navigation
More than 30 percent fuel savings possible: New Google Maps function makes car journeys cheaper
With the new route option you can save a lot of fuel
© Google / PR
It’s not always about the fastest way to your destination: With a new function, Google Maps can help save fuel when navigating. Unfortunately, this does not work on every route.
Even if prices have recently fallen again, driving a car has become considerably more expensive since Russia attacked Ukraine. With a new feature, Google’s navigation solution Maps wants to bring some relief. The popular app no longer only shows the fastest route – it also offers alternatives that use less fuel.
Google just announced this in a blog post. To save fuel, the route calculation takes into account driving conditions that cost a lot of fuel, such as inclines on the route or frequent starts and stops. And then recommends a route that consumes less than the others. This can be recognized by a sheet that is displayed next to the travel time. If you choose this route, the app also offers an estimate of how big the savings will be compared to the alternative routes.
One more option
To calculate the consumption, Google uses various available data, as with the calculations for the driving time. Live data such as stop-and-go on route sections is also taken into account. As a result, the most economical route can also change over the course of the journey. Google emphasizes that you always choose routes that only cause a reasonable delay.
If you want, you can also make the fuel-saving routes in the app the standard. The route with the lowest consumption is then always offered as the first option; faster alternatives must be specifically selected. The option can be changed again at any time. If you want, you can also tell the app what kind of fuel your vehicle is running on. According to Google, it should then be possible to calculate the savings more precisely.
Savings are not always made
By the way, don’t expect miracles. Google shows examples in which up to 37 percent less fuel is consumed if you drive a few minutes longer. According to the company, the fastest routes are often the ones that consume the least fuel. That makes sense: the longer and further you have to drive, the more fuel you usually end up using.
In the USA and Canada, where the option has been around for some time, it was initially promoted primarily as an environmental measure. According to Google, as many emissions have already been saved there as if 100,000 fewer cars had been on the road.
Source: Google