🤓This vlog is so geeky, but I do enjoy your knowledge, no matter what. And, I do get a giggle with your usage of adjectives, e.g., ‘dodgy’ -- we don’t use these words in America so I do get a kick out of your colloquialisms. You are amazing!
I have a Kia Soul EV Maxx that I bought as an ex-demo in 2022. For the first year or two I had no home charger so was rapid charging only. Finally installed a home charging point late last year. Got an OBD dongle recently and yesterday I checked my SOH using CarScanner app. 31000 miles driven, 100% battery state of health!
After your recommendation last year I bought an OBD and subscribed to ABRP on my trip to Suttgart from England (Euro '24). APBP is very good at picking charges etc but not so good at directions. The tiny villages in France and Germany it sent me through were delightful but .... Im driving to Sweden next year in my MG4 next year. I will use ABRP to plan charging stops but will use Google/Apple Maps to do the journeys. I love however how ABRP shoes the amount of chargers and availability of the desitination charger in real time, perfect. Love the vids, as I am a Kentish Man
As a follow up to my last message to you on TH-cam whether I should choose the Kona or the 208, I took your advice to heart (amongst other people's advice) and decided to buy the new Kona. It will be arriving the end of this month! I must try out this dongle thing for sure. 1 continuity issue in the video. You mention stay tuned for the video's of your neighbour's Leaf, whilst on publication of this video that already was uploaded :P Gave me a giggle
Great video Andrew, in my Kia E Niro, I wanted to replace the cover and my dongle was a little to large to allow this. I popped the connector free from it's housing using the little clips around it and it pushed back, thus allowing me to replace the cover!
I love the comment “There you go. It’s as easy as that” after pulling plastic flaps off the car fascia, downloading apps and then dicking about through multiple screens and pop-ups. 😂😂 I’m not completely convinced but still a good video.
Id7 travelled 493 miles on a single charge wow but the guy had to stop because he was freezing cold lmao very good video I use these apps and confirm they work excellent
I agree with the navigation aspect of ABRP, on my last road trip the map was about half a mile behind the instructions which was a bit confusing, but once we got back on teh open road it caught up. I reported the issue to ABRP tech and they were very quick to respond and told me me about an update, which I haven't tested yet. Also, when I set it up I set the fact that I had a home charger at my home location and it now it gets me home with the minium charge, so I don't waste money on public chargers. I did pay the subscription, but I think it has paid for its self. Good clear video.
I've been using this since seeing your video last week on my 30kw Kia Soul and it's wonderful, it slightly over estimates the amount of battery it will use so I always arrive with a few percent more than it thinks which I really appreciate and it's a welcome change from the guessometer. I'm going away this weekend and will need to charge at least once on my outbound journey so I'll get the experience that feature and love that it works with Android Auto. The Kia Soul doesn't show a battery percentage on the main screen so it's nice to see that on the map, also my ODB port always has power so I had issues with the dongle timing out when I leave the car but luckily it has a hardware button that wakes it that I press when getting in the car. Keep up the good work 👍
Great video, like all route planners, when driving anywhere you need to use your own judgement instead of following the guidance blindly, particularly so if you are travelling a route you know well. Navigation units are an assistant not a master use them that way and you'll have a much easier life.
Just do it! In Jul/Aug this year we did France-Belgium-Holland-Germany, Czech Republic-Austria & return without any issues at all, was a great little adventure 👍
Thanks for this video Andrew (as well as all your other ones!). I’ve found them invaluable. My partner is getting her (our) first EV next week (Mokka e) and your vids have been so helpful in planning for the biggest change in our / my driving life since passing my test a life time ago! Thanks again. (Ps - I used your referral links 😊👍🏻)
Tesla is absolutely great, although I've also found Polestar (and other Google OS cars) very good. Obviously Tesla has the upper hand with the Superchargers!
Happy Birtday Andrew from another Andrew in Bournemouth. Having subscribed 3 weeks ago, gradually working through all you videos. Only 3 years behind now!! Keep up the good work.
Love your material Andrew, great to see this OBD item you promised a while ago. Thanks! For our navigation and charging we find a combination of ABRP, Electroverse, Powerpass (Skoda iV) and the onboard Skoda satnav to work well. Recently did a trouble-free 2,200 mile round trip through several European countries in our Enyaq (partly inspired by your trip(s) to Italy) 👍😊
This was so interesting to watch. I've heard about OBD devices, but had no idea what the port looked like or where to find it. Describing it as "like a SCART connector" was perfect for someone of my vintage. Right at the start of the owner's manual for my Ariya, Nissan state that the use of an after market OBD diagnostic device may invalidate the warranty. Yes really! So while I very much want one of these, I'm going to wait a while. Luckily, the length of Nissan's warranty is terrible, so I won't have to wait too long before I can get one. 😂
That's interesting. Is the Megane built on the same platform as Ariya as I have a feeling it's the same story there. In fact, I couldn't even find an OBD port as they must have hidden it well!
@@MrEV Yes, they both use the CMF‑EV platform. The fuse box is a complete no go area. The panel doesn't have an obvious way to open it and they tell you in the manual not to touch it and to consult a Nissan Engineer if you think there's a problem. 😕
Wonderful thoroughly researched content well presented. To be honest, if I am going to Edinburgh I will leave my Leaf and take the diesel XC60 which is in its element doing this sort of journey and may even be cheaper and greener. Horses for courses. Subscribed!❤
Another good video, i tried ABRP over the summer with the enode link and it worked quite well but as ABRP as you say can be a bit glitchy, it often did not load or connect and would offer a route that was not ideal and then a different one if you looked again.
Oh dear. You’ve mentioned ABRP before and I said it’s the most frustrating thing. And even in your demo, you ignored its route! And it got you to charge when not needed. But it just shows you’re just like us! And my latest, Honda eNy1, not compatible, looking at what is compatible it seems not much new stuff works! Keep going Andrew, we enjoy your vids.
I feel like ABRP is a decent safety net. You'll never run out of charge with it, that's for sure! But definitely best combined with common sense. (Something I often lack to be honest!)
Thanks Andrew! I've just ordered the dongle now... I've been a bit suspicious about my battery for a while (a 2-year old e2008), so hopefully this will either put my mind to rest, or give me a call to action!
thanks for the video. One request: I have the Veepeak dongle and car scanner on my phone, but would really like to know how to (properly) understand and use the information I'm getting. I know you say 'just play around with it' - but I don't even know where to start. It would be very useful if you could ever be bothered to do a video on how to get the most out of it and understand all those little boxes of information on each screen...(I have a 2022 Ioniq 5) and exactly what the car-scanner is telling us. But keep up the good work. Love the videos!
Hi Andy, re routing suggestions, I remember touring the north of England in my Beemer back in 2001 and using the navigation. There were occasions when it was clearly and utterly wrong and I still use common sense and a map to sanity check a road trip. I’m going to get one of those OBDs to I see kWhs not a percentage figure. Will get one for the van too. 👍
The nice thing with the LEAF is that you can use the Heating or A/C while charging. I've been using ZAP Map for years maybe I'll give ABRP a try next time I'm going on a longer trip.
I think what I learned Andrew was that I wouldn’t need a dongle and I don’t need a leaf spy. I just need to take Andrew with me when I go on a road trip. A few coffees, a few glasses of wine and I think we’ll all be happy and we’ll make it to the destination. 😂 But on the serious side, one piece of information is the Bluetooth OBD dongle only work with android phones. You need to get a Wi-Fi one to use on an iPhone. The Car Scanner app works fine on an iPhone as well. My state of health on a 2020 Taycan is 90% with 91k miles. I have 21MWh of DCFC and 13MWh of AC charging.
I'm using this in combination with an Android AI Box, which basically is a dongle you connect to the CarPlay of your Leaf. It will display a fully functioning Android interface, so I'm able to show Leafspy directly on my head unit. The device is called Carlinkit T-Box Plus: another reason I use it, is to run Android navigation apps native instead of through Android Auto. So for longer journeys I sometimes use Herewego, as it provides shorter routes. Which can be quite essential sometimes.
Using an OBD Dongle and Car scanner on my e-208. The SoH started at 102.44%, so in that case the buffer is clearly shown. Now after 2 years and 31000km it's at 97%.
I love using OVMS for this connected with ABRP. And ABRP takes live battery data of a LEAF, and calculates the range, and how much SoC you need to arrive and how many stops/charges you need.
It would have made the video too long to go into OVMS but I’ll try to cover that in the future too. Especially useful for LEAF owners now the app no longer works.
A better way of looking is to measure the Wh remaining when fully charged. My EV6 says SOH 100% (29,000 miles, nearly three years old) but Wh has reduced a small amount over time, so if you calculate it using this method I'm about 99.1% SOH. Either way its bloody brilliant!
I bought a dongle and i have tried it with ABRP but because my car has a very decent range I find it better to just do a manual plan before a long journey and I never need it for anything else apart from a quick check of the battery health.
getting 130% of ev range in my 13 year old volt with 135k miles. there is no observable degradation in ev's with a proper cooling system which were never dc fast charged. i got one of those elm obd2 dongles, it was helpful for looking at the battery balance and top end cell voltage, but they can cause communication errors in some cars like the volt which requires unhooking the 12v battery for a minute to clear the codes. i wouldnt use one without a wrench to unhook the battery and another scan tool to clear codes.
The hyundai 2020 kona nav seems ok , you can select the power of chargepoints you want to use, therefore ignoring the ac chargers. Also live data shows the availability like 2 out of 4 available, of the charge points, or out of order. The nav reoutes to chargers when your getting low.
Any chance of testing the latest CHADEMO to CCS adapters?? EVniculus sell one. If they work it makes a used Leaf a more viable long distance car (with access to thousands of CCS chargers).
After God mode there’s a Flaviana mode, On the app it just says I don’t care what car you have it just looks like any other car and here is some bullshit about it. 😂😂 Seriously though , thanks Andrew .
Sometimes when ABRP doesn't like the efficient route I want I put in a waypoint to force the route. Effectively, "I want one stop and here's the route I can take to achieve that" 🤷
just went fast charging, forget its getting colder, so charging was slow. I put the dongle in and temps was only 15C. Wish they updated the EV6 so i can manually preheat, aagh
Thanks, I actually learnt something about the ABRP live data!. I really don’t think that the SOH of your battery is 100%. It’s more likely that the obd scanner is looking at the wrong parameter.
I’ve discovered that the latest version of ABRP will connect to my Niro EV through the Kia Connect route. No dongle needed. I live data config - select enode - it will ask you for your Kia connect credentials. No obd2 needed, and you can keep the cover on the fuse box
One thing's certain with Shell, they will have their Kodak moment sooner than later. If anyone were to introduce combustion engines right now, they'd be banned in an instant.
Anyone remember that old strapline: “You can be sure of Shell”. Well I think you can generally be sure that you don’t really want a Shell in the 2020s….🤔….sure.
