New and Improved Waze Now Shows Current EV Charging Locations

Satellite navigation app Waze is adding electric vehicle charging locations to help drivers juice up. 

This is not just a simple reskin of the app to show charging stations along with everything else. EV charging station data is often unreliable, leaving drivers in the lurch, so the company is leveraging its technology to allow local users to add new stations to the map and delete non-functional stations. This information is reviewed and updated in real-time for accuracy.

Unlike gas stations, however, not all EVs can access the same charging stations, further complicating things. Waze has a novel way of getting around this issue. Add relevant information about your car into the app, and it will prioritize the correct EV charging stations on the map. 

"By adding up-to-date EV charging information to the Waze map, it's even easier to charge your car and get help finding where or when you'll come across the next station," the company wrote in a blog post. 

Experts predict that national adoption of electric vehicles will balloon to 50 percent of all cars sold by 2030, up from just five percent now. In other words, that's a whole lot of people looking for charging stations. 

Waze's brand-new feature is available starting today, but with a tiered rollout, so it may be a week or two before the update is available for every user. In the meantime, make a mental note of any nearby charging stations.