Head to head

ABRP or Drive Charge Eat: where they actually differ

Two products with different jobs. A Better Routeplanner is a dedicated route planner — its job is deciding where you stop and for how long; Drive Charge Eat is a dedicated route planner — its job is deciding where you stop and for how long.

Updated 2 min read

Wide multi-lane motorway running towards an airport visible on the horizon
Norbert Nagel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where they differ

CapabilityABRPDrive Charge Eat (our own app)
Models the charging curve● Yes– Unverified
Adjusts for weather and temperature◐ Partly● Yes
Accounts for elevation– Unverified● Yes
Reads the car◐ Partly– Unverified
Turn-by-turn navigation◐ Partly● Yes
Compares session prices– Unverified○ No
Food, restrooms and facilities◐ Partly● Yes
Driver check-ins and reviews◐ Partly– Unverified
Usable without paying● Yes○ No

Where they agree

On the remaining 5 capabilities these two are recorded the same way. Rows where both are unverified are agreement about our own ignorance rather than about the products.

Which to choose

Choose A Better Routeplanner if you need charging-time estimates that hold up and something that costs nothing. Choose Drive Charge Eat if you need cold-weather range modelling, routing that knows the road climbs, turn-by-turn navigation rather than a hand-off and food and facilities where you stop. Price and platform decide the rest, and both are in the table on each product’s own page.

Or both

Most people end up with two of these — a router and either a payment card or the car’s own navigation for the last leg, which is the only thing that reliably preconditions the battery. Using one tool for everything is a preference, not a requirement.