Google to provide map to electric-car charging stations

CHICAGO — Soon electric vehicle owners looking for somewhere to charge up will need little more than Google.

The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday that a new partnership will draw on Google Maps to create an online network of all the charging stations in the country and will serve as a primary data source for GPS and mapping services to track electric vehicle charging locations.

The effort includes 80 partners.

Coloumb Technologies and 350Green LLC, which is leading an effort to install 280 public charging stations in the Chicago area, said they are among the companies that will be included in Google searches.

“We will work closely with Google to ensure their database has the most current list of 350Green charging stations in our markets across the country. While we strive to make our stations highly visible and highly convenient, an application like Google, combined with a mobile device and in-vehicle GPS, will make it even easier for EV drivers to plug in at our stations,” said Mariana Gerzanych, co-founder and CEO of 350Green.

Brian Levin, vice president of Carbon Day Automotive, the exclusive distributor for Coulomb equipment for the Midwest, said, “They will show our stations on Google, which is great. And something we have worked to happen.”

He said Google is not seen as a competitor to the ChargePoint network because Coulomb provides services Google does not, such as billing, smartphone applications, interaction with the driver via text message or email, customer support and a reservation system.