Announcing the EV Trip Optimizer for Tesla App

[aesculus]

btw, I managed to restore the old trip from previous trips folder.

The destination is green, so implies it was optimized already I assume.

I am not sure what "restore purchages" would do for me - I did not really purchase anything yet.

OK. Sorry for the mistake. Round Trip is one of the Pro features so I thought you bought that and you can do multiple segments in a trip. You can read about that in the help in the menu.

If you look at the the map you will notice that the destination is green because the prior supercharger got you from that point to your destination, but you will notice the charger itself is red and -4% because you have not optimized the route to get you safely there. Try the Optimize again and see if you get another charger or two between the origin and the destination and they all turn green for you.

If you want to do it manually just include the two superchargers listed between your origin and the auto charger shown.

BTW that dark lightening bolt icon on the map toggles those gray chargers off/on. You do not need those on unless you want to manually add them to the trip instead of using the Optimize menu item.

The white destination I mentioned is only for the round trip feature.

 

[verygreen]

OK. Sorry for the mistake. Round Trip is one of the Pro features so I thought you bought that and you can do multiple segments in a trip. You can read about that in the help in the menu.

Well, the previous version (1.1.3?) actually had the checkbox for it in the window to enter start/end points, so I assumed that was standard. Oh well.
So the saved trips disappearing from my "current trips" folder after activating them again is another feature that I was not supposed to be having?

If you look at the the map you will notice that the destination is green because the prior supercharger got you from that point to your destination, but you will notice the charger itself is red and -4% because you have not optimized the route to get you safely there. Try the Optimize again and see if you get another charger or two between the origin and the destination and they all turn green for you.

Yes, this does work, thank you. It is not quite intuitive in this form indeed.

 

[aesculus]

Well, the previous version (1.1.3?) actually had the checkbox for it in the window to enter start/end points, so I assumed that was standard. Oh well.
So the saved trips disappearing from my "current trips" folder after activating them again is another feature that I was not supposed to be having?

Yes. Sorry for the tease, but you got the taste.

Yes, this does work, thank you. It is not quite intuitive in this form indeed.

Hence the Pro version. There is a cost for everything.

 

[verygreen]

Ok, so I am confused again.

Now after optimizing I have one green SC, but all the rest of them turned into a circle with a number. if I press any one of them (trying to add), all I get is a square saying Tesla Supercharger, but cannot bring up any menu. Another pro feature?

(the end result I want to simulate is this: EV Trip Planner - I know the wh/mi is not realistic, and your app assumes 385Wh/mi, but this same route still should be doable in 100D in the exact same way, I think even at 385wh/mi). Also - no way to ahve any higher speed than whatever the app seems to think is reasonable?

 

[aesculus]

Ok, so I am confused again.

Now after optimizing I have one green SC, but all the rest of them turned into a circle with a number. if I press any one of them (trying to add), all I get is a square saying Tesla Supercharger, but cannot bring up any menu. Another pro feature?

This app can be very robust, hence the Pro feature. We need to get you back to the shallow area of the pool so you can get familiar with the basics before you drown.

Here is what I suggest you do:

• Go back to the main screen (the one with the red Model X).
• Select the Getting Started button in the middle if you have not done that yet. It only takes 5 minutes and will give you an overview of some of the highlights. After you swipe through the panels select the Let's Get Started button at the top.
• Now go to the main menu (white stacked bars at the top right corner) and select Settings. Make sure they are correct for you. The defaults should be OK. Press Save.
• Next on the same menu select My Cars. Change any of the values to match your exact car type. Don't worry about the 90% Rated Range right now. Press Save.
• Now to clean up the mess we have you in, on the same menu go to Current Trips. You should see one or more trips.
• On that menu select Delete Trips, You will now be able to select a small circle next to the name of each trip. Select them all with a red circle and press the Delete button in the header when you have them all selected. Your trips will be cleaned out and you will start the app fresh.
• The app will go back to the main panel and a new button will appear over the red Model X, Plan a Trip. Select that
• Enter your destination address in the second box and select from the list when found.
• The first box will default to your device location unless you want to plan from a different place, which you can then enter a location there too and select from the list of choices
• Ensure that the radio button labeled Auto is selected so it routes for you automatically and fills in all the required superchargers. Manual is if you want to do this yourself by selecting push pins and/or manually entering addresses.
• Select Calculate. The app will go to the map panel and do its magic. You will end up with a route shown below.

