Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Five years ago, there weren’t many good electric vehicle options on the market in the US. Today, there are dozens. You no longer have to buy a Tesla to get an electric car with good range, truly fast charging, and good tech and features at a decent price. You can even now get non-Tesla EVs that have access to the vast, super reliable, and easy to use Tesla Supercharger network. However, one of the big advantages Tesla has retained, in my opinion, is a much superior navigation system for long road trips that includes great integration of charging stops. Until now.
Ford has worked with Google to offer something that sounds exactly like what Tesla has in its navigation system. Here’s what Anthony Phillips, Product Manager at Ford, wrote yesterday in a LinkedIn post:
“We’re rolling out a software update to Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles that enables EV routing for Google Maps through Android Auto, plus a couple of surprises.
“We first announced at CES 2024 that this update will provide electric vehicle customers with an estimated battery level upon arrival at a destination, suggest charging stops along the way and even estimate how long charging will take based on live information from the vehicle.
“The update also allows Android Auto customers to view compatible Tesla Supercharger locations to charge at with an adapter, while driving in a Ford electric vehicle and using Google Maps. This includes enroute preconditioning of the battery when navigating to a DC fast charger and being able to see available chargers along the route.
“Our team saw an opportunity to provide customers with an end-to-end EV routing experience in Google Maps, and we’re proud to work with Google to make it happen. To experience this firsthand, drivers who have received the Ford software update should download the latest version of Google Maps to their smartphone and pull up the app in Android Auto.
“Special thanks to all who were involved: Sena Hermiz, Dyuti Chakravarthy, Erik Biberstein, James Graham, Manu Paul, Surendar Gupta, Sandeep Kumar Shaw, Adam Diehm, and many others!”
Of course, I’d have to test the system to see if this works as well as Tesla’s system, but it’s the same idea. Everything described above is how Tesla’s navigation system works, and it makes road trips far easier than even in a gas-powered car. I once drove a Tesla Model S from Poland to Paris, and it was the easiest long road trip I’ve ever taken. We didn’t have to think or look for a place to pull over and fuel up at all. We just had to follow the navigation, which brought us to charging stations as needed. We typically stayed a little longer than we were supposed to (from the basics of using the bathroom, grabbing food, getting coffee, stretching, etc.), and then the car would just modify the route as needed to charge less often or to charge less at the next stop.
Anyway, it’s wonderful the Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E will now have a similar feature. I imagine it will help many Ford drivers greatly, and will also help to stimulate more EV sales.
Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one if daily is too frequent.
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy
