Just made my first trip using ABRP (A Better Route Planner). I have mixed feelings about it.
We towed our 7,300lbs 25ft Airstream from Bend, OR, to Lincoln City, OR. On the way out we stopped over in Sisters and charged to 100%. From here it would be 176miles each way.
The next day we drove over the Santiam pass and stopped in Mill City with 61% and charged to 83%. We made another stop in Salem that I will skip in the future, in Salem and charged 66-85%. We arrived at our destination RV park in Lincoln city at 43%.
This was planned with ABRP with the “Large trailer” option selected so it wanted to make those 2 stops. I realized on the drive that my trailer is not a large trailer - as far as ABRP is concerned AND as I did not have a Bluetooth dongle so ABRP was not getting real data from my truck.
So, I had to change. I ordered the dongle and it arrived in time for the journey back.
With the app set to medium trailer it finally agreed that a stop in Salem and then Mill city would work. Just. It predicted we would arrive in Sisters with 19%SoC which is a little less margin that I was really happy with, bit I did think it was being too conservative.
We left Lincoln City at 100%, stopped in Salem and charged from 63-82% arriving in Mill city at 61%. We charged to 90% although the app said we only need 88%.
The next stretch was all uphill, from about 1,000ft to 4,800ft over 60 miles. Then about 21 more miles mostly downhill to our camp ground.
I drove at or below the speed limit, being as smooth as I could. By the time we made it to the top of the pass ABRP revised our destination SoC would be 24%. This was a big relief. By the time we got to our destination we were actually at 34%SoC.
My take aways from this trip:
Heading out of Bend means most of my trips are net downhill on the way out and net uphill coming home - making the home bound leg more difficult.
Skip the stop in Salem in the future, both ways.
When heading home, charging at Mill City to 95% would mean I could drive much faster and have plenty of buffer. I guess even at 90% I could have gone faster.
The EVCS charger in Detroit Lake would be a better stop on the way home, but that charger has been down forever and the Tesla station is not compatible with our trucks.
ABRP, even with the dongle, does not handle elevation changes in its planning model well, if at all, as far as I can tell. Real shame, I was hoping it would.
ABRP made some really awful decisions when going through Salem and at one point wanted us to leave the hwy re-route on some surface streets and rejoin the Hwy. I ignored this of course - my wife was laughing…
We towed our 7,300lbs 25ft Airstream from Bend, OR, to Lincoln City, OR. On the way out we stopped over in Sisters and charged to 100%. From here it would be 176miles each way.
The next day we drove over the Santiam pass and stopped in Mill City with 61% and charged to 83%. We made another stop in Salem that I will skip in the future, in Salem and charged 66-85%. We arrived at our destination RV park in Lincoln city at 43%.
This was planned with ABRP with the “Large trailer” option selected so it wanted to make those 2 stops. I realized on the drive that my trailer is not a large trailer - as far as ABRP is concerned AND as I did not have a Bluetooth dongle so ABRP was not getting real data from my truck.
So, I had to change. I ordered the dongle and it arrived in time for the journey back.
With the app set to medium trailer it finally agreed that a stop in Salem and then Mill city would work. Just. It predicted we would arrive in Sisters with 19%SoC which is a little less margin that I was really happy with, bit I did think it was being too conservative.
We left Lincoln City at 100%, stopped in Salem and charged from 63-82% arriving in Mill city at 61%. We charged to 90% although the app said we only need 88%.
The next stretch was all uphill, from about 1,000ft to 4,800ft over 60 miles. Then about 21 more miles mostly downhill to our camp ground.
I drove at or below the speed limit, being as smooth as I could. By the time we made it to the top of the pass ABRP revised our destination SoC would be 24%. This was a big relief. By the time we got to our destination we were actually at 34%SoC.
My take aways from this trip:
Heading out of Bend means most of my trips are net downhill on the way out and net uphill coming home - making the home bound leg more difficult.
Skip the stop in Salem in the future, both ways.
When heading home, charging at Mill City to 95% would mean I could drive much faster and have plenty of buffer. I guess even at 90% I could have gone faster.
The EVCS charger in Detroit Lake would be a better stop on the way home, but that charger has been down forever and the Tesla station is not compatible with our trucks.
ABRP, even with the dongle, does not handle elevation changes in its planning model well, if at all, as far as I can tell. Real shame, I was hoping it would.
ABRP made some really awful decisions when going through Salem and at one point wanted us to leave the hwy re-route on some surface streets and rejoin the Hwy. I ignored this of course - my wife was laughing…