Hey Mr Till, long time no speak!! We are heading to Disneyland Paris next week (first time taking the EV6 GT-Line S RWD abroad). Would you recommend ABRP over the new Kia software which offers charging stops? Also, and more importantly, which apps do I need for France? Hope you and the family are well. 😊
Hi Nick! I’ve not tested Kia’s software on long journeys but I think it should be fine. Maybe just use ABRP if you find it’s not very good! Electroverse should be enough for you. You can use the app to start a charge or order a free RFID card. electroverse.octopus.energy/sign-up/magic?referralCode=free-sage-191 Have a great time!
Thank you! I'm not sure to be honest. I don't think I've heard of anyone saying MGs don't work with OBD dongles. Perhaps worth checking on an MG4 forum/Facebook group first before you get one.
I'm finding ABRP a really bad route planner: it often would make you drive more miles of km's, then actually needed. For example, I would manually plan a charge stop at Lidl Geel in Belgium. ABRP however, wouldn't pick my preference: even though I have set it up like this? It seems to be becoming pretty useless for Nissan Leaf, because it thinks Lidl is CCS only? Which isn't true, they still got plenty of CHAdeMO. And also I actually wanna do AC charging, to save my battery: by only selecting type 2 in ABRP, it won't be able anymore to plan any stops. Because it doesn't seem to be able to plan charging stops at slow chargers. So I continue to plan my charging stops manually, this way I can charge at my preferred chargers. Lidl, Aldi Süd and Kaufland. I avoid the big names, as they are really expensive.
Add the new Renault Scenic to your list of cars using Android Automotive with Google Maps. I haven't used ABRP or ZapMap for 2 years. No mucking about with the phone
ABRP and VLink OBD have been my MG4 SE excellent addition since day one 11 months ago. Especially with use of a Carlinkit then I rarely need any of the rather weak MG software. ☺️ Plus can geek out of ABRP telling my degradation and power etc
Sure - it's this one. It seems pretty good. You can get it to charge the phone as well, but you'd need a USB-C cable that plugs into an adapter in the 12v socket to get enough power. amzn.to/4ewRLFQ
I wasn't aware they were acquired. That's good news. Although Shell's poor reliability may be in part down to Tritium, the other two chargers I visited were from the network Osprey - a tiny company relative to Shell - and both worked perfectly.
Very useful. I know someone that might benefit from this. I'm planning on buying a Hyundai Ioniq 5 in around 6 years time when prices come down to my modest level. Does anyone know what the route planning is like? Liked and subscribed.
@@MrEV Thanks so much for your reply. I'll check out the route planner when I test drive one but now I know the solution if I think it needs improvement. Many thanks!
Does the better route planner have a way to contemplate how a charger might be broken on arrival and having ready a backup plan? I need that for my short range Ioniq classic, the one that only does up to like 200km in the summer, 150km in the winter. I'd hate to arrive with like 25km and find out that the charger doesn't work. EDIT: I see you talk about this in the LEAF / ABRP section...
I have the same dongle you are suggesting. I don’t know if this is a problem related to my car or to the dongle, but my ID4’s alarm goes off most times if I lock it with the dongle plugged in. Also, every time I get in the car, I have to unplug and plug it back in for carscanner/abrp to detect it again.
That's interesting. I drove the IONIQ 5 down to Italy with the dongle in, and the alarm did go off when it was locked but that's down to the dog being in the car I think! Someone recently commented to say it's the dongle's fault but I don't think it was in my case.
I don't think it's the thermal management on the older Leaf batteries that's causing the degradation. It's rather the fact that they have a chemistry that simply is sub par by modern standards. The tech and knowledge back then simply was not there yet. I am saying this, because of two things: 1) Yes, the Leafs do not have active battery cooling, but that does not (!) mean there is no thermal management. That is precisely why they rapid gate. If they are leaving the desired temperature window, charging gets slowed way down, so they do not (!) geht too hot. 2) To my knowledge, the second Gen Leafs with 40/62kWh batteries are rather exceptional concerning battery SOH, and they do not have active cooling either. And the 62kWh one actually even is a decent performer when it comes to charging at the same time. It's just a way more modern construction. In fact, I don't think a 62kWh Leaf get's hammered more than a battery in a EV6 or Ioniq 5 i.e.. It's just that the Leaf will check out after two rapid charges, whereas the EVB ones wil continue to perform great for a longer period of time. In the end though, almost all modern EVs will rapid gate as well. The only exception being the Ariya 87kWh ironically, which seems to perform the better the hotte it get's, while being a very good winter charger as well. Goes to show, that Nissan did their homework IMHO.
When you had the e-208, did you ever use e-Routes? As it seems to be one of their connected apps that doesn't need an OBD2 dongle. But not needing an OBD2 plus extender cable would be nice as the location of e-208 OBD2 port means I can't shut the glove compartment.
49 SEK per month or even cheaper if you pay per year and ABRP is just the best route planner out there not counting Tesla. Rivian has bought the company and are inplementing it in the Rivian. You have to have the payed version for getting it accurate. I have payed and used ABRP in my e-up 2020 for three years now and can't be more pleased. It is really accurate in the payed version.
I’ve received mine. Connects to the ELM ok, but won’t connect to EUC. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. Anyone have similar experience? The car is Smart EQ.
Bought the dongle but hugely frustrating to get it to work. Trying to get it to sync with the ABRP app, struggles to find the dongle and when it does it comes up with IOS Vlink not Android Vlink which my phone is 🤷♂️ and still won't connect. Any ideas ?
