Route Planning / Navigation Apps - what do you use?

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Nermaloids
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2022 11:54 pm

Post by Nermaloids »

I’m curious to see what you all use, whilst in the car, to plan and navigate journeys requiring charging stops.

I’m looking for the holy grail of: sensible routing, live traffic data, live charging point availability, real-time SoC / range prediction and a great interface via CarPlay.

I’ve tried several apps and landed on a mix of Apple Maps with Zap-Map premium.

Some observations from my faffing…

Integrated Sat-Nav - Aged interface, limited live charger data, always wants plan to fill battery to 100% at a stop,

ABRP - potential to be perfect, CarPlay version is buggy and interface is lacklustre, no turn by turn data on instrument display. (Using Premium version with OBD dongle)

Pump - looks great, limited charging network data in UK, CarPlay designed for left hand drive, no turn by turn data on instrument display. (Obtains SoC data via integration with Skoda Connect)

Apple Maps & ZapMap - live data on charging points is great, lacks SoC / range integration, have to hop between apps, looks good

How do you do it?

Goaty
Posts: 1576
Joined: Sat May 22, 2021 3:27 pm

Post by Goaty »

I’ve found ChargeMap to be excellent at finding stations whilst driving through Europe and across Poland (I’m based in the UK).

It breaks the journey into chunks with suggested stop points - most of which you can see what the charge costs are going to be in advance and check availability (which is obviously liable to change by the time you reach it but a week before our trip, I was able to see in advance that the suggested stops were mostly unoccupied- which so far has generally been the case). You can also tell it to ignore slow chargers, so it’ll only suggest 43kW and above.

The way I’m using it, is to send each of the next stops to Waze via the ChargeMap app, and then use Waze to guide me to the next stop.

In this example below, it predicted I’d need 7 stops to drive 800 miles but by the time we charged at Stop 1, it became apparent that we actually had enough to reach Stop 3 instead of 2, so I re-routed to do our 2nd charge at Stop 3. We then had enough to reach Stop 6 in one go. For an 800 mile journey, we only needed 3 stops (knowing we’d be able to charge on a granny charger at the final destination).

49291F06-2D4F-4A10-AD0E-0F61CEA4BB58.jpeg

iV80 Loft, Black, 21” Betria, 125kW, Climate Plus, Asst Drive Basic. Tethered PodPoint. Ordered May 2021. Delivered Nov 2021. Regrettably returned Jan 2024 (Company car. Changed jobs).
Stripy
Posts: 211
Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2021 3:39 pm

Post by Stripy »

For route planning I generally use ABRP with my preferred networks
When it comes to the actual navigation, I’d use the built in or Apple maps
Mfhphil
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Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:36 pm
Location: Lincoln

Post by Mfhphil »

I tend to use the Skoda Connect app maps. Had to go to a funeral carrying 3 passengers and luggage with a 500 mile round trip six days after delivery. I was range anxious from setting off but no problems including being directed to a Tesla charging station in North Wales. Eight charging units in a golf club/hotel car park with views across the golf course and just us using the chargers
Nermaloids
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2022 11:54 pm

Post by Nermaloids »

Great insights @Goaty, @Stripy and @Mfhphil. Thank you!

@Mfhphil, did the Skoda Connect app let you send the route to Google Maps which was then displayed on the infotainment screen?
Mfhphil
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Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:36 pm
Location: Lincoln

Post by Mfhphil »

Yes it did. I’ve got Zap Map installed but never used it.
snalbansed
Posts: 420
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2021 10:23 pm

Post by snalbansed »

Nermaloids wrote: Sun Aug 07, 2022 12:15 am
ABRP - potential to be perfect, CarPlay version is buggy and interface is lacklustre, no turn by turn data on instrument display. (Using Premium version with OBD dongle)
An old post I know... but has this changed? I've just got my ODB dongle (and my car!) so I was wanting to see how the different navigation apps work, and how useable ABRP was with the advantage of the ODB data before I do my first long road trip in a couple of weeks.

And once I'd paid my £3.99, ABRP displayed on the main screen with Android Auto, and turn by turn instructions were on the instrument panel and on the main row of the HUD (and by voice). They didn't go to the augmented reality bit of the HUD, but I didn't expect that.
Sportline, Artic Silver, parking+, infotainment+, convenience+, family basic, assisted drive+, climate+, towbar
Ordered 20th December 2021, mine 21st March 2023
Charger: Zappi
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RichR
Posts: 1918
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:53 am
Location: South end of North Yorkshire

Post by RichR »

ABRP has certainly has some big improvements recently. I was a bit buggy for a while but it seems to have settled down. Certainly seems a lot better at route planning than it used to be, and the user interface was sometimes fiddly to get it to do what you wanted but now it seems good.

I still prefer to plan my longer journeys before I set off using a combination of Google, Zap-Map and ABRP on my laptop, then set the destinations in the Skoda navigation when I set off. I like to have an idea of where I'm going to stop and alternative charging locations before I get in the car, and aim to charge before I get down to the last 30 miles of range (as that should be enough to get me to at least an AC charger). I tend to use the navigation more for an idea of the distance and time to destination than the actual route if I'm on major roads.

There are so many options, you can choose what works best for you.
Enyaq iV 80 Sportline, Energy Blue, Assisted Drive Plus, Infotainment Plus, Convenience Plus, Comfort Seat Plus, Transport Pack, Heat Pump, ME3.2, Built Nov 2021.
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HarryHuk
Posts: 498
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2022 8:58 pm

Post by HarryHuk »

I've found Chargemap in Europe and Zap Map in UK are excellent for finding chargers near a place or route, less good for journey planning, which ABRP is great for.

For navigation I use either the internal Sat Nav, which I find ok, although the GPS lock sometimes drifts, or Google maps, which seems to be more reliable with location.
Whichever, I enter the next couple of stops at a time and go.
60 Loft Graphite Grey ordered late Nov 2021, delivered late June 2022. UK based
Heat pump, 19" wheels,
chrome, transport, sport drive basic, assisted drive basic, parking basic, light and view basic. ME3.0.0 (from factory)
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