Honda e & ABRP - Any use?

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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

What are peoples opinion on using ABRP (A Better Route Planner) with the Honda e?

I’ve tried it twice with the premium option and I’m very disappointed, especially as this is a fully funded company with the resources to get this right.

The main reasons being:
Poor route planning where charging is required, no matter how I’ve set the options I can make a better choice myself on routes that I’ve never driven by using ZapMap.
Odd routing, when I drove to Gatwick (120 mile round trip), it wanted to take a 10 mile/30 min detour for a 6 min charge near the start of the outbound journey and then on the SW corner of Gatwick for an approx 20 charge for the return when one stop would have sufficed.
If the Automatic Settings button (traffic & weather taken into account) is enabled it overrides the departure SoC & reference consumption and these cannot be changed. This is poor because the default consumption is inaccurate.
Also the traffic routing is very poor, the M25 was closed on the return journey between a couple of junctions but ABRP didn’t report this. I only knew because Google Maps showed the correct info, which I confirmed as I passed on the opposite carriageway on the outbound trip.
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
2015 VW Tiguan (Pure White) - 04/2018-Current
1991 Honda Beat PP1 (Festival Red) - 11/2022-Current

nyx
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Post by nyx »

I do use it for longer trips (just to plan, not to navigate) but I don’t really like it. It’s just the least bad thing.

I’ve seen and reported a bug where tweaking the fewer/shorter stops slider would cause it not to recommend chargers it should have done.

And the UI has been absolutely hideous with so many bugs around content not fitting in fields, overlays not disappearing when they should etc.

I’m hoping Google Maps will add chargers to their route planner so I can ditch ABRP.

I’ve also tried the ZapMap route planner but I liked if even less.
turntoport
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Post by turntoport »

nyx; yes, per Londiniumperson's response - googlemaps does show chargers - just not all of them, i don't think, yet. I'd expect google are working on ev charger/route-planning with quite a big development team, and probably will just gobble-up/wipe-out the smaller independants, in time.
The google access is a bit 'hidden'; you'll need to go to you phone app 'settings' and add your plug variants to the ev charger' list, (i.e ccs, type 2, 3-pin), then when using maps swipe across the screen 'categories' bar near the top to 'more...', then down in the bottom category of 'services' you'll find ev charging'... I think this might go on a separate top-level 'button' before long!
ABPR, Zapmap: per Londiniumperson; both have advantages, both have niggly dysfunctions...on long trips we use all three... plus the operators own apps for closer checkup on status! Strewth.

good luck!
turntoport
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Post by turntoport »

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iHansz
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Post by iHansz »

Unfortunately, ABRP is the only viable option for longer trips. I used it for my trip to and in Norway and was very happy with it. Enter a route in advance and charge at the suggested places. That worked really fine and I didn't know how to do it any other way. I could not discover the added value between paid and unpaid, so I cancelled the subscription. In the Netherlands, I use the Shell Recharge App or the Fastned one. I hope that Apple will integrate it into its Apple Maps one day (or simply take over the company).
Dutch Advance in Charge Yellow on 17"
1st registered Oct 2020
Home charger: public charging stations only
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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

One major down side of ABRP (and all of these app) is the inability to integrate with the Honda and know the SoC, which is the most important thing.

iHansz, I assume that you update ABRP at every charge stop because without the correct SoC the app won’t be able to make a sensible choice on the next charge. The issue here is that if you do that then there’s no traffic or weather compensation applied to your route & these are the 2 features that ABRP claim as their advantage over other apps. However as I’ve already mentioned both of these features are poorly implemented as to use useless anyway.
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
2015 VW Tiguan (Pure White) - 04/2018-Current
1991 Honda Beat PP1 (Festival Red) - 11/2022-Current
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FDAD
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Post by FDAD »

Not a bad app but not being able to use the actual SOC to calculate trip data is a bummer. I have is configured in such a way that the E in reality either has more charge at destination or at least it's even.
Honda E advance [Modern Steel Metallic] 8-) [DELIVERED JULY 2020] - 85 000Kms + ✌️🎂
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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

My experience of ABRP on the Gatwick airport run was very disappointing and I ended up ignoring it and decided to stop at the Cobham services on the return leg and got there as expected with very little charge, only 4% after chickening out and driving the last few miles at 50-55mph whereas I could have driven at 70 and probably arrived with zero charge as I had guesstimated.

I took the gamble that at least one Ionity charger would be working at my 5am arrival time, when in actuality they were all free and all working.

The big driver for choosing this stop was because I had a free Bonnet App charge available and made use of it by charging from 4% to 98% in an hour whilst I had a break and breakfast.

I can recommend the Bonnet App (DM me for a referral code), mainly because it saved my 26kWh @ 69p/kWh on that trip, though I could have got home easily on a 60% charge.
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
2015 VW Tiguan (Pure White) - 04/2018-Current
1991 Honda Beat PP1 (Festival Red) - 11/2022-Current
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iHansz
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Post by iHansz »

londiniumperson wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 3:39 pm One major down side of ABRP (and all of these app) is the inability to integrate with the Honda and know the SoC, which is the most important thing.

iHansz, I assume that you update ABRP at every charge stop because without the correct SoC the app won’t be able to make a sensible choice on the next charge. The issue here is that if you do that then there’s no traffic or weather compensation applied to your route & these are the 2 features that ABRP claim as their advantage over other apps. However as I’ve already mentioned both of these features are poorly implemented as to use useless anyway.
Because I left every day with a full battery, I had the App set to 90% start. Of course you have no direct insight into your SoC, but I had the consumption on the second screen, and often the consumption in the ABRP App (via Carplay) and the second screen went together. The most important thing for me was that I knew where I could DC recharge. One time it almost went wrong, ABRP wanted to send me to a gravel path, but my e is not a rally car :lol: , so I had to find an alternative route. (And then you ended up on a fjord...) Fortunately, everything turned out fine. 8-)
Dutch Advance in Charge Yellow on 17"
1st registered Oct 2020
Home charger: public charging stations only
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