Any further issues or questions please use the Feedback Report on the main menu.I am here to help you get the most from the app. You can also refer to all the extensive help panels and tutorials on the main menu and sub menus when you want to learn more to go back to the deep end too with the Pro features.

 

[ZBB]

Nice app... I was playing around with it tonight on my iPad -- and found a bug (perhaps this is fixed in the pending iOS update?)

I have a '13 S60, which had 208 rated when new. But I now get 192 rated on a 100% charge (66k Miles and just shy of 4 years...). On the car info, I entered 92% for the battery life setting.

However, in the trip details screen, it shows a starting RM of 211 -- so it appears the battery life setting isn't correct (and the S60 initial rated range is a bit off also...)

FYI -- I'm still seeing this bug in the latest version. I've also noticed that the app is not good at keeping the saved vehicle settings -- so perhaps that is it? I've set my car multiple times to show that I have an S60 RWD (original…) with a 90% charge of 172 miles. The beginning charge screen still show 211 miles...

 

[aesculus]

FYI -- I'm still seeing this bug in the latest version. I've also noticed that the app is not good at keeping the saved vehicle settings -- so perhaps that is it? I've set my car multiple times to show that I have an S60 RWD (original…) with a 90% charge of 172 miles. The beginning charge screen still show 211 miles...

I just worked over the My Cars stuff in V1.1.4 (out for Android and any day for iOS). I verified that it does save this (unless you change the car model then it goes back to 100%).

If, when you get V1.1.4 installed, find it's not working this way, let me know here or via the Feedback Report on the main menu.

 

[verygreen]

This app can be very robust, hence the Pro feature. We need to get you back to the shallow area of the pool so you can get familiar with the basics before you drown.

Well, I just erased the app data to start afresh and it seems to be doing the expected thing now which is good. Updates screwing things badly like that is not so good though. Beta quality, I guess?

I read first few pages and see that there's no way to set speed/adjust speed multiplier and power factor is a kludgy way of doing that EXCEPT it does not really change the in-app speed = weather forecasts become less and less correct for the end of the trip because arrival times diverge quite a bit?

Additionally your model of at least X 100D seems to be quite out of whack with my own real world results. Take for example this experiment I performed in Model X: Average Wh/mile Tracker
Replicating the conditions exactly, backdating the trip to match the weather forecast - and your app still projects usage quite a bit higher than experimentally observed. and that's at power factor 0, but I actually drove 75mph (= took less time and should have used more energy than your estimate). So hopefully this is something you are working on one way or the other (both the model accuracies and speed factor).
(it is possible that you just need a 5 seater vs 6/7 seater option since 5seater is much lighter. I tried negative weight adjustment,and it actually works, but it's a bit counterintuitive and also one needs to know how much negative offset to enter, which does not seem to be documented anywhere)

And finally the original announcement lists these free features:

• Manage trips (store, delete)
• Future trips and delayed start times

but apparently they are Pro features?

 

[aesculus]

Well, I just erased the app data to start afresh and it seems to be doing the expected thing now which is good. Updates screwing things badly like that is not so good though. Beta quality, I guess?

It was not the intent. We are working on a lot of refinements. The last update had over 50 items that were added or improved. Stay tuned as it gets better.

I read first few pages and see that there's no way to set speed/adjust speed multiplier and power factor is a kludgy way of doing that EXCEPT it does not really change the in-app speed = weather forecasts become less and less correct for the end of the trip because arrival times diverge quite a bit?

That is correct in that it does not change your time en route. It's not a kludge though in that it factors in a lot more than just your speed to the power consumption. Will review the speed aspects in another update.

but I actually drove 75mph (= took less time and should have used more energy than your estimate).

Not necessarily. The pf does account for the energy going faster, it just does not reduce the drive time.

(it is possible that you just need a 5 seater vs 6/7 seater option since 5seater is much lighter. I tried negative weight adjustment,and it actually works, but it's a bit counterintuitive and also one needs to know how much negative offset to enter, which does not seem to be documented anywhere)

That is a good point. I will review the weight of the 5 seater as an option. I am actually surprised it made that much difference.

