Tutorial: Road Trip Planning with ABRP (abetterrouteplanner.com)

[timbop]

The attached PDF is a tutorial I put together that might prove useful to ABRP/road tripping newbies and veterans alike. It is based on extensive time wasted spent planning a 1600 mile trip I took in September. While the UI is generally intuitive I did find some "quirks" in the web app, and I also honed some techniques for optimizing charging stops. It may seem long, but that is because much of the content is screen captures to illustrate what I am talking about.

The tutorial walks you through all the steps from setting up a new ABRP account through to planning a sample trip from Washington DC to Philadelphia, including an overnight stay and of course a charging stop. The choice of the example home address being the White House is NOT POLITICALLY MOTIVATED; I simply chose a well known address so I don't get in trouble for publishing someone's real private address. As far as I am concerned it is the same as publishing a "555" number as an example telephone number.

FYI: No warranties are expressed or implied, nor is tech support included

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[Kamuelaflyer]

@Administrator, can you stickiecthis? It’s really good.

 

[OWG]

.... nor is tech support included ?

Thank you and noted. It would be great if you added the way to generate the tabular view - I have not seen that before and am clueless as to how to generate it.

 

[timbop]

Thank you and noted. It would be great if you added the way to generate the tabular view - I have not seen that before and am clueless as to how to generate it.

It's not overly obvious or clearly stated, but step 8 on page 12. I probably should have put a red box around it in the picture. I'll rewrite that sentence in v2:

 

[OWG]

It's not overly obvious or clearly stated, but step 8 on page 12. I probably should have put a red box around it in the picture:

Ah, got it! The waffle in the lower right! Thanks!

 

[benk016]

There's some neat features coming to ABRP soon that will help with the accuracy of this data as well! Hopefully I'll be able to share more soon!

 

[mcfalljames]

The attached PDF is a tutorial I put together that might prove useful to ABRP/road tripping newbies and veterans alike. It is based on extensive time wasted spent planning a 1600 mile trip I took in September. While the UI is generally intuitive I did find some "quirks" in the web app, and I also honed some techniques for optimizing charging stops. It may seem long, but that is because much of the content is screen captures to illustrate what I am talking about.

The tutorial walks you through all the steps from setting up a new ABRP account through to planning a sample trip from Washington DC to Philadelphia, including an overnight stay and of course a charging stop. The choice of the example home address being the White House is NOT POLITICALLY MOTIVATED; I simply chose a well known address so I don't get in trouble for publishing someone's real private address. As far as I am concerned it is the same as publishing a "555" number as an example telephone number.

FYI: No warranties are expressed or implied, nor is tech support included ?

Thank you for this. I've previously tried playing with ABRP a few times and have left frustrated every time. The primary reason is a problem I have with using it in Chrome...the panel remains blank and unusable...talk about a head scratcher for an interface that's brand new to you! Edge works fine though.

I know this represents a lot of time invested in the tool and the write up, so thanks again.

 

[timbop]

Thank you for this. I've previously tried playing with ABRP a few times and have left frustrated every time. The primary reason is a problem I have with using it in Chrome...the panel remains blank and unusable...talk about a head scratcher for an interface that's brand new to you! Edge works fine though.

I know this represents a lot of time invested in the tool and the write up, so thanks again.

You're welcome, I hope it was useful. I do use chrome (and all the screenshots are from chrome as well), but on a 21.5" imac (and ubuntu laptop).

 

[dtbaker61]

There's some neat features coming to ABRP soon that will help with the accuracy of this data as well! Hopefully I'll be able to share more soon!

I'm thinking ABRP might wanna hire @timbop to write/maintain the tutorial, or create a Vimeo tutorial which could be posted on their website to get people up to speed.....

 

[Ned]

The attached PDF is a tutorial I put together that might prove useful to ABRP/road tripping newbies and veterans alike. It is based on extensive time wasted spent planning a 1600 mile trip I took in September. While the UI is generally intuitive I did find some "quirks" in the web app, and I also honed some techniques for optimizing charging stops. It may seem long, but that is because much of the content is screen captures to illustrate what I am talking about.

