EA/ABRP trip report

timbop

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After a 4 day 1300 mile road trip from NJ to Port Canaveral via Atlanta, I figured I would share some of my results on ABRP accuracy and Electrify America reliability. It won't be a long report as we're about to set sail, but in brief:

ABRP: after changing the "base" mi/kwh to 3.4 and setting the speed limits to 1.07x speed limit with a 75mph max (I wasn't interested in adding speeding tickets to the expenses) I'd have to give ABRP a B+. I probably could have tweaked the settings some more to get closer to actual kwh usage and charge time (I set the overhead for charging to 1 minute) it was within a few percent. Here's a quick excerpt on estmated vs actual for the first part of the trip:
Ford Mustang Mach-E EA/ABRP trip report Screenshot from 2021-10-02 08-06-22


As for the performance of EA, we did have a few of locations where I had to move, but those were in line with expectations after looking at plugshare. The great news is that I always got a charge, and P&C worked flawlessly. At 2 troubled locations (charlotte and gainseville FL) I ran into technicians working on the units and they confirmed how temperamental those locations are. I had worked in lots of alternatives if I didn't get a charge, but never had to use them. We also tended to start chatting with other EV owners or we were eating so ended up going over the "target" charge several times. Overall I would give EA a C+ since we always got a charge, but the number of "first try flawless" charges was in the 70% range, and we never left a location without reaching our target charge and the charge rates were exactly what they should have been. I did post in plugshare for every EA location we hit along the I-95/I-85/I-75 corridor from NJ to Atlanta via durham NC and finally down to Orlando.

Questions will have to wait until I get back from sea, assuming the Mrs doesn't throw me overboard :)
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I've also concluded that ABRP has significant accuracy issues, the default consumption is way too high. Even adjusting it down still isn't quite right as you found. Wonder if we could work with them on that, not sure what kind of inputs they are using for their model? They seem very Tesla focused.
 

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I've also concluded that ABRP has significant accuracy issues, the default consumption is way too high. Even adjusting it down still isn't quite right as you found. Wonder if we could work with them on that, not sure what kind of inputs they are using for their model? They seem very Tesla focused.
My personal experience with ABRP for my Bolt and my Mach E is that it is not accurate with respect to elevation changes and higher speed limits. It does not seem to matter what you put in for mile/kwh at the 65mph reference in the app, if you have a trip with an elevation change or a 75mph speed limit, it takes a ridiculous input to get an answer that matches reality.

As an example, I took a trip from Phoenix to Grand Canyon, a 6000 foot elevation climb, mostly at 75mph. I reached a charger with 33% battery and ABRP predicted 13% left. To get a matching number in ABRP, I had to set the consumption for 65mph to 4.7mile/kwh. My actual consumption was 3.1 mile/kwh to the charger.
 

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I saw your Gainesville, Fl post on Plugshare. Good to know it is possible to charge there but sounds like more work needs to be done! From where I live that is a much needed charging point for Road Trips but next time I will skip the Steak n Shake and go to Arby’s instead!!
 

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After a 4 day 1300 mile road trip from NJ to Port Canaveral via Atlanta, I figured I would share some of my results on ABRP accuracy and Electrify America reliability. It won't be a long report as we're about to set sail, but in brief:

ABRP: after changing the "base" mi/kwh to 3.4 and setting the speed limits to 1.07x speed limit with a 75mph max (I wasn't interested in adding speeding tickets to the expenses) I'd have to give ABRP a B+. I probably could have tweaked the settings some more to get closer to actual kwh usage and charge time (I set the overhead for charging to 1 minute) it was within a few percent. Here's a quick excerpt on estmated vs actual for the first part of the trip:
Ford Mustang Mach-E EA/ABRP trip report Screenshot from 2021-10-02 08-06-22


As for the performance of EA, we did have a few of locations where I had to move, but those were in line with expectations after looking at plugshare. The great news is that I always got a charge, and P&C worked flawlessly. At 2 troubled locations (charlotte and gainseville FL) I ran into technicians working on the units and they confirmed how temperamental those locations are. I had worked in lots of alternatives if I didn't get a charge, but never had to use them. We also tended to start chatting with other EV owners or we were eating so ended up going over the "target" charge several times. Overall I would give EA a C+ since we always got a charge, but the number of "first try flawless" charges was in the 70% range, and we never left a location without reaching our target charge and the charge rates were exactly what they should have been. I did post in plugshare for every EA location we hit along the I-95/I-85/I-75 corridor from NJ to Atlanta via durham NC and finally down to Orlando.

Questions will have to wait until I get back from sea, assuming the Mrs doesn't throw me overboard :)
Great summary, thank you!! I am heading to Charlotte this weekend, can you provide the location of the EA charger you commented on? I have several EV apps including FordPass and when looking up EV Charging Stations, they are not all consistent. This will be my first long-distance trip so I am interested in seeing how the charging route will be.
 


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timbop

timbop

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I've also concluded that ABRP has significant accuracy issues, the default consumption is way too high. Even adjusting it down still isn't quite right as you found. Wonder if we could work with them on that, not sure what kind of inputs they are using for their model? They seem very Tesla focused.
Actually, I thought it was reasonab;y accurate - within 5% seems fair enough to me given the number of variables involved.

Great summary, thank you!! I am heading to Charlotte this weekend, can you provide the location of the EA charger you commented on? I have several EV apps including FordPass and when looking up EV Charging Stations, they are not all consistent. This will be my first long-distance trip so I am interested in seeing how the charging route will be.
Not sure if this is still needed, but the walmart in Charlotte with the EA was on north tryon street
 

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Actually, I thought it was reasonab;y accurate - within 5% seems fair enough to me given the number of variables involved.


Not sure if this is still needed, but the walmart in Charlotte with the EA was on north tryon street
Thanks, still needed. I will check out Walmart when I make my trip
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