Planning a charge-aware route

Flow's route builder turns any destination — even hundreds of miles away — into a rideable plan by automatically chaining charging stops along the way. This article walks through every step.

Your range on the map

Before you even pick a destination, Flow shows you how far you can go. The range overlay draws your reachable range right on the map as a shaded envelope around you — everywhere you can ride and still make it, given your current battery.

It's a true reachability envelope, not a plain circle: it follows the road network and the terrain, so it bulges along easy flat roads and pulls in where climbs would cost you extra energy. As your battery drops, the envelope contracts — watch it breathe with your SOC to see your reach shrink in real time.

A few things worth knowing:

• It's distance-based and conservative. The overlay reflects the same safety margin Flow uses for routing — it's the range you can trust, not a best-case number.
• It hides when it can't be trusted. At very low battery (below about 5%), Flow stops drawing the overlay rather than show a misleadingly precise shape.
• Use it to sanity-check a plan. If your destination sits well inside the envelope, you'll make it without a stop. If it's outside, you'll need to charge on the way — which is exactly what the route builder plans for you next.

Start a route

Long-press anywhere on the map to drop a destination pin, then tap Build Route. Or tap the Build Route button in the route sheet and type a place name.

Your origin defaults to your current GPS location. You can tap the origin field to change it.

Read the route candidates

Flow generates multiple route candidates, ranked by adventure quality:

• Scenic highways preferred — CA-1 along the coast ranks above I-5 through the valley.
• Bicycle network membership — routes following designated bike corridors score higher.
• Road character — two-lane state highways beat multi-lane interstates.
• Safety — shoulders, lower speed limits, and bike-friendly infrastructure boost scores.

The top-scored route is marked Recommended. Tap any alternate to compare.

Each candidate shows:

• Total distance and riding time
• Charging time and number of stops
• ETA brackets for different pace assumptions

Understand the charge chain

For routes beyond your single-charge range, Flow inserts charging stops automatically. The charge chain appears as a numbered sequence of stops below the route summary.

Each stop shows:

• Charger name and type (J1772, RV hookup, 110V outlet, etc.)
• Projected arrival SOC — the battery percentage you'll have when you arrive
• Estimated charge time based on your vehicle profile's charge wattage
• Address and distance from your route

Arrival SOC

Arrival SOC is the key number to watch. Flow routes you so you arrive at each charger with a safety margin — it won't plan a stop where you'd arrive below your safety threshold. Elevation gain and loss are factored in: a mountain pass costs more battery than flat coastal roads.

Edit the charge chain

After generating a route, you can:

• Add a waypoint — tap the map to insert a stop at any point.
• Remove a charge stop — tap a stop in the chain and choose Remove.
• Swap a charger — tap a stop and choose Swap to pick a different charger nearby. The chain recalculates with the new stop.

The route and charge chain recalculate in real time whenever you make a change.

Freeway and highway warnings

Flow warns you when your route includes a freeway or high-speed highway segment. These warnings appear as orange banners in the route summary. Tap to see where the segment is, or toggle Highway Warnings off in Settings → Navigation if you're comfortable on those roads.

Save a route

Tap Save to store a route. Saving requires sign-in — enter your email in Settings → Account and tap the magic link. Saved routes sync to the cloud and appear in your Routes tab across sessions.

You can rename, edit, share, or delete saved routes from the Routes tab.

Start navigation

Tap Start to begin turn-by-turn navigation. Flow will:

1. Show the next maneuver in the banner at the top of the screen.
2. Guide you to each charge stop with audio cues (if Voice Guidance is on in Settings).
3. Pause at each charger and display plug-in details — tap Resume when you're ready to continue.

If you go off-route, Flow detects it and can recalculate.

Offline maps

For rides in areas with poor cell coverage, Flow can download the map region and turn-by-turn instructions before you leave. For routes over 50 miles, Flow offers this automatically. See Offline maps → for details.

Tips for long-distance planning

• Set an accurate vehicle profile. The charge math is only as good as your Wh and range values.
• Check arrival SOC at each stop. A stop with a very low arrival SOC means you're cutting it close — consider adding a stop earlier.
• Use the range circle on the map to see your current reach before committing to a route.
• If a charge-stop area has limited options, zoom in on the map and look for community-submitted chargers not yet in the main database.