So you're thinking about taking this up as a job? Can I suggest that you put a banner headline up front that says something like, ooh I don't know, maybe a variant on caveat emptor chaps 'cos its possible I dont know what I'm talking about or, at best, what I'm advising may change before the end of the video. I watched this 4 or 5 times and still didn't what the f you were suggesting. Do I sound grumpy? That's because I stopped the vid to order the first OBD dongle you mentioned only to find it wouldn't really work well on my Leaf. Thanks Andy baby
@@MrEVI keep losing connection on the e-golf with both dongles you mentioned. I had them both on the leaf, and there they worked fine. Also they don't display all the statistics in car scanner. The only dongle that works well for me is that obdlink i mentioned.
Update: I've found it! I was looking for a cover to pull off but it's just after the plastic covering finishes on the left side of the driver's footwell. Will grab an OBD and check the stats 😊
Have you tried this on Zoe or Up Mii etc as uf we go see a few different cars i would like to have some reassurance the the battery is at a SOH commensurate with age and mileage?
Use this with my 2020 Zoe (26,000 miles) Works well on the ZOE but doesn't accurately read the SOH. Have seen various degradation values ranging from 7.5% to 25% with ABRP and similar 78% to 87% values in car scanner. Can recommend ABRP over the ZOE 's inbuilt nav which is useless. Set off on a long trip with a full charge and after 20 miles the ZOE 's nav will announce "no chargers within reachable range".
I'm not that cynical, but I do think they've been trying to do the bare minimum. That said, Shell's new hubs look great with lovely wooden canopies. They're still greenwashing bastards though.
Ouch. That’s something you’ve experienced?! Tell me more! You may be within your rights to reject it within 30 days if the car “is not of satisfactory quality”. 3% degradation already doesn’t sound good to me. It would imply there’s an issue I think. That said, if you’re using something like Car Scanner, it may be calculating the SoH in a different way for your EV. Worth checking in forums to ask other owners to check the same.
You can use Tronity.io which uses the car's app login. It sort of works, but it's dependent on how fast the car sends the data. In the case of Peugeot, Hyundai and Kia, it's not fast enough to be very useful.
Interesting content ,useful device ,I use a bluetooth dongle with my scanner on my ice car great for diagnostics,there's an interesting device from pico to see live data called 2204A.can be hooked up to OBD.
🤓This vlog is so geeky, but I do enjoy your knowledge, no matter what. And, I do get a giggle with your usage of adjectives, e.g., ‘dodgy’ -- we don’t use these words in America so I do get a kick out of your colloquialisms. You are amazing!
Um my family are Americans who have never even visited outside the USA but we do use the word dodgy in a similar manner to how he used it.
Thank you, Kathryn! Another couple of years and you'll all be saying "dodgy" over there!
Great video as always, I’ve downloaded ABRP, but can’t see Electroverse card in the charge card section, how did you add yours.. thanks
@@MrEV You’re so right! I’m using it already -- easier to say than “untrustworthy!” 😂
I have a Kia Soul EV Maxx that I bought as an ex-demo in 2022. For the first year or two I had no home charger so was rapid charging only. Finally installed a home charging point late last year. Got an OBD dongle recently and yesterday I checked my SOH using CarScanner app. 31000 miles driven, 100% battery state of health!
That's great going. These Korean cars are so good!
After your recommendation last year I bought an OBD and subscribed to ABRP on my trip to Suttgart from England (Euro '24). APBP is very good at picking charges etc but not so good at directions. The tiny villages in France and Germany it sent me through were delightful but ....
Im driving to Sweden next year in my MG4 next year. I will use ABRP to plan charging stops but will use Google/Apple Maps to do the journeys.
I love however how ABRP shoes the amount of chargers and availability of the desitination charger in real time, perfect.
Love the vids, as I am a Kentish Man
Seen the dongle on your website - I've been tempted ro buy one. Love the Shell rant I agree.
Osprey, Tesla and GRIDSERVE are my preferred networks too. Agree about the display on the Tritium chargers too, nice and simple.
Thanks Andrew for this video and your channel. It was lovely to meet you at Everything Electric, keep up the good work. From another Andrew.
Lovely to meet you too, Andrew!
I appreciate you getting out of bed to do the ABRP Demo 😂
I didn’t sleep well the previous night! 😀
Love the comments on Shell!
As a follow up to my last message to you on TH-cam whether I should choose the Kona or the 208, I took your advice to heart (amongst other people's advice) and decided to buy the new Kona. It will be arriving the end of this month! I must try out this dongle thing for sure. 1 continuity issue in the video. You mention stay tuned for the video's of your neighbour's Leaf, whilst on publication of this video that already was uploaded :P Gave me a giggle
It goes to show how tardy and erratic I am with editing videos! (And enjoy your new Kona - I charged next to one in this video and it's lovely!)
I’ve been using an OBD with ABRP and the reliable consumption data certainly helps with accurate route planning.
Great video Andrew, in my Kia E Niro, I wanted to replace the cover and my dongle was a little to large to allow this. I popped the connector free from it's housing using the little clips around it and it pushed back, thus allowing me to replace the cover!
Great tip, thanks!
I love the comment “There you go. It’s as easy as that” after pulling plastic flaps off the car fascia, downloading apps and then dicking about through multiple screens and pop-ups. 😂😂 I’m not completely convinced but still a good video.
My idea of easy perhaps differs from most!
Id7 travelled 493 miles on a single charge wow but the guy had to stop because he was freezing cold lmao very good video I use these apps and confirm they work excellent
I agree with the navigation aspect of ABRP, on my last road trip the map was about half a mile behind the instructions which was a bit confusing, but once we got back on teh open road it caught up. I reported the issue to ABRP tech and they were very quick to respond and told me me about an update, which I haven't tested yet. Also, when I set it up I set the fact that I had a home charger at my home location and it now it gets me home with the minium charge, so I don't waste money on public chargers. I did pay the subscription, but I think it has paid for its self. Good clear video.
I've been using this since seeing your video last week on my 30kw Kia Soul and it's wonderful, it slightly over estimates the amount of battery it will use so I always arrive with a few percent more than it thinks which I really appreciate and it's a welcome change from the guessometer.
I'm going away this weekend and will need to charge at least once on my outbound journey so I'll get the experience that feature and love that it works with Android Auto.
The Kia Soul doesn't show a battery percentage on the main screen so it's nice to see that on the map, also my ODB port always has power so I had issues with the dongle timing out when I leave the car but luckily it has a hardware button that wakes it that I press when getting in the car.
Keep up the good work 👍
That's fantastic to hear. Thank you!
Great video, like all route planners, when driving anywhere you need to use your own judgement instead of following the guidance blindly, particularly so if you are travelling a route you know well. Navigation units are an assistant not a master use them that way and you'll have a much easier life.
Route planner with access to the battery data, that's a neat idea.
Great overview of OBD dongels 😊 , we still need to to a ev road trip 😉
*YES!* I'll get in your boot when you go to Spain!
Just do it! In Jul/Aug this year we did France-Belgium-Holland-Germany, Czech Republic-Austria & return without any issues at all, was a great little adventure 👍
What would be great is Google and Apple maps working with a OBD dongle to give real time battery data and changing options.
Thanks Andrew. I ordered a dongle this morning from German Amazon to my 22 E-Niro. Best regards Morten from Denmark
Thanks for this video Andrew (as well as all your other ones!). I’ve found them invaluable. My partner is getting her (our) first EV next week (Mokka e) and your vids have been so helpful in planning for the biggest change in our / my driving life since passing my test a life time ago! Thanks again. (Ps - I used your referral links 😊👍🏻)
That's great to hear. Thank you so much!
This is a prime example of why owning a Tesla is better than anything else.
Very informative as always though Andrew
Tesla is absolutely great, although I've also found Polestar (and other Google OS cars) very good. Obviously Tesla has the upper hand with the Superchargers!
Happy Birtday Andrew from another Andrew in Bournemouth. Having subscribed 3 weeks ago, gradually working through all you videos. Only 3 years behind now!! Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much!
Love your material Andrew, great to see this OBD item you promised a while ago. Thanks! For our navigation and charging we find a combination of ABRP, Electroverse, Powerpass (Skoda iV) and the onboard Skoda satnav to work well. Recently did a trouble-free 2,200 mile round trip through several European countries in our Enyaq (partly inspired by your trip(s) to Italy) 👍😊
Great to hear!
Dongle ordered… will be interesting to see the SOH of our little Seat Mii.
This was so interesting to watch. I've heard about OBD devices, but had no idea what the port looked like or where to find it. Describing it as "like a SCART connector" was perfect for someone of my vintage.
Right at the start of the owner's manual for my Ariya, Nissan state that the use of an after market OBD diagnostic device may invalidate the warranty. Yes really! So while I very much want one of these, I'm going to wait a while. Luckily, the length of Nissan's warranty is terrible, so I won't have to wait too long before I can get one. 😂
That's interesting. Is the Megane built on the same platform as Ariya as I have a feeling it's the same story there. In fact, I couldn't even find an OBD port as they must have hidden it well!
@@MrEV Yes, they both use the CMF‑EV platform. The fuse box is a complete no go area. The panel doesn't have an obvious way to open it and they tell you in the manual not to touch it and to consult a Nissan Engineer if you think there's a problem. 😕
Excellent video!
Wonderful thoroughly researched content well presented. To be honest, if I am going to Edinburgh I will leave my Leaf and take the diesel XC60 which is in its element doing this sort of journey and may even be cheaper and greener. Horses for courses. Subscribed!❤
Thank you! I don't blame you. I love the Leaf but it's really not great for long journeys.
Another good video, i tried ABRP over the summer with the enode link and it worked quite well but as ABRP as you say can be a bit glitchy, it often did not load or connect and would offer a route that was not ideal and then a different one if you looked again.
I've not used Enode yet. Is it like Tronity do you know? (Because I didn't have much fun with that!)
(And thank you so much for the Super Thanks!)
Oh dear. You’ve mentioned ABRP before and I said it’s the most frustrating thing. And even in your demo, you ignored its route! And it got you to charge when not needed. But it just shows you’re just like us! And my latest, Honda eNy1, not compatible, looking at what is compatible it seems not much new stuff works!
Keep going Andrew, we enjoy your vids.
I feel like ABRP is a decent safety net. You'll never run out of charge with it, that's for sure! But definitely best combined with common sense. (Something I often lack to be honest!)
Thanks Andrew! I've just ordered the dongle now... I've been a bit suspicious about my battery for a while (a 2-year old e2008), so hopefully this will either put my mind to rest, or give me a call to action!
thanks for the video. One request: I have the Veepeak dongle and car scanner on my phone, but would really like to know how to (properly) understand and use the information I'm getting. I know you say 'just play around with it' - but I don't even know where to start. It would be very useful if you could ever be bothered to do a video on how to get the most out of it and understand all those little boxes of information on each screen...(I have a 2022 Ioniq 5) and exactly what the car-scanner is telling us. But keep up the good work. Love the videos!
