Zap-Map vs ABRP

[Mikster]

Hi Everyone

I’m looking to sign up to a premium subscription to either Zap-Map or ABRP. I’ve had a play with free versions of both but would love to hear your opinions on them and also which you use or if you have found other great apps?

Looking forward to hearing your views….

[Smitten]

Main reason I use ABRP is because it is pretty accurate at judging the achievable distance between charging stops and, it is integrated into Android Auto. Not too impressed with navigation features so I tend to use it as a journey planning tool. I also use free version of Zap Map to check on charger chat.

[MotMot]

WhatsApp isn’t bad as a journey planner and the car play integration is free. The nearest free charger option is useful too.

[Utumno]

WhatsApp isn’t bad as a journey planner and the car play integration is free. The nearest free charger option is useful too.

Did you mean https://www.wattsup.app/ ? Rather than WhatsApp?

If so looks interesting, I wasn’t previously aware of that app! Shame they don’t have support for the Tour though, just the ID.3 1st…

[MotMot]

Sorry. Yes. 77kw id4 might be a workaround if they have one of them?

[Leccy]

WattsUp looks good, another way to alleviate range anxiety. Free use with CarPlay and the Apple Maps integration very handy. Only shows chargers >=50kW to me, but no big deal, still plenty of chargers even when using additional filters

[Deleted User 1676]

Did you mean https://www.wattsup.app/ ? Rather than WhatsApp?

What were they thinking when they signed off on that name? SMH.

[Deleted User 192]

I’m not voting because I use both.

ABRP for route planning, and Zap-Map to investigate the suggested chargers and look at alternative options.

[G43FAN]

I’m not voting because I use both.

ABRP for route planning, and Zap-Map to investigate the suggested chargers and look at alternative options.

Same here for what little I need.

[DumfriesDik]

Does anyone use the built in navigation?

[Deleted User 192]

Does anyone use the built in navigation?

Sometimes, but mostly Apple Maps via Apple CarPlay - I can lookup routes on my phone in advance knowing they’ll be visible as recent destinations when I get in the car, it integrates with my Apple Watch, the voice control works reliably. but most importantly of all it actually recognises places and postcodes!

[Smitten]

Does anyone use the built in navigation?

Sometimes, but mostly Apple Maps via Apple CarPlay - I can lookup routes on my phone in advance knowing they’ll be visible as recent destinations when I get in the car, it integrates with my Apple Watch, the voice control works reliably. but most importantly of all it actually recognises places and postcodes!

I have abandoned the built in satnav in our current EV and ICE in favour of Google Maps/Android Auto and my partner uses Apple Car Play/Apple Maps. The voice recognition is probably 98% reliable so can be used easily, postcode recognition is great, traffic updates are up to date and the actual map is reasonably reliable. I really like the integration with Spotify as well which is seemless and you can use voice to search for new playlists/artists etc. I find in built satnav's can have very out of date maps and the voice control isn't up-to-scratch. I was hoping the VW would be better but sounds like it is similar to both of our existing cars.

[sidehaas]

Does anyone use the built in navigation?

Sometimes, but mostly Apple Maps via Apple CarPlay - I can lookup routes on my phone in advance knowing they’ll be visible as recent destinations when I get in the car, it integrates with my Apple Watch, the voice control works reliably. but most importantly of all it actually recognises places and postcodes!

I have abandoned the built in satnav in our current EV and ICE in favour of Google Maps/Android Auto and my partner uses Apple Car Play/Apple Maps. The voice recognition is probably 98% reliable so can be used easily, postcode recognition is great, traffic updates are up to date and the actual map is reasonably reliable. I really like the integration with Spotify as well which is seemless and you can use voice to search for new playlists/artists etc. I find in built satnav's can have very out of date maps and the voice control isn't up-to-scratch. I was hoping the VW would be better but sounds like it is similar to both of our existing cars.

I think the built in satnav is pretty good in my use so far albeit the criticisms you identify will undoubtedly persist when compared to Google. No car company is going to be able to compete directly with Google or Apple on voice control or map updates. But they can still be good enough. A map has to be several years out of date before it becomes a regular problem (except for chargers which obviously change much faster).

The other thing is that one of the updates discussed for 3.0 (I'm not sure if it's definitely in) has been preconditioning of the battery when navigating to a charger. If that happens, I bet it will rely on you using the in-car nav or wecharge. Which incidentally will be annoying because wecharge doesn't contain some of the major charging brands,at least yet.

[SteveH]

The other thing is that one of the updates discussed for 3.0 (I'm not sure if it's definitely in) has been preconditioning of the battery when navigating to a charger. If that happens, I bet it will rely on you using the in-car nav or wecharge. Which incidentally will be annoying because wecharge doesn't contain some of the major charging brands,at least yet.

