Google Maps is a great tool for helping you find your destination, as well as other geographical and travel functions. It provides turn-by-turn directions, the location of landmarks, street views, and business reviews. Most people use Google Maps to find the fastest route to a destination with their car. However, Google Maps has a new feature that shows the most fuel-efficient route.

How to find the most fuel-efficient route on Google Maps

In addition to showing routes with the shortest driving time and distance, Google Maps shows an alternate route that’s the most fuel-efficient and eco-friendly, according to CNN. On the Google Maps app, the most fuel-efficient route displays on the screen with a small green leaf on it. 

Select this route and get turn-by-turn directions. Also, the eco-friendly route option includes information about how much fuel you can save compared to the other routes, as well as how long it takes to reach a destination. Google claims that the fuel-efficient route option usually won’t be much longer than the other routes. You’ll still be able to see the fastest routes on Google Maps. You can choose whether to take the fastest or the most fuel-efficient route.

Google aims to reduce carbon emissions

The aim behind the new fuel-efficient route feature is to reduce carbon emissions. Google wants to help users make better-informed decisions about travel and understand the effects of travel on carbon emissions and climate change. 

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), eco-friendly routes could reduce carbon emissions by more than one million tons per year. That would be like taking 200,000 cars off the road. For the fuel-efficient route feature, Google utilizes data from the NREL. This includes traffic conditions, road incline, constant speeds, constant speeds, and other factors to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions. 

Find airplane flights on Google Flights with lower carbon emissions

In addition to the fuel-efficient routes on Google Maps for traveling by car, Google has a new feature on Google Flights that helps you find flights with lower carbon emissions. For nearly every flight in the search results, Google Flights will show the estimated carbon emissions. It will still have the trip duration and price information. According to Google, the emissions estimates are “seat-specific” and “flight-specific.”

Google Maps lite navigation for bikers and bike/scooter sharing features

Another part of the eco-friendly push for Google Maps is the new lite navigation feature for bikers. Biking is obviously a more environmentally-friendly means of transportation than driving. With this in mind, Google improved Google Maps for bikers. Part of the difficulty in using Google Maps when biking is that bikers usually leave their phone in their pocket for most of their trip. This makes it difficult to follow the Google Maps turn-by-turn directions. 

With the lite navigation feature on Google Maps, bike riders can see route details without having to activate turn-by-turn navigation or keep their smartphone screens on all the time. With the new Google Maps upgrades, cyclists can also see the real-time ETA, track the progress of their trip, and view the elevation. 

Google also has a new feature for bike and scooter sharing, available in 300 cities around the world. Users can find docking stations for bikes and scooters. Also, they can see how many bikes and scooters are currently available.