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Visiting the in-laws: ABRP vs PlugShare

nashvillelucid

nashvillelucid

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2025 Lucid Air Pure
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Took our first roadtrip to my in-laws house in rural GA. About 300 miles from my home in Nashville. I loaded the trip up in ABRP. The planner really loved that my in laws live within range of my battery. But then I would arrive with under 100 miles of range left and I would have to use a crap slow charger in their little town. I would then be ridiculed for not using gas. This was not the way I wanted them to experience the Lucid.

So I used the ABRP system to manually scan ahead for a plug on our trip. Found what’s seemed to be a reasonable option for a mid-trip charge. Half way through the trip my wife correctly realized that I had picked a sort of weird place to sit for 25 minutes while we top up the battery. It also failed to realize a wreck was ahead and we got stuck in traffic. ABRP just wasn’t doing the job! How do I add a stop to a vetted charging station mid trip and have a better map experience? I would think this would be what ABRP would excel at.

Well then I switched to PlugShare. Found the next a great place to charge at a Flying Js with a Denny’s. Exported that route to Google Maps. This is the way! You can see recent check ins at the plug, filter by proximity to food, and it uses the much superior Google Maps app.

PlugShare > ABRP
 
Although I like that ABRP works for some people, I vastly prefer PlugShare. It’s reviews really help filter out bad or non working stations, it’s routing suggestions are pretty solid and plugging in the route into Google or Apple Maps is the way to go for up to date routing around accidents and such. Just a perfect combo!
 
nashvillelucid said:
...I would then be ridiculed for not using gas. This was not the way I wanted them to experience the Lucid...
Click to expand...
I've appreciated your perspective on this, along with others'.
So different from my life and experiences in urban California and kind of eye-opening.
 
DeaneG said:
I've appreciated your perspective on this, along with others'.
So different from my life and experiences in urban California and kind of eye-opening.
Click to expand...

My nephew bought an electric vehicle a few years bank with 150 miles of stated range. He was ROASTED. And he defended his car, insisting it was just as good of a car. A year later his car went to shop and the problems were so severe he was paid and signed an NDA to never mention what car failed so severely. This is brought up at every holiday!

We are working against some biases.
 
9point81 said:
Although I like that ABRP works for some people, I vastly prefer PlugShare. It’s reviews really help filter out bad or non working stations, it’s routing suggestions are pretty solid and plugging in the route into Google or Apple Maps is the way to go for up to date routing around accidents and such. Just a perfect combo!
Click to expand...
Yes, I used ABRP for like upfront planning, ultimately, I then just let the car's nav dynamically solve it, you can add/remove charge stops once it's vetted by Plugshare (bathroom, food, availability, reliability).
 
nashvillelucid said:
Took our first roadtrip to my in-laws house in rural GA. About 300 miles from my home in Nashville. I loaded the trip up in ABRP. The planner really loved that my in laws live within range of my battery. But then I would arrive with under 100 miles of range left and I would have to use a crap slow charger in their little town. I would then be ridiculed for not using gas. This was not the way I wanted them to experience the Lucid.

So I used the ABRP system to manually scan ahead for a plug on our trip. Found what’s seemed to be a reasonable option for a mid-trip charge. Half way through the trip my wife correctly realized that I had picked a sort of weird place to sit for 25 minutes while we top up the battery. It also failed to realize a wreck was ahead and we got stuck in traffic. ABRP just wasn’t doing the job! How do I add a stop to a vetted charging station mid trip and have a better map experience? I would think this would be what ABRP would excel at.

Well then I switched to PlugShare. Found the next a great place to charge at a Flying Js with a Denny’s. Exported that route to Google Maps. This is the way! You can see recent check ins at the plug, filter by proximity to food, and it uses the much superior Google Maps app.

PlugShare > ABRP
Click to expand...
Nice - I just did a similar trip from memphis to a small town in Georgia! PlugShare for the win - only 1 50k charger in town… but it was right next to a Waffle House! The hotel I was at just installed L2 chargers the week before but they weren’t working yet.
 