Hi Andrew. Liking your videos. Would you have a link for the phone holder you have in the Leaf?
Hi Andy, re routing suggestions, I remember touring the north of England in my Beemer back in 2001 and using the navigation. There were occasions when it was clearly and utterly wrong and I still use common sense and a map to sanity check a road trip. I’m going to get one of those OBDs to I see kWhs not a percentage figure. Will get one for the van too. 👍
Great info Andrew, subscribed.
Thanks so much!
The nice thing with the LEAF is that you can use the Heating or A/C while charging. I've been using ZAP Map for years maybe I'll give ABRP a try next time I'm going on a longer trip.
I think what I learned Andrew was that I wouldn’t need a dongle and I don’t need a leaf spy. I just need to take Andrew with me when I go on a road trip. A few coffees, a few glasses of wine and I think we’ll all be happy and we’ll make it to the destination. 😂
But on the serious side, one piece of information is the Bluetooth OBD dongle only work with android phones. You need to get a Wi-Fi one to use on an iPhone. The Car Scanner app works fine on an iPhone as well. My state of health on a 2020 Taycan is 90% with 91k miles. I have 21MWh of DCFC and 13MWh of AC charging.
I'm using this in combination with an Android AI Box, which basically is a dongle you connect to the CarPlay of your Leaf. It will display a fully functioning Android interface, so I'm able to show Leafspy directly on my head unit.
The device is called Carlinkit T-Box Plus: another reason I use it, is to run Android navigation apps native instead of through Android Auto. So for longer journeys I sometimes use Herewego, as it provides shorter routes. Which can be quite essential sometimes.
The Vgate dongle works fine with leaf spy
Great stuff Andrew.
Using an OBD Dongle and Car scanner on my e-208. The SoH started at 102.44%, so in that case the buffer is clearly shown. Now after 2 years and 31000km it's at 97%.
I love using OVMS for this connected with ABRP.
And ABRP takes live battery data of a LEAF, and calculates the range, and how much SoC you need to arrive and how many stops/charges you need.
It would have made the video too long to go into OVMS but I’ll try to cover that in the future too. Especially useful for LEAF owners now the app no longer works.
A better way of looking is to measure the Wh remaining when fully charged. My EV6 says SOH 100% (29,000 miles, nearly three years old) but Wh has reduced a small amount over time, so if you calculate it using this method I'm about 99.1% SOH. Either way its bloody brilliant!
Just got one through your link!
Thank you!
Fantastic Video
I bought a dongle and i have tried it with ABRP but because my car has a very decent range I find it better to just do a manual plan before a long journey and I never need it for anything else apart from a quick check of the battery health.
getting 130% of ev range in my 13 year old volt with 135k miles. there is no observable degradation in ev's with a proper cooling system which were never dc fast charged. i got one of those elm obd2 dongles, it was helpful for looking at the battery balance and top end cell voltage, but they can cause communication errors in some cars like the volt which requires unhooking the 12v battery for a minute to clear the codes. i wouldnt use one without a wrench to unhook the battery and another scan tool to clear codes.
The hyundai 2020 kona nav seems ok , you can select the power of chargepoints you want to use, therefore ignoring the ac chargers. Also live data shows the availability like 2 out of 4 available, of the charge points, or out of order. The nav reoutes to chargers when your getting low.
I love Osprey too
Any chance of testing the latest CHADEMO to CCS adapters?? EVniculus sell one. If they work it makes a used Leaf a more viable long distance car (with access to thousands of CCS chargers).
After God mode there’s a Flaviana mode,
On the app it just says I don’t care what car you have it just looks like any other car and here is some bullshit about it. 😂😂
Seriously though , thanks Andrew .
That’s the best mode by far!
Great video as always. Like the phone mount - any chance of putting the details on the website with other gear you use please
Will do! For now, the mount is here if you want a look: amzn.to/3zOBsoy
Sometimes when ABRP doesn't like the efficient route I want I put in a waypoint to force the route. Effectively, "I want one stop and here's the route I can take to achieve that" 🤷
just went fast charging, forget its getting colder, so charging was slow. I put the dongle in and temps was only 15C. Wish they updated the EV6 so i can manually preheat, aagh
Thanks, I actually learnt something about the ABRP live data!. I really don’t think that the SOH of your battery is 100%. It’s more likely that the obd scanner is looking at the wrong parameter.
I’ve discovered that the latest version of ABRP will connect to my Niro EV through the Kia Connect route. No dongle needed. I live data config - select enode - it will ask you for your Kia connect credentials. No obd2 needed, and you can keep the cover on the fuse box
Wow I must try that. It's a nuisance having to keep the fuse box off.
Turns out that it works a treat. Thanks for the tip.
One thing's certain with Shell, they will have their Kodak moment sooner than later. If anyone were to introduce combustion engines right now, they'd be banned in an instant.
Anyone remember that old strapline: “You can be sure of Shell”. Well I think you can generally be sure that you don’t really want a Shell in the 2020s….🤔….sure.
The exception isn’t just Tesla, if the car is a BEV the manufacturer doesn’t need to fit an obd2 port, most still do however.
It's actually in Shell's interest to deploy as many broken chargers as possible, to help spread the "EVs are not practical" meme.
