EV Trip Planner or ??

[Boatguy]

I'm a new owner and thinking about some road trips. I'm more than a little disappointed with the lack of flexibility in the Tesla navigation system, but maybe that's just me, or maybe I haven't learned what everyone else is doing.

So here is a little poll.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Rockster]

I actually do both. I use EVtripplanner when planning my trip and use the nav system on the road.

 

[ZBB]

I actually do both. I use EVtripplanner when planning my trip and use the nav system on the road.

Exactly what I do. But EVtripplanner is more accurate.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

I appreciate the download capability on EVTP for long road trips. It allows me to decide how much I want to drive every day and where the optimal places to stop are (superchargers at hotels).
I don't have a problem using the car nav point-to-point, especially the projected energy graph. It's saved my butt more than once by warning me to adjust my driving.
Seems like a fair number of the EV community missed EVTP when it was down recently so please remember that it is owned and supported by a college student; contributions are appreciated.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Exactly what I do. But EVtripplanner is more accurate.

Interesting that you say that. For my car EVtripplanner underestimates RM required for a trip pretty consistently but the car's nav system is usually pretty close unless weather is an issue. I get a general idea of the route, miles and elevation change from EVtripplanner before a trip for each leg (and print them out, including elevation plots [GPSvisualizer.com], to keep in a reference notebook) and then just let the car nav and energy plot guide my driving to each Supercharger stop. I then log the expected (from EVtripplaner) and actual RM used on a spreadsheet, for future reference when doing the same route again.

As routes become familiar just setting nav, charging to a comfortable buffer, and driving the energy plot is pretty straightforward. EVtripplanner helps with mapping out new routes and identifying potentially difficult legs of the trip.

 

[cpa]

I also plan at home using EVTripplanner. I then prepare and Excel Spreadsheet with the actual miles, rated miles and estimated kWh needed to reach the next charging stop or my destination. I keep this with me in the car. For "off-the-grid" driving I also have a plan B.

Once I plug in, I then use the trip graph tab on the energy screen to compare and contrast. I try to make allowances for current weather conditions. I try to unplug with a 20-25% buffer in unfamiliar territory and with 12% in familiar territory unless conditions dictate otherwise.

I have found that both estimates are pretty good. I usually do not drive fast so I typically beat both sets of data by around 5%.

 

[Boatguy]

Interesting that you say that. For my car EVtripplanner underestimates RM required for a trip pretty consistently but the car's nav system is usually pretty close unless weather is an issue. I get a general idea of the route, miles and elevation change from EVtripplanner before a trip for each leg (and print them out, including elevation plots [GPSvisualizer.com], to keep in a reference notebook) and then just let the car nav and energy plot guide my driving to each Supercharger stop. I then log the expected (from EVtripplaner) and actual RM used on a spreadsheet, for future reference when doing the same route again.

As routes become familiar just setting nav, charging to a comfortable buffer, and driving the energy plot is pretty straightforward. EVtripplanner helps with mapping out new routes and identifying potentially difficult legs of the trip.

Have you tried adjusting any of the parameters (speed, load, temp) to see if those bring EVTP closer to reality?

 

[1101011]

For my first five or six long trips I mapped it all out beforehand using EVTripplanner; put it all on paper and documented actual to projected. It is an amazing program and well worth a contribution to Ben's college fund for the peace of mind it provides.

More recently, I look at the route, but no longer feel the need to further document...

 

[dgpcolorado]

Have you tried adjusting any of the parameters (speed, load, temp) to see if those bring EVTP closer to reality?

I haven't tried adjusting speed (I pretty much always drive the speed limit or less) or load but I do record three different temperature conditions (72º, 32º, 90º). It isn't really important that the RM estimate match, so long as the underestimate is consistent. I do find that in mild weather I get mileage that is better than the 32º estimate, so I use that as a limit (I did get worse than that number on a trip with a very strong headwind, no surprise).

Given how useful the car's energy plot is, I find that EVtripplanner is most helpful in pre-planning legs of a trip to get an idea of how difficult they will be (that is, how long to charge in my very slow-charging S60). Works fine for that. If I am doing 700+ miles in a day, as will be the case next month, the charge stops need to be efficient to keep the total travel time down.

 

[CHG-ON]

I use both EVTripplanner and the Nav. Can you add that choice? I chose other due to no choice for that. For short jaunts, I just use the Nav. For real road trips, I use EVT.

 

[Boatguy]

It won't let me edit the survey now, but since you use EVT for "real" road trips, I'll consider that to be EVT. This survey is just a casual thing and it looks pretty clearly like 70% - 75% of the owners use EVT for their road trips.

