that is sure to help electric vehicle (EV) owners on their commutes by helping them find the nearest and most relevant EV charging stations in Thailand. Their full article is linked here. Thank you The Nation Thailand.com for this information.
So the newest update to Google Maps adds a feature that can direct drivers to the nearest EV charging stations. Though, at least for the moment, this feature is only available in Thailand. Why only Thailand? Well they are one of, if not the most advanced ASEAN countries in terms of EV adoption and infrastructure.
With that in mind, is it really that surprising that they would enjoy this cool new feature before anyone else? Hopefully when Malaysia installs more EV charging stations, perhaps we could also see this feature on Google maps but until then, a feature like this wouldn’t make a lot of sense here in Malaysia anyway.
Now back to the EV Charging station feature, it is actually very simple to use. Users simply need to launch the Google Maps app then click on the “more” button under the search bar and look for “electric vehicle charging” under the “services” category. That’s it, then the app will direct you to the nearest charging station.
Moreover, it is very convenient especially if you have forgotten to charge your EV the night before and you’re on a long trip. It could also come in handy should you suddenly have a last minute trip come up and you’re already on the road but don’t quite have enough juice to make the whole trip.
As for why Google Maps saw fit to add in this feature, they say that this is because the company has seen a sharp rise in EV ownership in the country over the past few years. This has led to a surge of new EV charging stations being built in the country to keep up with the higher number of EVs on the road.
On top of that, Google Maps reported the network of EV charging stations in Thailand had gone up by 357 percent in April and this is another reason why this feature is very useful there. It is very good to see that Thailand is leading the push for EV infrastructure in ASEAN and even better to see Malaysia starting to follow suit.
So what do you guys think about this? Will we start seeing this feature get rolled out to other countries soon? When do you think the EV charging station infrastructure in Malaysia will be advanced enough to also get this feature?
