How to use PlugShare for route planning

[Budman]

There are numerous threads about what is the best route planner. ABRP or Rivian nav etc. My favorite, by far, is PlugShare trip planner. Not many people seem to be aware of it so I’ll give an example here and point out why I like it.

This example is a trip I may do soon from Missoula, MT to Vancouver BC.

At the bottom of the PlugShare app is a “Trip” icon.

Open that and you can enter your range or how long you are willing to sit and drive in one shot, 210 miles for me. Also enter your destination.

It will give you a choice of routes,

Select the one you want then you get a screen of your routes and the chargers around range you put in. This is why I like PlugShare planner, I can select the charger I want at the point in the trip I want to stop. You can do all the normal PlugShare filtering by network, score, speed, etc. Even if you use ABRB you are likely going to check PlugShare for reports anyway so why not just to it all in PlugShare?

Select the stop you want and at this point you can see an elevation proflle which may influence your driving distance.

You can zoom in and see other stores in the area for refreshments.

Once you have your first stop you can continue on to the next in a similar way. When finished you get the trip summary which is easy to edit.

I have a premium ABRP membership but rarely use it. It often picks stops I just don’t want to do for various reasons. I always check the stops in PlugShare anyway so I just do it all there. A bit more of a manual approach but I like to have that control and flexibility.

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[KBabione]

Nice writeup - Thanks! I'll give it a try on my next long trip.

 

[COdogman]

Great write up. I used it once for a short trip with only 2 charging stops, and the sheer simplicity of being able to use one app was definitely nice.

 

[MidnightRivian]

I’ll try this on my next trip.

I tend to stick with Rivian navigation and Waze for speed traps.

 

[N7Rivian]

This option isn't showing on my android and only on my iPhone.
on my android, it says, "trips planned on the website are showed here" on that trips section.

And on the website, you need to login to even view any routes unlike ABRP.

 

[KBabione]

I went back into PlugShare and planned the last couple of longer trips that I did and it works really well. Like the OP, I used to plan trips in ABRP and then go and validate everything in PlugShare. This saves me that step and allows me to easily see which chargers I plan to use and nearby backups. I really didn't know that the trip planner option was even there!

 

[Wokka1827]

Silly (and maybe obvious answer to some) question, but can you send the route you create to the vehicle so that it’s on the vehicle maps or is that purely for if you plan the route in the Rivian app?

 

[Budman]

Silly (and maybe obvious answer to some) question, but can you send the route you create to the vehicle so that it’s on the vehicle maps or is that purely for if you plan the route in the Rivian app?

I do not know of a way to send to vehicle.

 

[SwampNut]

I've always FELT like this planner was wrong, but now I know it is. Yesterday I took a short trip on my Zero, to a nearby town. I used ABRP and it nailed the power usage literally perfectly. I arrived with the exact amount, and charged, and returned with the predicted amount.

Plugshare thinks I can do it without charging, and I'd be completely boned.

 

[azbill]

I do not know of a way to send to vehicle.

Send it to Google maps on your phone, then send that to Rivian. But beware, once you send it to the truck, it will likely recompute the stops anyway.

And I forgot, there is a trick that you need to have a charger at your destination, to send directions to your map app on the phone. Otherwise you can send the last charging stop directions.

 

[Budman]

I've always FELT like this planner was wrong, but now I know it is. Yesterday I took a short trip on my Zero, to a nearby town. I used ABRP and it nailed the power usage literally perfectly. I arrived with the exact amount, and charged, and returned with the predicted amount.

Plugshare thinks I can do it without charging, and I'd be completely boned.

But, you enter the range you expect into PlugShare. It is only as good as your inputs.

 

[CBRacerX]

Thanks for posting. Giving this a try. The filters seem important

 

[tragicmonkey049]

Confirmed: Android app version v4.28.1 (June 27, 2024 update for me) does not have trip planner capability. Also, I cannot create a trip at www.plugshare.com on my phone because it says I need a minimum display width of 1024.

Edit: I sent an email inquiry to them asking whether they plan to add the trip planner to the Android version...

Update: noncommittal reply from developer. "Working on it."

 

[Budman]

Confirmed: Android app version v4.28.1 (June 27, 2024 update for me) does not have trip planner capability. Also, I cannot create a trip at www.plugshare.com on my phone because it says I need a minimum display width of 1024.

Edit: I sent an email inquiry to them asking whether they plan to add the trip planner to the Android version...

Bummer;

You can do trip planning on a Laptop at www.plugshare.com. Some of the trip summary outputs are better for me in the web version, like full trip elevation profiles with charging stops highlighted like this;

 

[TTedP]

Isn’t plugshare missing (some, all, none) RAN locations?

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