ABRP was much better before they were bought buy Rivan, I have had issues and quit using it as there are better options. I was so surprised near Lake Charles Rivan has a charging location but it is only open to Rivan vehicles? I thought that was strange.
 
dwfallin said:
Nice - I just did a similar trip from memphis to a small town in Georgia! PlugShare for the win - only 1 50k charger in town… but it was right next to a Waffle House! The hotel I was at just installed L2 chargers the week before but they weren’t working yet.
Click to expand...

I mean, I’m not trying to brag but this town has three 50k chargers. I did find a nice l2 a few towns over.
 
But seriously, if you have a mobile charger, check to see if your in-laws have a 240V (dryer) outlet. That could eliminate the need for stopping and charging for the trip. Might need a 240V extension cord and check the breaker for the maximum amperage tor the outlet. You can set your Lucid charging limit (from the car) accordingly.

 
ABRP and PlugShare are completely different beasts that have completely different purpose.
 
i might be doing things old school and it may appear cumbersome to some, but I simply use google maps while on the highway like I would in a gas car. There are quite a few chargers on the roads I frequent in IL and surrounding states. I see where the next charger is, the detour time it adds to my route and the quality of the charger - not very precisely what the KW output is, but for now it has sufficed. I am comfortable with the range of the car and based on my driving and residual milage or battery percentage, choosing a charge point. This has worked well so far.
 
neuneleven said:
i might be doing things old school and it may appear cumbersome to some, but I simply use google maps while on the highway like I would in a gas car. There are quite a few chargers on the roads I frequent in IL and surrounding states. I see where the next charger is, the detour time it adds to my route and the quality of the charger - not very precisely what the KW output is, but for now it has sufficed. I am comfortable with the range of the car and based on my driving and residual milage or battery percentage, choosing a charge point. This has worked well so far.
Click to expand...
It's getting far easier to do this now vs 5+ years ago. It's a great sign of improvement! We really need to have the DOT in AL the states put EV charging on those highway gas/food signs, with max kw rating, and it would really then be easy to go most of my routes in the southeast US, with the range on the Gravity and Tesla network access.
 
neuneleven said:
i might be doing things old school and it may appear cumbersome to some, but I simply use google maps while on the highway like I would in a gas car. There are quite a few chargers on the roads I frequent in IL and surrounding states. I see where the next charger is, the detour time it adds to my route and the quality of the charger - not very precisely what the KW output is, but for now it has sufficed. I am comfortable with the range of the car and based on my driving and residual milage or battery percentage, choosing a charge point. This has worked well so far.
Click to expand...
the nice part of the Lucid nav is that it will prepare your battery for DCFC prior to your arrival and you don't need to think about it, or forget to do so.
 
Aka-none said:
the nice part of the Lucid nav is that it will prepare your battery for DCFC prior to your arrival and you don't need to think about it, or forget to do so.
Click to expand...
Only if it knows (i.e. gets its guess right) that you are (a) going to a DCFC station; and (b) intend to charge there. I've had it fail on (a), and can imagine it failing on (b) too. I'd much rather that it ask me (e.g. "your waypoint is near a DCFC, do you intend to charge?") than having it to make an assumption about its knowledge.
 
I’ve done about 1200 miles over the past 3 week all over the south. I really have to say PlugShare is indispensable.

The charging infrastructure in the south is spotty. Yesterday I had to charge up in Lexington KY. I ended up at an In-Charge station. The system was insane. Each unit has a piece of paper taped to it with the unit number, though the number was incorrect. You have to have that particular number in order to start the charger through an app that required everything except my social security number to get started!

Someone on PlugShare had figured out the correct information and shared it in a review. Honestly without that I would have had to go to a trickle charger and my schedule would have been ruined.

Just can’t recommend vetting your stops through plug share if you are in an area with bad charging options.
 
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