Hey Mr Till, long time no speak!! We are heading to Disneyland Paris next week (first time taking the EV6 GT-Line S RWD abroad). Would you recommend ABRP over the new Kia software which offers charging stops? Also, and more importantly, which apps do I need for France?
Hope you and the family are well. 😊
Hi Nick! I’ve not tested Kia’s software on long journeys but I think it should be fine. Maybe just use ABRP if you find it’s not very good!
Electroverse should be enough for you. You can use the app to start a charge or order a free RFID card.
electroverse.octopus.energy/sign-up/magic?referralCode=free-sage-191
Have a great time!
Hi just a quick question is the dongle compatible for a mg4 trophy, love the videos
Thank you! I'm not sure to be honest. I don't think I've heard of anyone saying MGs don't work with OBD dongles. Perhaps worth checking on an MG4 forum/Facebook group first before you get one.
1.10 if your old like me ..i remember valves in tvs.
Leafs have grade B batteries... it's really the main issue for the most use cases, not the lack of thermal management.
Andrew, could you put a new headunit with Android auto in the Leaf? Then connect that to Better Route Planner?
Glyn Hudson has an android head unit in his env200, works a treat for him by all accounts, inc leafspy
I'm finding ABRP a really bad route planner: it often would make you drive more miles of km's, then actually needed. For example, I would manually plan a charge stop at Lidl Geel in Belgium.
ABRP however, wouldn't pick my preference: even though I have set it up like this? It seems to be becoming pretty useless for Nissan Leaf, because it thinks Lidl is CCS only? Which isn't true, they still got plenty of CHAdeMO.
And also I actually wanna do AC charging, to save my battery: by only selecting type 2 in ABRP, it won't be able anymore to plan any stops. Because it doesn't seem to be able to plan charging stops at slow chargers.
So I continue to plan my charging stops manually, this way I can charge at my preferred chargers. Lidl, Aldi Süd and Kaufland. I avoid the big names, as they are really expensive.
Add the new Renault Scenic to your list of cars using Android Automotive with Google Maps. I haven't used ABRP or ZapMap for 2 years. No mucking about with the phone
And the upcoming Renault 5 too of course. I wish all cars just used Google!
ABRP and VLink OBD have been my MG4 SE excellent addition since day one 11 months ago. Especially with use of a Carlinkit then I rarely need any of the rather weak MG software. ☺️ Plus can geek out of ABRP telling my degradation and power etc
Also love ABRP having different car load settings so it can learn your efficiency in different settings, ie full load vs normal
Interesting video.
Thanks
That's so kind. Thank you!
Andrew Thank you for your video I also have an old Leaf, can you share the link for your mobile base mount for it.
Sure - it's this one. It seems pretty good. You can get it to charge the phone as well, but you'd need a USB-C cable that plugs into an adapter in the 12v socket to get enough power.
amzn.to/4ewRLFQ
Can the dongle stay attached all the time (does it use much power)?
@0:01 unless you are Tony and bought from auction.
Tritium chargers were declared insolvent in April 2024 and acquired by Exicom in August 2024.
I wasn't aware they were acquired. That's good news.
Although Shell's poor reliability may be in part down to Tritium, the other two chargers I visited were from the network Osprey - a tiny company relative to Shell - and both worked perfectly.
Very useful. I know someone that might benefit from this.
I'm planning on buying a Hyundai Ioniq 5 in around 6 years time when prices come down to my modest level. Does anyone know what the route planning is like?
Liked and subscribed.
It wasn't great when I had one but I think they've upgraded it now so it's much better.
@@MrEV Thanks so much for your reply. I'll check out the route planner when I test drive one but now I know the solution if I think it needs improvement. Many thanks!
Does the better route planner have a way to contemplate how a charger might be broken on arrival and having ready a backup plan?
I need that for my short range Ioniq classic, the one that only does up to like 200km in the summer, 150km in the winter. I'd hate to arrive with like 25km and find out that the charger doesn't work.
EDIT: I see you talk about this in the LEAF / ABRP section...
I share your feelings about Shell, but you're a lot more polite than me! 😀
I have the same dongle you are suggesting. I don’t know if this is a problem related to my car or to the dongle, but my ID4’s alarm goes off most times if I lock it with the dongle plugged in. Also, every time I get in the car, I have to unplug and plug it back in for carscanner/abrp to detect it again.
That's interesting. I drove the IONIQ 5 down to Italy with the dongle in, and the alarm did go off when it was locked but that's down to the dog being in the car I think! Someone recently commented to say it's the dongle's fault but I don't think it was in my case.
I don't think it's the thermal management on the older Leaf batteries that's causing the degradation. It's rather the fact that they have a chemistry that simply is sub par by modern standards. The tech and knowledge back then simply was not there yet. I am saying this, because of two things:
1) Yes, the Leafs do not have active battery cooling, but that does not (!) mean there is no thermal management. That is precisely why they rapid gate. If they are leaving the desired temperature window, charging gets slowed way down, so they do not (!) geht too hot.
2) To my knowledge, the second Gen Leafs with 40/62kWh batteries are rather exceptional concerning battery SOH, and they do not have active cooling either. And the 62kWh one actually even is a decent performer when it comes to charging at the same time. It's just a way more modern construction.
In fact, I don't think a 62kWh Leaf get's hammered more than a battery in a EV6 or Ioniq 5 i.e.. It's just that the Leaf will check out after two rapid charges, whereas the EVB ones wil continue to perform great for a longer period of time. In the end though, almost all modern EVs will rapid gate as well. The only exception being the Ariya 87kWh ironically, which seems to perform the better the hotte it get's, while being a very good winter charger as well. Goes to show, that Nissan did their homework IMHO.
