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ABRP and Tesla route planner

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The way to do this is to set your speed at 60 and then find a lorry to sit behind.
Note that there is no benefit to driving behind a lorry in terms of aero and range. If it helps you maintain a slower speed then that's all that's happening... so set the cruise to 60 and you're done. The aero advantage can be real but only if you drive within a couple of feet of the back of the vehicle in front ... which only a crazy person would do and would certainly be judged to be dangerous driving by the police.
 
Note that there is no benefit to driving behind a lorry in terms of aero and range. If it helps you maintain a slower speed then that's all that's happening... so set the cruise to 60 and you're done. The aero advantage can be real but only if you drive within a couple of feet of the back of the vehicle in front ... which only a crazy person would do and would certainly be judged to be dangerous driving by the police.
Plus there is an increased risk of stone chips, nuts and bolts and other things falling off the lorries and causing windscreen damage. Single windscreen damage would wipe out years of such range savings!
 
planning a long trip through to switzerland and finding this - not a problem - but one more thing to figure out. I assume similar issues on almost any car unless you're using carplay with google maps.

- I plan using Google maps to get the basis route, which then helps me think about stopping locations and hotels. But it focuses on driving and most optimum route
- but then I need to go back to ABRP and look at where it recommends charging. But *it* focuses on where to charge most efficiently. Not that easy to change where you want to stop to better align with eg 'I want to drive 2 hours between stops' or 'I want to drive no more than 6 hours in a day before stopping for the night.
- Once you've faffed about, you may have an ok iternary. But then Telsa will throw it all out the window if you put that into its nav in the car.

despite having everything digital these days including the maps and nav, you basically have to write down all your stopping points and then put them in on the tesla one by one (at least now it lets you add waypoints). I guess you can share each one from google maps with the car and then they'd at least be in 'recents' to add quickly, but its still a pain.

Would be lovely if there was a web/app version of Tesla's nav so you could do the planning in the house on your computer and have it sent to the car. Or a better integration with ABRP/Google maps that lets you send the full itinerary (all stopping locations) to the car.

Anyone found a decently efficient way to do this?
 
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planning a long trip through to switzerland and finding this - not a problem - but one more thing to figure out. I assume similar issues on almost any car unless you're using carplay with google maps.

- I plan using Google maps to get the basis route, which then helps me think about stopping locations and hotels. But it focuses on driving and most optimum route
- but then I need to go back to ABRP and look at where it recommends charging. But *it* focuses on where to charge most efficiently. Not that easy to change where you want to stop to better align with eg 'I want to drive 2 hours between stops' or 'I want to drive no more than 6 hours in a day before stopping for the night.
- Once you've faffed about, you may have an ok iternary. But then Telsa will throw it all out the window if you put that into its nav in the car.

despite having everything digital these days including the maps and nav, you basically have to write down all your stopping points and then put them in on the tesla one by one (at least now it lets you add waypoints). I guess you can share each one from google maps with the car and then they'd at least be in 'recents' to add quickly, but its still a pain.

Would be lovely if there was a web/app version of Tesla's nav so you could do the planning in the house on your computer and have it sent to the car. Or a better integration with ABRP/Google maps that lets you send the full itinerary (all stopping locations) to the car.

Anyone found a decently efficient way to do this?
Yes, bit simple and not for the faint hearted.

Do the ABRP one with minimum number of stops and one in the middle. Most of the time they both mirror the same except if you use frequent stop options. Save your routes both ways in ABRP apps. Also as a back up do the frequent stop too and save it in ABRP.

If you know where you are staying etc., then easy to workout from the ABRP charging stops which one is feasible and do they have DC etc.,

For all practical purposes input these stops and staying locations address in the Tesla in-car app. This sort of cut down paper trails. Take a photo of this - as when you do long trips you sort of lose the order of these stops etc.,

When you leave just check Tesla map whether there are any alternatives - most of the time it sort of provide the same as ABRP (from my experience) except the perils of preconditioning then changes the whole stops etc., - so don’t use it.

Now use the stops as per ABRP and just drive.
 
You can input intermediate stops in ABRP. If there are places you want to go along the way, as Google indicates, give them to ABRP and it will plan with that taken into account. You can also input those as intermediates in the Tesla navigation.
You can use ABRP in your trip too from your car's web browser. I haven't had great success when I tried it but it was almost two years ago, I'm sure it got better. You might want to give it a try. The only thing that's important is to put the next supercharger as a destination in your car so it knowns when to heat up the battery for fast charging. You don't need to give the car the end destination.
 
I do use ABRP to plan journeys, however, I do input my own experience into the equation.

I find ABRP to be a bit cautious on its planned stops, often recommending stopping earlier than I may need to or for more time.

It also fails to take into account my bladder range which is often less than my Tesla range. If you need to stop to pee and you manage to get onto a charger, for that stop then it throws the ABRP plans well out of whack.

What it is useful for is if you need to travel into a bit of a charger ‘not spot’, you can add your return journey so you can make sure you have enough range to get back out of the said not spot.
 
You can input intermediate stops in ABRP. If there are places you want to go along the way, as Google indicates, give them to ABRP and it will plan with that taken into account. You can also input those as intermediates in the Tesla navigation.
You can use ABRP in your trip too from your car's web browser. I haven't had great success when I tried it but it was almost two years ago, I'm sure it got better. You might want to give it a try. The only thing that's important is to put the next supercharger as a destination in your car so it knowns when to heat up the battery for fast charging. You don't need to give the car the end destination.

will it update in realtime if you connect with the tesla API? Not sure how often that updates the live car status like SoC etc
 
I think it does but honestly I tried it only once a long while ago. I decided I didn't need it. I plan for the next portion of the trip using ABRP and simply enter my next destination in the car's navigation. Often that is a supercharger. If I change my mind along the way, I'll readjust.
 
