EV Navigation

[londiniumperson]

The past couple of days I have been looking at how to use my Honda e on longer trips as stress free as possible.

It seems that there are no Android Auto compatible mobile apps to use with the Honda e infotainment system that cater for EV owners that include the following:

• Live traffic data (e.g. Google Maps/Waze)

• Route planning with EV charger points that can be customised for specific BEVs (i.e. to accommodate for specific ranges)

• The ability to re-route whilst en route and recalculate which charger to use

Does anyone know of the options, whether Android Auto or Apple Car Play that cater for this?
I'm aware that there's a subscription option at 5€/month or 50€/year for ABRP (A better route planner) that links to Apple Car Play but not Android Auto, is this correct & is it any good?

[bogga]

Sygic does all that

[londiniumperson]

Sygic does all that

Thanks, I'll have a look at the Android version.
Do you use the iPhone Apple Car Play version because that's not an Android Auto compatible app, is that correct?
It looks like to access the live traffic option there's a need for the premium paid version of 'Europe + Traffic' is required, which for Android is a Lifetime license, it seems that the Apple version has an annual charge, please can you advise?
Also what do you think of the add-ons:

• Real View Navigation
• Head-up Display

[londiniumperson]

Sygic does all that

When you say 'Sygic does all that', you actually mean that it only has live traffic data (which even that is wrong in my local town with it showing some roads closed due to roadworks when they are not)?
It's missing the most basic functions for an EV owner:

• No routing specifically for EVs (i.e. when & where to stop for a charge)
• It has no EV charger point information

Therefore absolutely useless for an EV owner.

I am not going to be adding my own POIs for the charge points because this still won't solve the lack of EV routing functionality even if I could because the Sygic website states that '... this is not currently possible onto the maps of the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom'.

[londiniumperson]

I have found the 'hidden' EV option which originally didn't recommend any chargers along the route even when I chose the 'Customize charging along the route', but now does.
It also has a Beta Android Auto option which I cannot currently check because my car will not power on & I'm awaiting the Honda breakdown service (AA). This seems to be the typical dead 12v battery 'feature'.

[milligoon]

I think ZapMap are looking at making their app AA compatible, the down side is there is no live traffic.

[londiniumperson]

I started to get excited once I had accessed the convoluted set-up of how to access the EV & Android Auto features.
I've managed to test out Sygic now that I can power on my E, however the app has a few issues, initially on first impressions it seems very slow to respond compared to Google Maps & Waze.
Using Android Auto it doesn't show any EV chargers for route navigation, therefore the driver has to look for them mid journey which is not a safe or realistic option.
This issue is effectively a repeat of the previous one, where it doesn't highlight that you won't make your destination or the next planned charger even if you have a full charge at the start.
If the app is used whilst not connected it shows chargers on the route but has no concept of suggesting the most appropriate for that route, it just shows ALL of the chargers on the actual route, for example on a 200 mile route the first one that it will highlight is about 7.5 miles away.

As I have a free trial period I might try it this week on my commute, however I think that I may well be disappointed.

[londiniumperson]

After using this Sygic navigation app for my commute this week I have decided to bin it due to the following reasons:

• The app crashed at least once each day.
• Excessive resource hog with the app responses really slow, compared to Google Maps.
• Inaccurate traffic reporting.
• Cost with add-ons extra for some options & the initial one off Android app cost of £11.99 (normal price £67.49).
• Cannot plan a route specifically for EVs, i.e. cannot plan charge stops along route, it only lists those actually on the route itself whether in range or not.
• No way to enter car charge state for use in route planning or whilst at a charge point.
• Cannot easily search for nearby chargers whilst driving (i.e. voice search), I tried this several times and it consistently advised of chargers between 100 & 350 miles away, not the nearest. Google maps does a perfectly adequate job of routing to a nearby charger.
• I found the voice navigation annoying where it gave 3 announcements per junction (1 about 400m away, 1 at 200m and a 3rd just before), Google maps gave 2 on the same route.
• Poor mapping where, for example where it believes on a road that forks off, it told me 3 times to turn right when in reality that was the default option (and road name), with left being the the turn off into a different road. Google Maps worked correctly.
• The exit signs on the A3 dual carriageway were shown in blue (aka motorway signage when it was not a motorway).

In short it not suitable as a EV specific navigation app, hopefully ABRP will be available on Android Auto soon because that at first glance appears to be the only realistic option.

[bogga]

After using this Sygic navigation app for my commute this week I have decided to bin it due to the following reasons:

Agreed, but it's the only app on Android that is trying, that I'm aware of, to have some EV features. Traffic and Map data is from TomTom, I too have noticed a load of faults, and I've been getting them changed in Mapshare, but I guess the TomTom user group is much smaller than Waze or Google, so the data isn't being updated by the community very rapidly. I was really surprised by the amount of mistakes in road layouts that have been in exists for 4 years plus on some occasions.

I can believe the Sygic software will get better, but as for the source map material this is a real problem for the product going forward.

[londiniumperson]

There's also EVNAViQ on beta for Android, which seems quite good & I have first hand experience that the app developer does respond and resolve issues reported quickly.
It has the necessary EV specific options and seems quite good, though has no live traffic data. There is pro (paid for subscription option) to unlock a couple of additional options.