AmpedUp
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Ryan
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2021
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 87
- Reaction score
- 74
- Location
- Mesa, Arizona
- Vehicles
- Taycan Turbo S, Toyota 4Runner
- Thread starter
- #1
ABRP supposedly integrated OBD support to allow the app to directly read the battery state-of-charge from the vehicle, via a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) OBD dongle plugged into the ODB port. This would allow the app to remain up to date with the car's status as you drive and allow it to update the planned route in the background. This way, if you hit traffic, weather, install a roofbox, or just drive like a bat-out-of-hell, the plan will change to stop at a charger sooner. ABRP also claims it will lead to a unique calibrated consumption model for your car.
I bought a Vgate vLinker MC+ OBD dongle to try out this feature. However, I cannot get the device to show up in the ABRP setup dialogue box. I was able to get it to show up in the Car Scanner app, so I know it is working, but the car started throwing errors such as "High Voltage System Active" which doesn't sound good! My guess is that the dongle just doesn't support Taycan. Finding any dongle that I can confirm works with Taycan is... challenging to say the least.
Has anyone successfully gotten an ABRP / Taycan setup working via a BLE ODB dongle? What model BLE dongle did you use? Or have you found any other way of exporting the live data from the vehicle to ABRP?
And yes, I am aware of Tronity, but that is not available in my country. That is pretty much only available in Europe.
EDIT: I am running ABRP on iOS in case that matters
EDIT 2... SOLUTION FOUND:
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...-for-a-better-route-planner.10313/post-192337
WHY?
For those asking why this setup is desirable, here is the benefit I've seen so far after integrating live battery state into ABRP. ABRP is great at providing viable routes and has a lot of charger information in it. Unlike the car's native navigation system, with a premium subscription it also takes into account current weather conditions (e.g., wind and road surface moisture) which can affect range. It also is CarPlay compatible, so it can be displayed right on the Taycan's screen.
The main issue with ABRP is that it is way too conservative. It assumes your battery has degraded and uses a generic (conservative) energy efficiency metric for each model of car. The app therefore schedules too many stops along your journey. It might even route you way outside the optimal path if it assumes your battery cannot make it between chargers.
The solution is feeding live battery state data from the car to ABRP. This can be done several ways, but the main ones are Tronity (available in Europe) and dongles inserted in the ODB II port. By feeding the app with live data, it can do two things that improve the accuracy of the route planning.
First, it can calibrate the energy consumption to your exact vehicle, no longer using conservative metrics but actual ones. This makes the route planning better, potentially saving travel time.
Second, after you start a journey and the distance remaining and battery levels start to change, it can adjust the route based on that information. For example, if you forgot to tell the app you added a roof rack and the resulting drag is causing your energy consumption to be too high, the app is alerted to your quickly draining battery level and will schedule an earlier stop. Or if you drive below the speed limit to admire the view and you're getting unexpectedly good mileage out of your battery, it might delete a planned charging stop and take you straight to your destination.
ANY DISADVANTAGE?
Yes. The main disadvantage is that you cannot use both ABRP and the Porsche navigation system at the same time. This means no directions in the heads-up display or other screens. It also means no advance pre-conditioning the battery as you approach a charger. You can disconnect your phone from CarPlay which will allow you to use both at the same time. As long as you are headed to a charger Porsche's navigation knows about, the two systems will most likely eventually - as you get closer to the charging station - agree that stopping at a particular charger makes sense and the car will precondition the battery if that happens. However, then you have to use your tiny phone screen for ABRP navigation.
I bought a Vgate vLinker MC+ OBD dongle to try out this feature. However, I cannot get the device to show up in the ABRP setup dialogue box. I was able to get it to show up in the Car Scanner app, so I know it is working, but the car started throwing errors such as "High Voltage System Active" which doesn't sound good! My guess is that the dongle just doesn't support Taycan. Finding any dongle that I can confirm works with Taycan is... challenging to say the least.
Has anyone successfully gotten an ABRP / Taycan setup working via a BLE ODB dongle? What model BLE dongle did you use? Or have you found any other way of exporting the live data from the vehicle to ABRP?
And yes, I am aware of Tronity, but that is not available in my country. That is pretty much only available in Europe.
EDIT: I am running ABRP on iOS in case that matters
EDIT 2... SOLUTION FOUND:
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...-for-a-better-route-planner.10313/post-192337
WHY?
For those asking why this setup is desirable, here is the benefit I've seen so far after integrating live battery state into ABRP. ABRP is great at providing viable routes and has a lot of charger information in it. Unlike the car's native navigation system, with a premium subscription it also takes into account current weather conditions (e.g., wind and road surface moisture) which can affect range. It also is CarPlay compatible, so it can be displayed right on the Taycan's screen.
The main issue with ABRP is that it is way too conservative. It assumes your battery has degraded and uses a generic (conservative) energy efficiency metric for each model of car. The app therefore schedules too many stops along your journey. It might even route you way outside the optimal path if it assumes your battery cannot make it between chargers.
The solution is feeding live battery state data from the car to ABRP. This can be done several ways, but the main ones are Tronity (available in Europe) and dongles inserted in the ODB II port. By feeding the app with live data, it can do two things that improve the accuracy of the route planning.
First, it can calibrate the energy consumption to your exact vehicle, no longer using conservative metrics but actual ones. This makes the route planning better, potentially saving travel time.
Second, after you start a journey and the distance remaining and battery levels start to change, it can adjust the route based on that information. For example, if you forgot to tell the app you added a roof rack and the resulting drag is causing your energy consumption to be too high, the app is alerted to your quickly draining battery level and will schedule an earlier stop. Or if you drive below the speed limit to admire the view and you're getting unexpectedly good mileage out of your battery, it might delete a planned charging stop and take you straight to your destination.
ANY DISADVANTAGE?
Yes. The main disadvantage is that you cannot use both ABRP and the Porsche navigation system at the same time. This means no directions in the heads-up display or other screens. It also means no advance pre-conditioning the battery as you approach a charger. You can disconnect your phone from CarPlay which will allow you to use both at the same time. As long as you are headed to a charger Porsche's navigation knows about, the two systems will most likely eventually - as you get closer to the charging station - agree that stopping at a particular charger makes sense and the car will precondition the battery if that happens. However, then you have to use your tiny phone screen for ABRP navigation.
Sponsored
Last edited:
