Canadian EV route planning websites/apps

[huskylord]

Let's say that magic exists and I was somehow granted an R1T in June 2021 in Toronto, Ontario.
What would be the best website or app for me to spend an afternoon making fantasy trips to Algonquin park, or Quebec, or start trekking westward? I know the RAN network is coming, but just wondering what actually exists today for us folk in southern Ontario and play imaginary trip planner for a day.

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[cwoodcox]

ABRP is really great. It’s pretty much the only one out there, as far as I know.

 

[cwoodcox]

Also, FWIW, Ontario had big plans for EV charging at ONRoute and they’ve been on hold since Doug Ford became premier

 

[huskylord]

Thank you and 100% agreed about the delay in EV progress for Ontario.
His primary focus is keeping the real estate/property developers happy (but let's not digress into politics)....

Now lets win that Lotto Max.....

 

[ajdelange]

Another enthusiastic vote for ABRP. They've made some improvements in the new year and it is now much more useful (not that it wasn't before the improvements). You can tie it to your car so that when it plans a route it will use the current SoC of your vehicle in planning the route. If you pay a small fee it will store your plans, your home location, your work location. Also under the premium if you click on a station you have selected it shows how many of the terminals are currently free. All this can be done on your computer or on your smart phone. When you start to travel it will follow your progress. I haven't used this as the Tesla in-car app is so good so I don't know whether it updates arrival estimates for destinations down the road in real time. I expect that it does.

 

[cwoodcox]

I haven't used this as the Tesla in-car app is so good so I don't know whether it updates arrival estimates for destinations down the road in real time. I expect that it does.

One thing ABRP does better is charging stops/times. It’s more efficient and better for your battery to stop more frequently and keep your charge between 20-80%. You’ll spend less time waiting around on trips if you stop more. ABRP plans like this. Tesla doesn’t, from what I’ve heard. It plans to go as long as possible before charging.

 

[SANZC02]

One thing ABRP does better is charging stops/times. It’s more efficient and better for your battery to stop more frequently and keep your charge between 20-80%. You’ll spend less time waiting around on trips if you stop more. ABRP plans like this. Tesla doesn’t, from what I’ve heard. It plans to go as long as possible before charging.

I have not taken my Model S on a trip in awhile but unless they changed on a recent update, the Tesla trip planner has you stop and tells you the amount of charge to put in to get to the next stop.

The times I used it it was pretty accurate on what to add and expected % remaining when getting to the next stop.

 

[Gshenderson]

I have not taken my Model S on a trip in awhile but unless they changed on a recent update, the Tesla trip planner has you stop and tells you the amount of charge to put in to get to the next stop.

The times I used it it was pretty accurate on what to add and expected % remaining when getting to the next stop.

It will skip superchargers if it thinks it can make it to the next one on your route.

 

[ajdelange]

One thing ABRP does better is charging stops/times. It’s more efficient and better for your battery to stop more frequently and keep your charge between 20-80%. You’ll spend less time waiting around on trips if you stop more. ABRP plans like this. Tesla doesn’t, from what I’ve heard. It plans to go as long as possible before charging.

I don't think either of those is true. Tesla's program's overall goal seems to be minimizing charge time but then I don't use the Tesla car app to plan the trip. I use ABRP for that. With regard to when it has you stop, ABRP lets you specify the minimum charge you want on board when you arrive at a charger (and the final destination) and how much charge you want on board when you depart a charger or alternatively how long you want to charge there. And, of course, you can specify how much charge you will have on board when you leave home (or it will get your SoC from the car if that option is enabled). Unless you tell ABRP to charge to no more than, e.g., 80% it will take you well up into the 90's in order to avoid 50 kW chargers. This happens with Rivian planning. With Tesla there are so many super chargers that this usually isn't a problem.

But ABRP, good as it is, is not perfect. It does not know, for example, that I'd much rather stop and charge for over an hour at the Bennington 50 kW station rather than go out of my way to get to the nearest 350 kW charger (Albany) because we go through Bennington anyway and there is a nice little taco joint near the smaller charger. It takes quite a bit of doing to get ABRP to accept this and the thing I'd really to see them add is a feature where you specify the set of chargers you'd like to use and have it work out a plan based on that. With Tesla there are enough stations out there that you can plan primarily based on bladder and belly rather than battery. The CCS network isn't at that point yet.

WRT the Tesla in car planner: it picks the route and charger set that minimizes the total en route time so it is often possible to skip a charge if you are willing to charge to a higher level than the program recommends. Tesla, even though they have so many, wants you out of your stall ASAP and, if you set charging level higher than necessary to reach your destination or next charging point will nag you with "Time remaining to continue your journey" messages.

One of the things I am most anxious to see is how Rivian handles this aspect of BEV operation. The Tesla suite of programs, displays etc. is, IMO, pretty impressive. I expect no less from Rivian.

 

[rraj2k81]

Also, FWIW, Ontario had big plans for EV charging at ONRoute and they’ve been on hold since Doug Ford became premier

The Petro-Canada EV Charging network looks promising and it's already established across the 400 series HWYs all the way up to Nova Scotia.

The H1/OPG/Ivy charging network in Ontario looks very promising too, albeit it's currently active across cottage country.

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