3300 miles Roadtrip, Toronto to Halifax, and Observations

[JulesVerne]

I have just completed a Roadtrip from Toronto to Halifax, touring, and back.
Here are some stats, and then my observations.

Roadtrip summary.
With an EV you have ALL the stats, especially with #teslafi. I have stats for EVERY driving section and EVERY charge (free or not)
- Toronto to Halifax to Cape Breton to Halifax to Ottawa to Toronto
= 5351km / 3325miles
- total driving time:
2days18hrs6min (incl around twn)
- total charging time:
1day22hrs22min which includes 3 overnight charges for 21 3/4hrs
- kWh used
929.30 at avg of 174 Wh/km = 120.36 MPGe (Mpg equivalent)
- Electricity cost= $111.39 + $130 (a guess at my free 1500km with the car) = $241.39Cdn for 5351km!
- Cabot Trail cost:
1057km, for $27.33Cdn because of the 5 free chargers I got to use
- longest Roadtrip section:
334km/207miles @ avg 103kph (3hr 17min)
& 344km/213miles @ avg 108kph (3hrs 13min)
- fastest avg section:
244km @ avg 111kph in N.B
& 165km @ avg 111kph in N.S.
& 158km @ avg 116kph/72mph in QC
& 147km @ avg 114kph in QC
Speed limits on trip mostly 100kph/62mph
110kph/68mph & 80kph/50mph
- fastest speed
132kph/82mph (I was passing!!! Had to get it done fast)
- lowest % SOC (state of charge) 2% arriving at Woodstock NB Supercharger

Range anxiety??? NO. Even at the 2% I knew we were fine (but I had turned off the AC to get more miles)

I would do it again in a heartbeat, but I was prepared. Along with the Tesla navigation and Supercharger suggestions, I had #ABRP (A Better Route Planner) and #Plugshare as well as #Flo and #ChargePoint and #Petrocan (No harm in knowing where ALL the chargers are!)

I LOVE the acceleration for passing (especially on 2 lane roads). I LOVE the acceleration for merging into traffic, from a ramp or from the shoulder.

I LOVE the adaptive cruise control, and I especially love the right flywheel button to quickly adjust the speed up or down in 1 kph Increments. Super easy and accurate.

I LIKE the seats. No problem with them and very comfortable. I do find I get a bit bothered by my right knee resting up against the center console, when not using the peddles, which is a lot on highway driving.

I'm a bit bothered by the wipers and the auto setting being too slow to react to rain. It is a bit annoying to stumble around trying to get the right setting on wipers, at night when it is raining. And it bothers me that once I turn them on, and I am using cruise control or autopilot I cannot turn them off even if it stops raining. (I guess just switching to auto is best suggestion there i stead if getting out of autopilot to turn them off)

I hate the phantom braking. At least 4 times per day on the highway sections. Most times I did not know why. Very abrupt. Very dangerous. I only learned near end of trip about saying "bug report phantom braking".

I am bothered by the resistance trying to take over/turn off autopilot. It causes an over reaction when it does click off. And I'm talking an emergency take over when a lane is disappearing, or there is a "phantom" residual lane marker in a construction zone.

I am bothered by the lag, when in adaptive cruise control, when I finally pull out to pass a slow car, and it either iws down first, or lags, before finally acceleration around the car. (I have figured out I have to pull out earlier to negate this)

I LOVE the free chargers all around. How long can we expect that to last. In Cape Breton National Park, 6 Tesla Destination chargers, 11kW. Amazing.

I hate that FSD subscription not yet available in Canada. I would have loved it, especially for auto lane change instead of autopilot turning off on turn signal, and the little wobble when turnig autopilot back on.

I LOVE Tesla Superchargers. On my trip all were 150kW except one that was 250kW. I only had to share 1 stall, 1 time in 21 charges, and in that case I moved after 5 mins. Most were 8 stall 150kW, but I hit two 20 stall 150kW. In the 8 stall there were usually 0, or up to 3 other cars. I one of the 20 stall, Tesla said limited charging to 80% because it was do busy.. I only wanted 85% anyway. No big.

