[arijaycomet]

ABRP is a nice app, @BikerBill and it even has Apple CarPlay support now. That will be a nice feature, down the road, when the XC40 P8 rolls out CarPlay support. I tend to favor the "Trip Planner" in PlugShare, mainly because I just like that PS offers better data on the charging stations. And I like how it filters optimal chargers, etc. Both are good for trip planning, but I'd argue this: 99% of the long trips people take (USA-based) are best served on the EA network. All the other networks are decent, some more than others, but EA is the best overall. At which point planning a trip ahead is wise, but in practice, you need just connect the "EA dots" as you go.

 

[arijaycomet]

Are we in kind of a golden age right now where the charging infrastructure is out there along many routes but the demand hasn’t picked up from the mainstream motorists yet?

Not to hijack this thread but a quick reply to this -- during our last Tesla trip (Dec2020) we drove from Ohio to Georgia during the winter holiday time. Our findings were that most all of the Tesla chargers were 75-99% capacity (one charging stop, we slotted into the only open terminal; and just as we left, someone else arrived to take it; so it was 100% capacity during and just after our visit/stop). However, during my travels in the XC40 (ex: Ohio to Tennessee) we used almost exclusively ElectrifyAmerica chargers, which have been 0% to 40% capacity typically, even during the summer high-travel periods.

My take: we are in the golden age for sure where most of the major routes are covered, but we're also just now seeing people get non-Tesla long-range EVs to market. Sure some Porsche Taycan owners drive distances, but for the most part you're going to see VW ID4 and Mustang Mach-E owners at those chargers; those are the new/hot long range vehicles. You'll see some Chevy Bolt EUV and some XC40 P8 too ... but we're in the minority. And ... the # of units sold is still limited there. So the capacity isn't yet an issue. Yet..... but it will be.

I'll be curious, as a 10+ year EV veteran, to see when that happens. At what point do the EA (or similar) charging stations/networks reach similar-to-Tesla capacity? Does it become an issue? Do we end up with California-like charging wait times (which already exist for all brands, but especially Tesla Superchargers during high volumes). Let's hope that Tesla, EA, etc -- all keep up/exceed demand, so that we can all be free to travel on electrons!

 

[arijaycomet]

I got it from another member, @arijaycomet ! Doing this lets Google solve the math for you.

YAY! First off thank you so much @DeaneG for concisely writing out my prior thoughts from other threads. Kudos to you and I agree this should be a STICKY!!!!

Secondly, I thought I read somewhere that v1.7 now offers some better route planning re: arrival % -- what I think it said is that the car -should- tell you how much time remaining to "reach" your next destination. Question is, what % does it think is acceptable? It may simply tell you how much time you need to change to arrive at 15% SOC -- which as you pointed out wont always be enough.

Thirdly, but to expand on that last part-- you drove 80MPH and lost 10% you said. But there are so many factors here (elevation changes, wind speed, and temperature are some of the big ones). In the summer time I would tell people that our findings have been this: if you drive 5 MPH over the limit you should find the XC40 is fairly on-target. But over 75 MPH the car's shape really kills efficiency so another 5-10% loss is possible. Winter time you should expect to see as bad as 65-70% of "real world" range -- in other words, if you're going to drive 100 miles, you'd need as much as 150 miles (in below freezing temps); YRMV.

Bottom line though is this is a GREAT writeup and with 8k miles on our XC40 and my wife/I normally driving collectively 40k+ miles per year in 100% electric ... I hope many XC40 buyers/owners read this and travel. You will be surprised how easy it really is to travel in an EV, and fun too!