News, Links and Other Musings

Planning your long EV road trip

Highly recommended:

  1. Standard Navigation Software. Either your vehicle’s or your favorite app thru Apple Car Play or Android Auto. Google Maps is my go-to.
  2. Apps on your phone for charging networks. I have Electrify America (EA), ChargePoint, and EVgo.
  3. An app that highlights all the EV chargers or plugs that are available for your use…I utilize PlugShare and find it excellent.
  4. A dedicated EV route planner app…after reading good reviews about ABRP (A Better Route Planner), I’ve started using it myself.

BLUF: Your EV trip will be much smoother with access to the right data and a little bit of planning.

I prefer my iPhone based navigation (displayed thru Apple Car Play) over car-based systems. Why? Because they’re good, they update automatically, and I can access them when I’m away from the car.

On my last road trip, I developed my plan for the day using ABRP…you can set different preferences for how many stops you’d like and your preferred charging networks (I used EA because of my free Kw). I found ABRP accurately highlighted which legs might be most challenging due to range/elevation gain/road conditions.

Along the way, while I was charging, I used the EA app to confirm that the chargers at the next stop were available and working…and luckily never came across a charging location that was fully down.

At my destination, I used PlugShare to find L1 wall plugs or L2 chargers that I could use…for instance, PlugShare was quite handy identifying a free L2 charger I could use on Western Illinois’ parking lot while I went for a run.

For my EV6, I found that I can generally 20% of the battery in one long night’s charging from a L1 wallplug.

Always charge when you can, especially if it’s free.

If your predicted range is less than t he distance to your next destination, you have a major problem (I’ve never encountered this).

For an alternative view of a long road trip, read this: https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-rented-an-electric-car-for-a-four-day-road-trip-i-spent-more-time-charging-it-than-i-did-sleeping-11654268401

My experience was much better than theirs…I think they forgot about the data and planning.