How to use less gas when driving with Google Maps

In recent weeks, if you use Google Maps to plan your driving route, you may notice a green and white leaf icon next to the expected driving time. The icon indicates that Google believes it is the most fuel-efficient route, and Google says this navigation option can help users save fuel costs.

How to enable environmentally friendly route planning

This tool may not be open to you yet due to the way Google launches new features, but when it appears on your phone, you can choose how the map handles the route.

These small leaves will only appear on the screen when you select your destination in the free Android or iOS app, click Route, and select the car icon to get the driving route. You can click the three points in the upper right corner, then click the Route option , and turn on or off the toggle next to Prefer to the toggle next to the fuel-saving route to adjust the settings.

When enabled, the map will recommend fuel-saving routes by default when the arrival time is similar to the less efficient path. If you turn it off, you will still see an option with leaf markers on the screen, but the map will suggest the fastest route (or routes that meet other parameters you set, such as avoiding tolls, highways, or ferries) . Sometimes the fastest and most fuel-efficient routes are the same.

Pick one of the potentially greener routes and the map will show how much fuel it thinks you will save. For example, in a 35-minute trip we tried, Google estimated that by spending three extra minutes on the road we could save 9% of fuel. We haven't thoroughly tested the app yet, but when you choose between local routes instead of planning long road trips, you seem to get more fuel savings by percentage.

What happened behind the scenes

Google uses artificial intelligence and data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to calculate its fuel-optimized routes, which the company says typically have less slope, less traffic congestion and constant speeds.

[Related: 5 uses of Google Maps besides navigation]

Learn more deeply, the app notes that digital calculations include such as average fuel consumption for vehicles in your area, the steepness of the route slope, stop-and-go traffic conditions and whether you will be on a local road or driving on highways and other factors.

Last point: These are just estimates, so there is no guarantee that fuel costs can be saved by choosing an environmentally friendly route, or time can be saved by choosing a speed. But it's definitely worth a try.

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