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[Hans2183]

Just a first initial feedback after receiving and using the PCC app. It's an Android beta app available from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.powercruisecontrol.energica that will connect to OBDII Bluetooth dongles to retrieve bike info and adapt your route using that info.

Initially this was a closed beta app but since a few days it's been public. So no more need to request access. I'll post back here once I have a video out to show how it's useful (or not). Out of curiosity, Is there anyone else here already using this App? It was shared by one of the devs on the facebook group a while ago.

Required Hardware

You'll need an OBDII dongle with bluetooth support so using the ELM327 chipset. Some are available that use Wifi, the app won't connect to wifi based dongles. Also not all dongles fully support the OBD protocols needed for this to work. Most 5 EUR chinese copies (those blue transparant ones) will likely fail. They sell their own dongle that works for sure at amazon (at least amazon.de and amazon.it, not sure about other countries).

Installation

Initial connection wasn't straight forward. The app redirects to the Android Bluetooth settings during set up but for some reason it prompted me for a password of at least 16 digits while the password it the instructions is "1234". I tried with spaces, 0, and more but only succeeded once the app for some (unknown) reason skipped the minimal password length. Not sure yet what I did to fix that or if it is device specific. I was testing on a Nexus 5X device. The good news is that that was the only issue I encountered.

Next the app prompted me to buy a license. The cost of it is 25 EUR per year with a 30 day free trial. This is linked to the VIN so tied vehicle not user. However if you have multiple EVs like me you would have to buy multiple licenses. For now the Zero and Mercedes aren't supported yet so not yet an issue.



Using the App

After that you can start using the app. On top you make a connection and there is a map where you can plan a route. During that route the initial green screen will show a percentage of what you have left (or come short) reaching your destination. That is the part I'll try to capture in a video cause it will make much more sense that way. That is the main feature of the app.

There is also a data screen showing state of your bike. Keep in mind that this app is in beta. The voltage values are missing for example. And the kWh value displayed is not from the canbus but just 71% of nominal capacity. Which isn't what is really available so I doubt the calculations will be OK at this point. The battery temperature is the right value.

[Hans2183]

Finished the video review



And this is what I wrote about the unit on facebook

What is it

An app that gives you a data readout while riding or charging (bike has to be keyed ON or charging so 12V is live). Plus let's you plan a route and then provides feedback on your riding style.
In conclusion

If you just want to support their development (app is in Beta) get a 30 day free trial and provide your feedback.
You could also get it if you just want to know battery temperature without having to get into coding.
But don't get it expecting it will give you good range insights. At least not yet.

What I liked

    The app is simple but everything is there.
    It's a cool idea.
    The data is actual and correct (except for kWh).
    Connection is solid.
    Dongle is small and not over expensive plus nothing proprietary.

What I didn't like

    kWh value is just SOC from system combined with nominal value from spec sheet. About 2kWh above actual capacity.
    Besides that the indication jumped around a lot while riding and I had still 1/3 of my battery left while I was riding on the edge most of the time (not even corrected for first point).
    No turn by turn navigation in app. Alternative routes also not very clearly visualised.
    Yearly cost of App plus it's VIN based so I would need 3 licenses.
    Only android for now (despite being a cross platform cordova based app).

[HoodRichOG]

Anyone using this app? Is it any good?

[wadejesu]

Seems like an added distraction while riding a MC, No thanks

[HoodRichOG]

I dunno, I use nav already so this would actually be real nice if it worked well and could tell me what my SoC will be upon arrival.

[Skidz]

Have it, never used it as such The dongle is usable with Hans Capelle's app so that's why I bought it. I can test it tomorrow if you like, got a commute then.

[Hans2183]

Last time I used it (shortly after first post here) it was useless cause it was only parsing SOC and consumption properly totally ignoring reserve capacity. Instead it was using SOC to calculate a percentage of nominal capacity. Big issue with that approach is that no 21,5 kWh Energica ever had 18,9 kWh capacity available. in reality it's close to 16, 17 kWh at max. The number on the dash is more accurate.

Besides that I remember also having to run the navigation instructions itself on a separate app. So their iOS App didn't include the nav instructions and only showed the green/red bar (based on wrong data).

It shows battery temp, that is useful info. Though one could say there are better apps available for that.

Nothing wrong with the hardware they provide in the form of a Bluetooth OBDII dongle. That one is a proper implementation supporting the full OBDII stack. It still has the memory limitations that all these dongles have. They have a very small buffer so if you want to track a lot of data it will just run out and reset in the best case.

Hope that helps