Blog 1: Planning Our Trip

To plan our 3000+ km trip from Fredericton, NB to Saint John’s, NL, (and back!) I started by using A Better Route Planner (ABRP) website to determine the approximate time frame of the trip. We used this information and the timing of the ferries to decide on how to break up our trip.

We also used ABRP to identify the first-choice chargers for our routes and then checked PlugShare to verify the reliability of the chargers on route, to see if there were any that should be removed from our route. You can see the timing and planned route for the Tesla’s trip in the included pictures!

With our Flo account, each driver had the app and each car had a physical card before we started the trip. This allowed us to use chargers even if our service was unreliable or the app was being finicky. We created a Chargepoint account as a backup plan, but our Flo app and cards ended up working perfectly with the Chargepoint network.

Once we were on route, we used ABRP to get updated guidance on how long to stay at each charger before moving on. We occasionally changed the suggested time for a stop to stay longer at a place with decent food in order to sit down for a meal once a day. On the road I learned that the Kona we were driving actually had better efficiency than the app assumed, always getting to the next charger with more battery % than ABRP predicted!

Overall, I’d say it’s possible we overplanned! The necessary pre-planning is to check the estimated length of the trip with charging on ABRP, to have the ABRP app on your phone, and have physical cards to any networks you will be using. Plus, you can never be too prepared for something new!

Tools:
ABRP
PlugShare
Ferry Schedule
Flo app

Back up preparations:
Physical Flo cards
Chargepoint account