The tutorial walks you through all the steps from setting up a new ABRP account through to planning a sample trip from Washington DC to Philadelphia, including an overnight stay and of course a charging stop. The choice of the example home address being the White House is NOT POLITICALLY MOTIVATED; I simply chose a well known address so I don't get in trouble for publishing someone's real private address. As far as I am concerned it is the same as publishing a "555" number as an example telephone number.

FYI: No warranties are expressed or implied, nor is tech support included ?

I am taking my first long trip next week. The only charger I have used besides the one in home is at the local hospital. Easy. All I did was plug it in. Just like at home. The only other public charging is at a local hotel. You need a "chargepoint" card to use it. As I plan my trip how can I tell what I need to use the chargers along the way??

And how can I use the "free" kwh from Ford that I got when I bought the car?

Also what is ABRP? Can I download the Ford Pass app into my desktop??

Thanks for your help. Ned

 

[timbop]

I am taking my first long trip next week. The only charger I have used besides the one in home is at the local hospital. Easy. All I did was plug it in. Just like at home. The only other public charging is at a local hotel. You need a "chargepoint" card to use it. As I plan my trip how can I tell what I need to use the chargers along the way??

And how can I use the "free" kwh from Ford that I got when I bought the car?

Also what is ABRP? Can I download the Ford Pass app into my desktop??

Thanks for your help. Ned

ABRP is a website/web application found here: www.abetterrouteplanner.com

When it inserts a charger it includes the company name (such as "Electrify America") in the description. Since Electrify America has the fastest DC chargers it will typically only route you to those unless none are available or reachable. For chargepoint sometimes the owner of the charger requires you to use their app, but almost all fast DC chargers also have a credit card reader. There is another website called "plugshare.com" that gives crowdsourced reviews of a particular charging site as well as telling you if you need a specific account (such as those owned by Florida Power).

Your free kwh of charging is ONLY good for Electrify America chargers. I think maybe you might want to look at my post in this thread as a jumping off point for more info, as well as the rest of that thread to answer your questions in more detail about charging and other important topics:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/mach-e-for-newbies.9443/post-242483

 

[mamejunkie]

Thanks @timbop !

Was researching for a up coming trip in 2 weeks (320 miles) that will require using EA chargers. The built-in nav is not that good. A Better Route Planner seems easy to use and didn't require signing up like PlugShare. Now I need to make sure any accounts & software using the chargers are ready before the trip. Kind of looking forward to this but also a little nervous.

 

[Tampamike]

Thanks @timbop !

Was researching for a up coming trip in 2 weeks (320 miles) that will require using EA chargers. The built-in nav is not that good. A Better Route Planner seems easy to use and didn't require signing up like PlugShare. Now I need to make sure any accounts & software using the chargers are ready before the trip. Kind of looking forward to this but also a little nervous.

320 miles? Piece of cake. You’ll probably need to charge two or three times, assuming a 640 mile round trip. Get the EA app and sign up for the Pass+ membership. It costs $4/month. You’ll recoup that in the first or second charge with the discounted rate. Cancel it after your trip and go back to the regular membership @ $0/month. You can reactivate it as often as you like for future road trips. Use the EA app to find the chargers you’ll likely use. If the total trip is only 320 miles, I might just use the P&C for the simplicity since you’ll only charge once or twice. If you still have free Kwh’s from Ford in your account then definitely just use P&C at EA without activating the Pass+ membership.

I tried ABRP but didn’t like it. I have PlugShare and use it to check the status of the chargers I’m planning on using - some are maintained better than others. I also use it for off-the-beaten EA track trips to find other chargers.

I let the car’s nav plan it’s own route and chargers and compare that to what I’ve already worked out. Usually they agree. When they don’t , you have two options to pick from.

Good luck - you’ll have fun.

 

[Deleted member 9461]

I google searched white house, and had nothing to do with the capitol AHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Deleted member 9461]

But seriously, great tutorial, we are going from Washington state to Florida and were towing a tiny camper, so this helps a bunch, we had to pair both Plugshare, and ABRP, along with 2 camp ground apps, cause we are going to camp, and also charge at a few nasty climbs, really thanx for taking the time to do the PDF.

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