I LOVED that most superchargers were in a good location, for bathroom access and food.
1 was at a mall that if you arrived after 9pm, you would be screwed for food or bathroom. You'd have to do before, or after.

I LOVED talking to other drivers. A really great crowd. I loved bumping into the same people/car at the next charger.

I HATE that the car allowed me to accelerate, during bumper to bumper stop and go traffic, 5ft. Into the bumper of the car ahead of me. I was exhausted, actually closed my eyes (bad), and hit accelerator. No damage to my car, $500 "damage" to plastic bumper of a Nissan Rogue, when my license plate (Snapplate) screws made 2 "gouges/dents" and 1 sensor was dislodged. IF I had cruise control on it wouldn't have happened, and my foot wouldn't have been hovering over the "gas".
BUT the car gives me so many warnings of people or cars that are slowing down etc, you'd think it wouldn't allow it. But I guess if you accelerate towards a brick wall, you can do it!

I LOVE the room. Storage. Very useful except the slope of the rear hatch, isn't loved by my big Golden doodle.

Tesla navigation did not know about the public charger in New Glascow, and was giving me "look for a charger" warnings


I HATE that you can't add waypoints in Tesla Navigation. Thus I had to use " A Better Route Planner".
I found that ABRP was more pessimistic about my charge arrival, Tesla was very close, but ABRP gave better details about length of charge with start and finish %. But the 2 were a great combo.

I did not use Netflix as much as I expected. Go to bathroom, get food, and run back to car so no idle fees on the whole. Sometimes change charge limit from the app so I had more time!

Still having problems with sentry mode. 1 sec repeating video many times. Dashcam fine (yes, I have my, seemingly slow-mo $500 bumper accident)

I HATE getting back into my Prius. I keep hitting wiper stalk to put into Drive! And NO regen braking...wild feel after the Tesla.
My wife drove a few times. and the regen braking still makes a jerky ride from her.

I like Elon's version of satellite radio. Along with Spotify, and phone connection for audio books, and a new llist of radio stations in a new area there was no lack entertainment.

I guess that's enough.
I love the detail of Teslafi.
I love how the car drives.
I love the free chargers

I LOVE the car. It is GREAT.

Andrew

 

[HaltonY]

I did a similar trip in a MY LR from Toronto (Burlington) to Halifax at the beginning of August, which was similar in length (5,156 km). We just used superchargers and the cost was $247 (excluding the initial charge at home). The supercharger network was excellent. We only had to wait briefly at Cornwall as they only have 6 chargers, and there was only one charger out of service that was not indicated on the navigation map. I really like that the Tesla Navigation has real-time communication with the charging stalls, so you can pick an alternate charging site if one is busy. The superchargers in Ontario and Quebec were at hotels or malls, which wasn't always convenient for washrooms. Fortunately, there are restaurants nearby. The superchargers in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were in larger Irving stations that were more convenient. Still, it was a challenge to find squeegees to wash the daily bug accumulation off the car.

I would have liked to visit Cape Breton, but ABRP indicated the trip was not doable using the supercharging network. I would have had to find a hotel with a destination charger. We did make it over to Charlottetown in PEI and back to the Salisbury NB supercharger with 30% to spare. Will be great when PEI and Cape Breton are added to the Tesla network. My only concern is that the network in Canada is still limiting in some areas, but I am sure this will improve in time.

We stayed at AirBnBs along the way but did not stay at any with EV charging.

All in all, the Tesla was a great road trip vehicle, and the supercharging network makes travel very easy.

 

[JulesVerne]

I did a similar trip in a MY LR from Toronto (Burlington) to Halifax at the beginning of August, which was similar in length (5,156 km). We just used superchargers and the cost was $247 (excluding the initial charge at home). The supercharger network was excellent. We only had to wait briefly at Cornwall as they only have 6 chargers, and there was only one charger out of service that was not indicated on the navigation map. I really like that the Tesla Navigation has real-time communication with the charging stalls, so you can pick an alternate charging site if one is busy. The superchargers in Ontario and Quebec were at hotels or malls, which wasn't always convenient for washrooms. Fortunately, there are restaurants nearby. The superchargers in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were in larger Irving stations that were more convenient. Still, it was a challenge to find squeegees to wash the daily bug accumulation off the car.