 

[1101011]

Given how useful the car's energy plot is, I find that EVtripplanner is most helpful in pre-planning legs of a trip to get an idea of how difficult they will be (that is, how long to charge in my very slow-charging S60). Works fine for that.

Totally agree.

If I am doing 700+ miles in a day, as will be the case next month, the charge stops need to be efficient to keep the total travel time down.

Where are you headed?

 

[Sasmania]

I've looked at EVTP and it's a nice site, but I found I just didn't need it. I used the Nav and SuperCharge.info more than anything else. Also PlugShare when getting off the SC routes and needing more options.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Where are you headed?

Portland OR, with a short side trip to Seattle. Actually, I can break it up so that it is only 600 miles for the longest leg — four charge stops outbound, five charge stops homebound — so not nearly as hard as I was assuming. But I used to do a 700+ mile leg in the ICE car to make one day easier; I'll have to change that to two long days. Always drive it alone, so safety is a primary concern (I listen to audio books to keep alert).

 

[Ebony Star]

I use both EVTripplanner and the Nav. Can you add that choice? I chose other due to no choice for that. For short jaunts, I just use the Nav. For real road trips, I use EVT.

++

I use both EVTripplanner and the Nav. Can you add that choice?

 

[ZBB]

Interesting that you say that. For my car EVtripplanner underestimates RM required for a trip pretty consistently but the car's nav system is usually pretty close unless weather is an issue. I get a general idea of the route, miles and elevation change from EVtripplanner before a trip for each leg (and print them out, including elevation plots [GPSvisualizer.com], to keep in a reference notebook) and then just let the car nav and energy plot guide my driving to each Supercharger stop. I then log the expected (from EVtripplaner) and actual RM used on a spreadsheet, for future reference when doing the same route again.

As routes become familiar just setting nav, charging to a comfortable buffer, and driving the energy plot is pretty straightforward. EVtripplanner helps with mapping out new routes and identifying potentially difficult legs of the trip.

I've done similar logging against EVtripplanner and actual RM use for each legs. Most of the time I come in very close to EVtripplanner -- within 2-3 rated miles (usually under…). You might want to play with the settings -- I usually use a 1.1 speed factor and an 700 lb payload (we have a family of 3, so that includes luggage and is conservative…) with temps the approx expected temp (although I'll fudge higher in summer and lower in winter…).

Our first big road trip (~4500 miles from AZ to BC and back…) was before the car had the energy estimates available, and they've been getting better since released ~18 months ago. I've had it freak out and want to return me to a Supercharger I just left minutes earlier. We did a trip in March and it did some odd routing and seemed to significantly over estimate usage (even driving at the speed limit, and we had either a tailwind or crosswind...

 

[jerry33]

I use EVtripplanner if there are questionable parts of the trip (an SC gap or no SCs). Other than that I use Google maps for planning, and the Nav while driving.

 

[green1]

Considering how often the car's trip planner would have left me stranded, or routed me to nonsensical superchargers, and how amazingly accurate evtripplanner is, there's no question which one I try to use first!

 

[Tree95]

Evtripplanner allows me to put in intermediate stops. I always use it before a trip.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I've done similar logging against EVtripplanner and actual RM use for each legs. Most of the time I come in very close to EVtripplanner -- within 2-3 rated miles (usually under…). You might want to play with the settings -- I usually use a 1.1 speed factor and an 700 lb payload (we have a family of 3, so that includes luggage and is conservative…) with temps the approx expected temp (although I'll fudge higher in summer and lower in winter…).

I could tweak the numbers I use but my understanding was that speed 1 was driving the speed limit, and that's what I do (no point going faster than the speed limit where I drive plus my best trip speed in an S60 is probably 60-65 mph, so going faster means a longer trip due to longer Supercharging times).

Our first big road trip (~4500 miles from AZ to BC and back…) was before the car had the energy estimates available, and they've been getting better since released ~18 months ago. I've had it freak out and want to return me to a Supercharger I just left minutes earlier. We did a trip in March and it did some odd routing and seemed to significantly over estimate usage (even driving at the speed limit, and we had either a tailwind or crosswind...

This is key: the Tesla trip energy gauge is really quite good now, unlike when you were a pioneer in doing long trips. Now it is simple to use nav to select the next Supercharger station, charge until the energy plot shows enough to make the trip, plus whatever buffer one is comfortable with, and then just go when the charge hits that level. It really is a huge improvement over the early days, from what I can tell. And the business of nav routing back to a Supercharger if one is cutting it close can now be turned off. So, I am really pleased with the current navigation to Supercharger Stations and the trip energy plot. It is very easy to use and works well IME.