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Why use an electric vehicle route simulator?
When electric car journeys exceed the vehicle's actualrange, stops to recharge the battery become essential. While daily journeys in an electric vehicle can be made without any major constraints, long journeys can be tricky to manage. Despite the expansion of the fast-charging station network in France and Europe, meticulous route planning remains essential to avoid any mishaps. To simplify these journeys, a route planner is crucial.
In fact, an electric vehicle route simulator is an essential tool for planning journeys, taking into account the car's capacity, available charging stations and electric range. What's more, some manufacturers integrate an on-board system that takes account of the vehicle's limitations.
What are the advantages of using an electric car route simulator?
This solution has been deployed by companies and even by some car manufacturers, because of the added value it provides. Indeed, many popular journey planners such as Waze are not adapted to electric vehicles, which is why applications specifically dedicated to electric cars have emerged in recent years.
Here are some notable advantages:
- Adapted route planning Similar to a GPS, it considers the capacity of the electric car, identifies available recharging stations and suggests an optimal route.
- Optimized charging The simulator calculates the number of stops required for recharging, taking into account the speed of charging and the distance between charging stations.
- Locating charging solutions This system allows you to locate the most suitable recharging stations along your route, providing up-to-date information on their availability, power, price, means of payment and whether they are working.
- The essentials for long journeys For distances exceeding the range, planning includes the necessary recharging along the way, ensuring a smooth journey.
What factors influence an electric vehicle journey?
Although they are invaluable tools for planning electric car journeys, route planners are not infallible. Several factors can influence the accuracy of their estimates, including driving behavior, traffic conditionsand more.
In the first instance, air conditioning and heating of your electric car consume energy, having a considerable impact on your battery's range. To illustrate, air conditioning can consume up to 20% of your electric car's range in summer. In winter, heating can consume up to 30% of your electric car's range.
Secondly, the altitude difference of your journey can also have an impact on the range of your electric car. Driving uphill requires more energy than driving on flat ground. So if your journey includes a lot of hills, your range will be reduced.
In addition, we have the outside temperature. An electric car's battery works best at moderate temperatures. In cold weather, the battery has to work harder to maintain its optimum operating temperature, resulting in higher energy consumption.
But that's not all, there are also the characteristics of the vehicle itself that will alter your itinerary. So we have :
- Electric motor capacity Not all electric motors are equally efficient. For example, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 has a 77 kWh battery for 614 km of range. By contrast, the Kia Niro EV with a 68 kWh battery and a range of 460 km.
- Weight the heavier the vehicle, the more energy it consumes to move.
- Sportiness Electric vehicles with more powerful engines have higher fuel consumption than family vehicles.
Our electrifying tips for optimizing your electric car journey
To overcome these problems of autonomy, here are a few tips to consider in order to optimize your itinerary:
- Avoid using air conditioning and heating at full capacity To reduce energy consumption, set the air-conditioning or heating to a moderate temperature.
- Drive smoothly Aggressive driving can increase energy consumption.
- Avoid sudden acceleration and braking Whether you're in the city, on the freeway or on a country road, anticipatory driving is essential to optimize your electric vehicle's range.
To find out more about electric vehicle batteries, we invite you to read our article on the life expectancy of an electric car battery.
The 3 best trip planners for electric cars
As the number of electric car users increases year on year, the competition is getting tougher in the ride simulator market. However, we've selected three of the most successful. Of course, these planners can be used by professionals and private users alike.
Chargemap is a free trip-planning app, available on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, dedicated to electric vehicles. The latter enables electric car drivers to plan their journeys taking into account the location of charging stations. Note that the interface is translated into several languages and is based on official government data on charging stations across the country.
Here are a few key features:
- comprehensive, easy-to-use and user-friendly interface,
- takes into account all the factors that are important when planning a trip in an electric car (car consumption, remaining range and the location of charging stations),
- lists over 166,000 recharging solutions across Europe,
- reliable and provides precise information on charging stations (availability, means of access, power output, type of connector, opening hours, user comments).
What's more, the Chargemap application lets you filter charging stations by type, power and operator, save routes for future use, and share routes with other drivers.
A Better Route Planner
A Better Route Planner (ABRP) is a free mobile app and online service enabling electric vehicle drivers to plan their journeys, taking into account the car's consumption, remaining range and the location of charging stations. Like its twin Chargemap, it is available on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Here are the main features:
- and takes many factors into account (weather, road profile and vehicle type).
- easy-to-use, intuitive user interface.
- customizable, allowing users to define their own preferences (maximum speed and desired load level on arrival).
In addition to these benefits, ABRP also offers a number of additional features that make it a valuable tool for electric vehicle drivers, such as:
- simulate different driving scenarios (driving in eco mode or driving with a trailer).
- export routes to other navigation applications, such as Google Maps or Waze.
- the ability to connect the application to an OBD2 box to collect real-time data from the electric vehicle.
Overall, ABRP is an excellent electric car trip planner that is accurate, easy to use and customizable. It is an indispensable tool for all electric vehicle drivers who want to plan their journeys with confidence.
Plugshare
Plugshare is a free application that helps electric vehicle drivers find charging stations and plan their journeys. Initially conceived as a platform for private individuals to get in touch with each other, making charging stations available to electric vehicle drivers passing through. The application has undergone considerable diversification and development, establishing itself as one of the essential tools for electric vehicle travel.
Boasting the world's most accurate and comprehensive public electric charging map, the service has a remarkable presence in Europe and North America. It currently boasts the world's largest community of electric vehicle drivers, with over 250,000 charging points listed worldwide (including fast, slow and home charging points).
This application offers users easy navigation, allowing users to search for charging stations by type, location and availability. It also uses real-time data to ensure that charging station information is up to date.
Like Chargemap, Plugshare also lets you save routes for future use, and share journeys with other clean-vehicle drivers.
Conclusion
In short, whether you're an individual looking to embark on the electric vehicle adventure, or a professional looking to optimize your electric vehicle fleetsthese three route planners - ABRP, Chargemap and Plugshare - are indispensable tools for planning your journeys efficiently and taking full advantage of electric mobility.
ABRP will appeal to drivers looking for precision and efficiency thanks to its advanced algorithms, while Chargemap will delight users looking for an exhaustive database of charging stations. Plugshare, meanwhile, is an ideal platform for drivers wishing to interact with an active community of electric vehicle users.
Whatever you choose, don't forget that using a route planner isn't just about planning trips. These tools also offer valuable features such as monitoring your vehicle's state of charge, searching for charging stations in real time, and saving your favorite routes.
So don't wait any longer and get an electric car route planner today, so you can take full advantage of electric mobility calmly and efficiently. Don't forget that thanks to the Beev recharge cardrecharge card, you can recharge at over 300,000 public charging points throughout Europe.
To find out more about charging cards, we invite you to read our article on electric car charging cards.
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