I think it does but honestly I tried it only once a long while ago. I decided I didn't need it. I plan for the next portion of the trip using ABRP and simply enter my next destination in the car's navigation. Often that is a supercharger. If I change my mind along the way, I'll readjust.
Agree and that is the simple and easy way to keep it uncomplicated. No paper trails or various other apps!
 
The aero advantage can be real but only if you drive within a couple of feet of the back of the vehicle in front

That hasn't been my experience - but maybe I'm kidding myself? It definitely has the benefit of preventing me nudging the accelerator a bit 'coz 50 MPH IS SO BORING!

Maybe I should try 50 MPH with nothing in front of me and check what wH/mile I get (compared to behind-a-truck)

When I've done it I chose a tall vehicle, and set TACC to max follow distance. So I'm definitely not in the "attached"! follow-range.

there is an increased risk of stone chips, nuts and bolts and other things falling off the lorries and causing windscreen damage

Definitely. I've had way too many replacement Tesla windscreens, and Autoglass has been problematic every time (even without the current dearth at AutoGlass)

Whenever I'm driving then unless I have overtake opportunity I follow on max TACC distance, or more than that if I an on ManPilot.

Single windscreen damage would wipe out years of such range savings!

When I have done it it wasn't for the moeny savings, it was because back in 2015- there weren't many places I could charge, and if I did something idiotic like missing a junction and having to get to next and double-back, then I had to do it on the original juice-allocation :(

Anyone found a decently efficient way to do this?

I take the view that I need to do some planning for a trip (e.g. across France, rather than "I'm nipping to the shops" :)

I do that in ABRP.

'I want to drive 2 hours between stops'

Can't help with that, per se, but my experience of driving across France was that Superchargers were rarely placed such that a leg would be 2h30m (which is my absolute 100%-10% distance at 130 KPH), so in practice stops were mostly 1h30m to 2h00m, and a few a bit over 2hs. Obviously that interval gets longer with time as more Supercharger locations are opened.

'I want to drive no more than 6 hours in a day before stopping for the night

I think that, along with "where shall I stop of lunch" is doable.

Our trips are either leaving midday or later, and overnight en route, or leaving at 7AM or earlier and doing the trip in a day but stopping for a decent lunch.

So for a hotel stop I'm looking for a hotel at around about our stopping time. We want to get to hotel by 7PM so that the restaurant is still serving food :)

I set the DEPART time in ABRP, so its list of stops is actual-time for my trip. Thus I can see roughly where we will be 7PM and then I look for a hotel nearer to our start point than that.

Then add that as a WAYPOINT. Also (assuming it has charging) set it to 7kW and the depart time as 07:00 the following day. ABRP will discover that the battery will be full by then :)

Similar for Lunch - check were we will be at 12:00 and then look for a lunch location further away than that (but if it is more than 13:00 then that's probably too far). Then put that in as a WAYPOINT. For me this will be at a Supercharger (not a destination charger), so I will get from 10% to 95+% within an hour - I just need to eat my meal within that time :) ) Set the WAYPOINT for the departure time (e.g. 1 hour) such that ABRP will discover that charging has reached 95+%, otherwise it will be wanting to leave at 70% charge.

For both the overnight and lunch stops I set the ARRIVAL % at 10% - I want to arrive "empty" so that I maximise the charging whilst I am sleeping / eating.

Then I fiddle with the stop-time at the port e.g. travelling by Chunnel I'm going to top up on the way out, and on the way back I'm going to fill enough to skip the Sevenoaks Supercharger as everyone else coming off the train will be charging there ... I have a note of what %age I need at Calais to get to a charger nearer to home, and also a figure to get all the way home. Depending on when I get to Calais, and the time of train departure, I'll charge somewhere between those too (missing a train if necessary - and provided they haven't fallen to "hourly")

Telsa will throw it all out the window if you put that into its nav in the car

Yeah. Particularly if I have decided not to go the most direct route. I put a DESTINATION in which Tesla will match with ABRP. That's likely to be a specific Supercharger, or a Lunch / Hotel stop.

I find ABRP to be a bit cautious on its planned stops, often recommending stopping earlier than I may need to or for more time

I find ABRP very accurate. My suggestion would be to fiddle with the %age over-speed, or the "wH/mile at 60MPH" figure until you get predictions that match your driving style.
 
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Agreed that ABRP can be very precise, but you do need to enable advanced settings and set them properly. Temperature, wind, road conditions are important enough to provide ABRP with the right values...
As with others, I use ABRP to plan for long road trips, however I then use google maps to estimate times between stops, especially if it’s time critical such as channel tunnel crossing.
 
Drafting can certainly work behind a large artic but you have to be inside the 2 second “safe” distance. So as far as safe driving goes it’s not really a feasible option… according to Mythbusters and others on YouTube.
 
I use ABRP to plan for long road trips, however I then use google maps to estimate times between stops, especially if it’s time critical such as channel tunnel crossing.

I'm the same, except that I use Waze for the actual traffic-adjusted time etc. ... and that may lead to a diversion which may through the whole range / next charging location into array!

according to Mythbusters

Ah!

Well ... with Wh/mile display in the car easy enough to try behind artic and with clear air in front. I've definitely not done it inside the "Only a fool breaks the two second rule" distance :)