TomTom devices to include EV charging information

(Coulomb)

TomTom navigation systems in the US are to include directions to charging stations for electric vehicles.

Electric car charger manufacturer Coulomb Technologies announced a partnership with the satellite navigation manufacturer July 18, promising that being able to find charging stations would reduce range anxiety.

At an event this week, Coulomb and TomTom have unveiled a new system which allows drivers to find their nearest available charging station, optimise routes for charging stations, reserve charging stations and access charging station information such as power, pricing and connector type.

It follows the launch of an iPhone and Android app with similar functionality, but in a statement July 18, Coulomb's CEO Pat Romano described the partnership with TomTom as a milestone for the electric vehicle industry.

"The successful adoption of electric vehicles will depend on the ability of EV drivers to easily locate charging stations and more importantly to ensure that the station is available, especially now when there are more EVs than stations in many locations."

The addition of charger information to TomTom marks another major advance in the battle to make the public aware of such services - the in-car navigation system included with the Nissan Leaf, for instance, can already direct drivers to the closest charge point.

Earlier this year, Coulomb competitor ECOtality announced a new app for its Blink network of charging points, which allows users to identify available charging stations close to them, while Google added similar functionality to its maps service in March, using a database of publicly-accessible charging points (from multiple providers) compiled by the GeoEVSE Forum.

http://www.tomtom.com