QSprung evaluated Google-Maps new fuel-saving option

Recently it was announced that Google added a fuel-saving option to it’s popular service Google-Maps. We at QSprung were excited that the idea of route planning focussed on energy-efficient travelling is becoming more an more popular, obviously also driven by rising energy costs.

Eco-options were already common in the early days of car-navigation, where we had special devices attached to the wind-screen that offered “least energy” routing. And they really did that, though there was no real difference between “least energy” and “least distance”, and these routes were not of any practical use except for doing adventure trips pushing adrenalin.

So we took a look at Google-Maps new fuel-saving option, and here is what we found, heading south-east to Rhein-Main Airport:

It shows a fuel-saving alternative off the motorway, marked with a green leave. Obviuosly just bullshit, because this is more time AND more distance. Sure this is also slow driving, which is fuel saving. But of course, when you want to save fuel, you are better of just driving slow on the motorway.

In contrast, energy-efficient routes from QSprung’s “ERouter” are “globally efficient”, meaning no equal energy alternatives are faster, and no equal driving time alternatives need less energy. It is astonishing that the big market players fail to provide the same quality.