Additionally your model of at least X 100D seems to be quite out of whack with my own real world results. Take for example this experiment I performed in Model X: Average Wh/mile Tracker
Replicating the conditions exactly, backdating the trip to match the weather forecast

That is super info. If you could use the Feedback Report and attach this trip I can then look over your logged data to compare.

 

[ZBB]

I just worked over the My Cars stuff in V1.1.4 (out for Android and any day for iOS). I verified that it does save this (unless you change the car model then it goes back to 100%).

If, when you get V1.1.4 installed, find it's not working this way, let me know here or via the Feedback Report on the main menu.

Thanks... I'll give it a try when I see the update...

For FYI, I installed 1.1.3 on my iPhone and it is doing the expected behavior (for now)... shows 190 range at 100%.

 

[aesculus]

I want to alert you to an error in the weather data for EVTO that a few TMC users spotted for me. In some cases the weather I was reporting was not even close to what the actual weather was at that date/time or what they had found from other forecast sources, even the one I am using, Dark Sky.

The reason turned out to be a simple math error. I had inadvertently dropped a digit on my weather data date request. So instead of getting weather for 2017 for example, you would be getting weather for 1974.

As one of my beta testers pointed out, that may only be appropriate if I was doing an app for the De Lorean.

This will be addressed in the next release, V1.2. So for now be careful of estimates where the weather does not seem close to what you are observing or have seen the forecast for.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[sdorn]

I paid for all the features and tried using the app a few times, but honestly it is just too frustrating to use so I stick to the other options (abetterrouteplanner.com, evtripping.com, evtripplanner.com). They are all way more intuitive and easy to use. Maybe one day this app will be updated and the UI improved so it is usable, but for now it just isn't.

 

[aesculus]

I paid for all the features and tried using the app a few times, but honestly it is just too frustrating to use so I stick to the other options (abetterrouteplanner.com, evtripping.com, evtripplanner.com). They are all way more intuitive and easy to use. Maybe one day this app will be updated and the UI improved so it is usable, but for now it just isn't.

Sorry it's not doing it for you.

If you would like a refund just cancel the subscription (you have a 30 day grace period) and I can help credit your account for the Pro version.

Send a note to [email protected].

 

[ZBB]

Thanks... I'll give it a try when I see the update...

For FYI, I installed 1.1.3 on my iPhone and it is doing the expected behavior (for now)... shows 190 range at 100%.

1.1.4 installed this evening and so far, its fixed this bug. thanks!

 

[aesculus]

1.1.4 installed this evening and so far, its fixed this bug. thanks!

My pleasure. With help like yours and others we are making progress.

 

[boaterva]

Issue with 1.1.4 on iPad with wifi connectivity only. Get pop up:Communication Error: 'can't conntect [sic] to NREL to get list... [object Object]'. message when I click on the '120 socket' icon. Works fine on my iPhone with LTE (but running on wifi now... ). Very strange. Both on iOS 10.3.

Also, first time app is started on iPad and you go to hamburger menu, it just dies. Goes away. Restart app, it's fine. This is repeatable if you swipe/delete app from list.

 

[HankLloydRight]

As one of my beta testers pointed out, that may only be appropriate if I was doing an app for the DeLorean.

He he.. the Delorean came out in 1981.

The Bricklin SV-1 came out in 1974.

Other cars from the mid-70s:
AMC Pacer
AMC Gremlin (my personal favorite)
Ford Pinto

 

[aesculus]

He he.. the Delorean came out in 1981.

It was more about the "Back to the Future" aspects.

 

[aesculus]

Issue with 1.1.4 on iPad with wifi connectivity only. Get pop up:Communication Error: 'can't conntect [sic] to NREL to get list... [object Object]'. message when I click on the '120 socket' icon. Works fine on my iPhone with LTE (but running on wifi now... ). Very strange. Both on iOS 10.3.

Totally weird but I have a few beta users with iPad Minis that have weird behavior too. I am going PM you with some additional questions.

Also, first time app is started on iPad and you go to hamburger menu, it just dies. Goes away. Restart app, it's fine. This is repeatable if you swipe/delete app from list.

Thanks for the super sleuthing. This is a pretty benign thing in the app but good to know it's repeatable.

 

[boaterva]

Totally weird but I have a few beta users with iPad Minis that have weird behavior too. I am going PM you with some additional questions.

Excellent, glad to test further for you. I'll give whatever you like a try when I get home tonight (where the iPad Pro is).