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EV-specific route planning apps - user survey

1K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  NoisySpeedbird 
#1 ·
Hi!
I'm 4th year Imperial College London student, and for my Master's Thesis project, I aim to develop a new EV routing algorithm and pair it with a user-friendly app.
I've created this survey to ask you, the EV users, what you would like to see in such an app. It's really short and shouldn't take more than 3 minutes.
Of course, once I've finished this project, I'll post an update with the results of my work :)
Thank you for your time and suggestions!
 
#3 ·
Honestly, ABRP has pretty much nailed this, except for key areas:

1. The UI/UX of their app is not good.

2. They need to develop (likely with car manufacturers - like they have done with Polestar) more user friendly methods of obtaining live data from the car. At present (except for Tesla) it usually require the user to use an ODB device. Ideally, it would all happen without that being necessary.

3. They largely rely on user generated charger databases, which are not always up to date. They need to work directly with charging networks / governments to help get to a point where all charger information for a country is centrally maintained and automatically updated, which then can be tapped into by the planner.
 
#4 ·
I’d say that, with more capable EVs with 50kWh+ batteries becoming more mainstream, EV route planners can become less about planning a route for the car for maximum efficiency and more about planning a pleasant journey for the driver and passengers.

The planner should favour charging hubs, charger clusters and chargers with amenities. The planner should favour stopping at mealtimes eg between 12 & 2pm
The planner should avoid very short charging stops (less than 5-10 minutes) and instead recommend slower legs or less & longer charging stops if possible.
 
#5 ·
I’d say that, with more capable EVs with 50kWh+ batteries becoming more mainstream, EV route planners can become less about planning a route for the car for maximum efficiency and more about planning a pleasant journey for the driver and passengers.

The planner should favour charging hubs, charger clusters and chargers with amenities. The planner should favour stopping at mealtimes eg between 12 & 2pm
The planner should avoid very short charging stops (less than 5-10 minutes) and instead recommend slower legs or less & longer charging stops if possible.
Simply NO. That is called advertising! If you let this advertising creep in your route planning, how would you know what are the priorities when the software selects the route or charging stops? What if an MSA pays so that the route planner directs all traffic through them?

And there is a reason why 5-10min stops are preferable, maybe not by everyone. I agree that is a choice, but the driver can always make that choice on the fly, there is no reason to put that responsibility on the software. What happens when your kid needs a comfort break... you can't plan or predict it.
 
#6 ·
Horses for courses, evidently.
I don’t want to spend my EV life trudging into hotel receptions to input my registration or rushing out in the middle of my lunch to move my car off the charger.
Differentiating between different chargers already happens, prioritising by charge rate, distance from route etc. Simply adding prioritisation by amenity, number of chargers on site etc is no different.
As for advertising to affect the route; quite frankly that could already happen now. And if the app and service was free then it will no doubt happen. Unless you are willing to subscribe or otherwise pay for the routing software, it’s worth remembering - ‘if you don’t pay for the product, you are the product.’
 
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