I like the idea of the built in sat-nav automatically adding charging points when it thinks you need them, but I've found it very limited:

• It seems to want you you to charge very early - i.e. I don't want to charge when I have 60 miles of range left!

• If you decide to ignore it and drive past the charger, it doesn't recalculate and find another charger that's ahead of you. It just spends the rest of the journey trying to direct you back to the charger you missed.

• There doesn't seem to be any way to manually remove the suggested charger from the route.

However, if you turn the "automatically add charging stops" feature off, I find it very difficult to manually add a suitable stop. There isn't a good way to find out how much range you're expected to have left at various points on the map, all it tells you is that you can't make it to your destination.

But my limited experience of ABRP is that it significantly overestimates my range and I find the website quite clunky with it frequently resetting some of my route options without me asking it to. I've not really used the ARBP phone app.

So far I've been using a combination of zap-map, arbp and openchargemap. One feature that I'd quite like which seems to be missing from all of them is to filter by price so that I can exclude some of the more overpriced chargers...

[MotMot]

The route planning in ABRP is crap imho - it’s fine for a no traffic best route info - but for whilst driving nav it’s rubbish. The real time traffic feed is patchy and the map randomly zooms in and out.

I love the idea of ABRP - and my idea would be google maps with the range, charging point info (which btw is what is in Google’s in car OS that the polestars have). But at present it’s not very good and Incancelled my subs after a month.

[Smitten]

Sometimes, but mostly Apple Maps via Apple CarPlay - I can lookup routes on my phone in advance knowing they’ll be visible as recent destinations when I get in the car, it integrates with my Apple Watch, the voice control works reliably. but most importantly of all it actually recognises places and postcodes!

I have abandoned the built in satnav in our current EV and ICE in favour of Google Maps/Android Auto and my partner uses Apple Car Play/Apple Maps. The voice recognition is probably 98% reliable so can be used easily, postcode recognition is great, traffic updates are up to date and the actual map is reasonably reliable. I really like the integration with Spotify as well which is seemless and you can use voice to search for new playlists/artists etc. I find in built satnav's can have very out of date maps and the voice control isn't up-to-scratch. I was hoping the VW would be better but sounds like it is similar to both of our existing cars.

I think the built in satnav is pretty good in my use so far albeit the criticisms you identify will undoubtedly persist when compared to Google. No car company is going to be able to compete directly with Google or Apple on voice control or map updates. But they can still be good enough. A map has to be several years out of date before it becomes a regular problem (except for chargers which obviously change much faster).

The other thing is that one of the updates discussed for 3.0 (I'm not sure if it's definitely in) has been preconditioning of the battery when navigating to a charger. If that happens, I bet it will rely on you using the in-car nav or wecharge. Which incidentally will be annoying because wecharge doesn't contain some of the major charging brands,at least yet.

I already have some experience of the Here based navigation system as it is also used by JLR. The Satnav in our Jaguar is very clear but it does make some really unusual navigation choices. I have been navigated up streets which were blocked off many years ago and once in Scotland was taken across country on a narrow single track road for 20 miles to avoid a minor delay on a major A road. I find Google Maps does that less. I will certainly try and use the in built system for longer journeys, especially if it is going to pre heat the battery before arriving at a charger, assuming it knows about the charger location in the first place. I suspect around town where quick postcode based navigation inputs are needed, wireless android auto will win. Hopefully We Charge will be more complete by the time we eventually take delivery.

[Trilby]

Just a nudge on this topic, any new apps out there?

I'm planning a family trip from Nuneaton to Torquay in the next couple of weeks down the M5 car park. I've got a few chargers bookmarked for almost there and while we drive around locally. 100% charge will get us there easily, and then I'll top up on arrival. For the return journey, I plan to charge as much as I can over breakfast, get on the motorway and then recharge mid-journey. All feels easy enough!

[sidehaas]

Just a nudge on this topic, any new apps out there?

I'm planning a family trip from Nuneaton to Torquay in the next couple of weeks down the M5 car park. I've got a few chargers bookmarked for almost there and while we drive around locally. 100% charge will get us there easily, and then I'll top up on arrival. For the return journey, I plan to charge as much as I can over breakfast, get on the motorway and then recharge mid-journey. All feels easy enough!

Apart from ABRP and zapmap, the other I'd recommend trying out is wattsup.

[Scratch]

I haven’t used it yet but I have read good reports about using the built in nav planner, so long as you have software 3.0 at least.

[sidehaas]

I haven’t used it yet but I have read good reports about using the built in nav planner, so long as you have software 3.0 at least.

It's still too prone to choosing sites with only a couple of chargers at the moment. If you could set a filter to prevent it planning a route with small sites or bad CPOs it would be pretty good.