Chevy Bolt EV Forum banner
  • Hey Guest, welcome to ChevyBolt.org. We encourage you to register to engage in conversations about your Bolt.
  • Battery replacement master thread - please do not create a new thread.

A better route planner ........ again

3.6K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  MattADK  
#1 ·
I'm trying to learn how to use it. There are several threads here, but all of them seem to be a year old or more.
So, I have some questions. I do not have the premium plan, nor a dongle at the moment and I would like to learn how to use the basic service.

1. Reference consumption........ Isn't this a hard number to set? Besides driving habits, won't the use of climate control have a big impact on this number? Thereby, you have to change it dramatically depending on the weather?

2. When planning a round trip from home, and your destination, say150 miles away, ABRP suggests you make one stop each way for charging. All well and good. But ABRP doesn't know that I have charging available at the destination. It does appear that you can edit things at your destination, but I can't seem to make ABPR understand that if I got back up to say, 100% at my destination, that I would not need any charging stops. Even when I recalculate, it doesn't eliminate the stops. Even if I select fewer stops. Now, common sense calculations in my head, or on the back of a napkin, tell me I'm going to make it, but ABRP won't eliminate those two stops. Do I just have to calculate two separate trips?

Also..... where it says Charge? Do I put in the kWhr of the charger and then the time? But if you click the little clock symbol, it changes to percentage%. Am I supposed to click in the percentage SOC that I got up to at the destination? No matter what I try, I cannot eliminate the two unnecessary charging stops.

Obviously, I am missing something?????????
 
#2 ·
It does appear that you can edit things at your destination, but I can't seem to make ABPR understand that if I got back up to say, 100% at my destination, that I would not need any charging stops.
If you don't think you'll need any charging stops on your way back, I'd simply discontinue using ABRP for the trip home and switch back to something like Google Maps or Waze. If you get into trouble you can always call up plugshare to try to find something nearby quick.
 
#5 ·
Actually, I just figured it all out... Question 2 anyway. If you know you will be adding charge at your destination, you have to add it in before you do your first calculation.
🥴
FWIW the Chevy App is flaky but when it works EnergyAssist is amazingly accurate...no dongles and no guess work.
I also use ABRP from time to time but the EnergyAssist is free and requires no extra hardware on my part.
For more complicated trips I will use both from a planning perspective.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I use ABRP to do a full route calculation, to help decide things like "which highway should I take". But not on the actual trip.

For each leg, I do:
  • use ABRP to guess % consumption between this charger and the next charger, at the speed I plan to drive, including road surface (rain/snow), wind/ambient temp (advanced settings... use Windy app to see wind).
  • use ABRP again to guess % consumption driving from the next charger to the "nearest backup charger" at a slow speed (50mph on hwy, 60mph on freeway), just in case the next charger doesn't work for me.
  • add the two together, and charge to that %, plus 5%. I can usually see exact battery % on the charger display... no need for myChevy.

Then drive.
 
#8 ·
I'm beginning to like Waze more and more. Once you get it to acknowledge your car as an EV, and you click on the "EV station" icon it shows you the locations of all, or filtered chargers, on your route. You also get a list of each site and how many minutes and miles each will take you out of your way. It tells you the distance from your location to each charger so you can pick one where you might need a rest stop. And it tells you how many and the type of charger, and a few other tidbits.
 
#9 ·
Now that it is Summer, I routinely run across State 170 miles one-way. I used plugshare to research all possible DCFC and user reviews.. Most got scratched off the list due to bad reviews on reliability. One new Electrify America (EA) just opened FINALLY and so far has been a buggy disaster for users (hard pass for now). Another EA an hour East is extremely reliable, but not cheap -- so a good backup plan, which I have several plotted out.

I now frequent a reliable 30 cent Chargepoint DCFC across State. It even accepted $500 EVGO card first try -- but since then it has rejected it as "unrecognized". So I just use my Chargepoint account, happy camper. I haven't used the ABRP yet but will definitely try it. I didn't know Waze had EV recommendations so thats good to know.

As infrastructure improves the next few years, it will get better. Until then, I pre-chart my long distance destinations like I am flying alone in a Cessna! Make the hand calculations, watch the dials, enjoy the ride!