When you had the e-208, did you ever use e-Routes? As it seems to be one of their connected apps that doesn't need an OBD2 dongle. But not needing an OBD2 plus extender cable would be nice as the location of e-208 OBD2 port means I can't shut the glove compartment.
I didn't, no. I wonder if that was available on the one I had?
49 SEK per month or even cheaper if you pay per year and ABRP is just the best route planner out there not counting Tesla. Rivian has bought the company and are inplementing it in the Rivian. You have to have the payed version for getting it accurate.
I have payed and used ABRP in my e-up 2020 for three years now and can't be more pleased. It is really accurate in the payed version.
You have a payed version of A better rout planner?
Do you have to subscribe to ABRP to do this link with the dongle, or will it work in ‘free’ mode?
Navigation in new e-niro is much better. Dunno why they haven't updated the old one to be decent , but hey..
Yeah, surely it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to update the old cars?!
I’ve received mine. Connects to the ELM ok, but won’t connect to EUC. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. Anyone have similar experience? The car is Smart EQ.
Bought the dongle but hugely frustrating to get it to work. Trying to get it to sync with the ABRP app, struggles to find the dongle and when it does it comes up with IOS Vlink not Android Vlink which my phone is 🤷♂️ and still won't connect. Any ideas ?
I find in my MG5 if I leave the dongle in it sets off the car alarm some minutes after I lock the car.
That’s interesting. Someone has just told me the same is true in the ID.4!
So you're thinking about taking this up as a job? Can I suggest that you put a banner headline up front that says something like, ooh I don't know, maybe a variant on caveat emptor chaps 'cos its possible I dont know what I'm talking about or, at best, what I'm advising may change before the end of the video. I watched this 4 or 5 times and still didn't what the f you were suggesting. Do I sound grumpy? That's because I stopped the vid to order the first OBD dongle you mentioned only to find it wouldn't really work well on my Leaf. Thanks Andy baby
If you ordered through Amazon, you can send it back free of charge. Say "not fit for purpose" and they'll refund, no questions asked.
I have this dongle, for me it doesn’t work well. Get a OBDLink CX in stead, that one works much better.
That’s interesting. In what way doesn’t it work well for you?
@@MrEVI keep losing connection on the e-golf with both dongles you mentioned. I had them both on the leaf, and there they worked fine. Also they don't display all the statistics in car scanner. The only dongle that works well for me is that obdlink i mentioned.
I have a Renault Mégane eTech and wondered if you were able to use the obd dongle when you had yours from Onto? I can't find where the port is!
I was never able to find it!
It is in the foot well behind the dash
Thanks both, I'll have another look! Really interested to get a dongle and see the stats if I can find it 🤓
Update: I've found it! I was looking for a cover to pull off but it's just after the plastic covering finishes on the left side of the driver's footwell. Will grab an OBD and check the stats 😊
@@rob4588 good news, what do you think of the etech, I love mine .
In E-niro the speed limit of the batterie is 73%
Have you tried this on Zoe or Up Mii etc as uf we go see a few different cars i would like to have some reassurance the the battery is at a SOH commensurate with age and mileage?
Use this with my 2020 Zoe (26,000 miles)
Works well on the ZOE but doesn't accurately read the SOH.
Have seen various degradation values ranging from 7.5% to 25% with ABRP and similar 78% to 87% values in car scanner.
Can recommend ABRP over the ZOE 's inbuilt nav which is useless. Set off on a long trip with a full charge and after 20 miles the ZOE 's nav will announce "no chargers within reachable range".
Can you leave the obd dongle plugged in al the time without draining the 12v battery?
Yes, most have auto power off when not in use.
Don’t leave it plugged in, thieves will be able to hack your car.
@@dbedford1000 It drains the battery on my Nissan Micra….best to check your particular car model.
I may be just too skeptical but could the poor performance by big oil owned chargers be a ploy to discourage ev ownership?
I'm not that cynical, but I do think they've been trying to do the bare minimum. That said, Shell's new hubs look great with lovely wooden canopies.
They're still greenwashing bastards though.
There is no mandatory OBD standard for EVs So they don't always work .. such as Tesla and Volvo
If out of idle curiosity you check your brand new £37,565 EV battery SOH after 10 days of ownership and the app says 97%, can you reject the car?
Ouch. That’s something you’ve experienced?! Tell me more!
You may be within your rights to reject it within 30 days if the car “is not of satisfactory quality”.
3% degradation already doesn’t sound good to me. It would imply there’s an issue I think.
That said, if you’re using something like Car Scanner, it may be calculating the SoH in a different way for your EV. Worth checking in forums to ask other owners to check the same.
I’ve got a Niro EV, and while a dongle fits the slot in the fuse box just fine, the cover won’t go back on until the dongle is removed
Good point. I should have mentioned that!
@@MrEV Just pop the connecter out & you can leave OBD connected. Simple
Can you feed the ABRP app live data with an app instead of an ugly OBD dongle?
You can use Tronity.io which uses the car's app login. It sort of works, but it's dependent on how fast the car sends the data. In the case of Peugeot, Hyundai and Kia, it's not fast enough to be very useful.
@@MrEV👍
Are you going to be at Farnborough for the Everything Electric show next weekend?
Interesting content ,useful device ,I use a bluetooth dongle with my scanner on my ice car great for diagnostics,there's an interesting device from pico to see live data called 2204A.can be hooked up to OBD.