I would have liked to visit Cape Breton, but ABRP indicated the trip was not doable using the supercharging network. I would have had to find a hotel with a destination charger. We did make it over to Charlottetown in PEI and back to the Salisbury NB supercharger with 30% to spare. Will be great when PEI and Cape Breton are added to the Tesla network. My only concern is that the network in Canada is still limiting in some areas, but I am sure this will improve in time.

We stayed at AirBnBs along the way but did not stay at any with EV charging.

All in all, the Tesla was a great road trip vehicle, and the supercharging network makes travel very easy.

****** Sorry, my post seems to be in here twice, I guess something happened when I editted it!!! So there are 2 threads!!

Well, there are 11kw destination chargers through the Cabot Trail National Park. in Baddeck, Ingonish, neil???, Beulach Ban Falls, CHeticamp Visitor Center, and I think another.
It was those that I used to do the Trail. "Plugshare" lists those.

I talked to a Tesla owner from PEI and he says a Supercharger, near the end of the bridge in PEI is almost ready. That will help with touring PEI.
I found in Ontario, chargers were mainly in parking lots: Belville - a Mall, Kingston - A mall, Cornwall - simply hear fast food(?),
Montreal, Pointe Claire - A Mall, Levis - Beside an IGA (That would have been tough for a bathroom, as we arrived late, and in a storm!!!),
Nepean (Ottawa) - Canadian Tire Parking lot

Yes, in New Brunswick, mostly at Irving Gas Stations. .. I think that is the way to go. Open 24hrs, access to food and bathrooms

Trip very doable, but yes, Nova Scotia could use another Supercharger. Ontario seems well covered, but Kingston and Cornwall, seem like they need more stalls!

The one "VRBO" we stayed at in CapeBreton had no plug available (parked in the National Park 1km down the road to charge),
The AirBnB in Halifax, Nowhere to charge, and I was getting worried driving around town with only 12% charge (knowing I had to save enough power to get to the Supercharger 32km out of town.. the 6kW chargers in town, seemed pretty useless. Sat at the public library in town for 2.5 hrs, for a few percentage!!!

.. Andrew

 

[RickJemmett]

****** Sorry, my post seems to be in here twice, I guess something happened when I editted it!!! So there are 2 threads!!

Well, there are 11kw destination chargers through the Cabot Trail National Park. in Baddeck, Ingonish, neil???, Beulach Ban Falls, CHeticamp Visitor Center, and I think another.
It was those that I used to do the Trail. "Plugshare" lists those.

I talked to a Tesla owner from PEI and he says a Supercharger, near the end of the bridge in PEI is almost ready. That will help with touring PEI.
I found in Ontario, chargers were mainly in parking lots: Belville - a Mall, Kingston - A mall, Cornwall - simply hear fast food(?),
Montreal, Pointe Claire - A Mall, Levis - Beside an IGA (That would have been tough for a bathroom, as we arrived late, and in a storm!!!),
Nepean (Ottawa) - Canadian Tire Parking lot

Yes, in New Brunswick, mostly at Irving Gas Stations. .. I think that is the way to go. Open 24hrs, access to food and bathrooms

Trip very doable, but yes, Nova Scotia could use another Supercharger. Ontario seems well covered, but Kingston and Cornwall, seem like they need more stalls!

The one "VRBO" we stayed at in CapeBreton had no plug available (parked in the National Park 1km down the road to charge),
The AirBnB in Halifax, Nowhere to charge, and I was getting worried driving around town with only 12% charge (knowing I had to save enough power to get to the Supercharger 32km out of town.. the 6kW chargers in town, seemed pretty useless. Sat at the public library in town for 2.5 hrs, for a few percentage!!!

.. Andrew

I'm new to the travel game in my '21 Tesla YLR... aside from Tesla Superchargers, what adapter did you use in Cape Breton?