Abbotsford BC to Manning Park

[nleggatt]

Hello again everyone. Today's trip for the benefit of the community is Abbotsford BC to Manning Park. Jurassictest says we wont have enough for round trip so we will be stopping in Hope BC to use the quick charger to get some Jules.

Ok, Here's the plan:

60 Pack
Me, My wife, and two kids (6 and 2)
Two little sleds
Standard Charge

I plan on stopping for 15 or so minutes at the 90 Amp SC charger in Hope (used it before and it worked wonderfully) on the way up. Gather 10-15km (?) extra just for a bit of comfort? Spend a couple hours up at Manning and then return to Hope SC Charger and the Blue Moose Cafe across the street for hot chocolate and 40-50 minute charge (60-70km?) and then head home.

Makes a nice trip to go play in the snow for the cost of some hot chocolate with the kids and wife. Will report on how this trip goes so others can plan accordingly if they ever decide to do it.

Hopefully it goes better than the Whistler trip lol

 

[nleggatt]

Ok, home!

So, we ended up charging for about 20 minutes in Hope on the SC Charger 90Amp which yielded us roughly 40km. That brough us back to about 200km IDEAL charge. We headed up Alison Pass and watched both the temperature and range start to drop. By the time we reached the bottom of Manning Park Ski Resort, the temp was -2 degrees and the battery was showing abtou 130 km range. Bad news is that is up hill for roughly 10 km from the base of the resort. We took it slow and got to the top with 114 Km IDEAL range. We were lucky enough to run into a friend that works at the resort and he let us plug into a 120V which though it gave us no additional charge, it appears to have kept the battery warm and reduced any battery vampire loss.

We played in the snow and tobogganed for a couple of hours, had lunch and began our trek home. We figured were about 60 or so Km from Hope (that wonderful charging location) and prepared for the worse. Especially when our range hit 100km and we had barely left the resort.

Well, remember all that up hill on the way to Manning... well, we regened most of the way back to Hope. In fact, we arrived in hope with 77km in IDEAL range. Sure, we did the speed limit the whole way, but if you do the math, we essentially doubled our range vs the distance of travel. Never-the-less, we plugged in at Hope, let the kids play at the park for 20 or so minutes and collected another 50-60km of range while I listened to Tron: Legacy and surfed TMC (shhh, don't tell my wife lol). Off we go, and arrive home with about 30km on the range. We didn't baby it on the way home either as we knew we had a full charge waiting once got home!

Nothing really surprising about the trip. But here's what I did learn.

1. We left with a standard charge (as for most of my adventures I do that way we know worse case scenarios). If we had left the morning with a range charge I'm pretty sure we could have done the trip with a single stop on the way back... will have to see if we can pull that off next time... will see.

2. Plugging into a 120V does help to stop vampire load especially in the cold

3. If you have a long down-hill coming up, it makes a huge difference, hopefully the down-hill is coming into your destination.

4. People say, "oh but you have to stop for 15-20 minutes" Guess what, Tesla Time is already a good 15-20-30 minutes while you get ambushed and asked to answer 100 questions about the car. And that is before you even grab your coffee! So, really it's no addition to your time. Best is when the 16-18 year old kids holler- "Hey, sweet car, what is it!"

* just to add to the info for those people who need as much info as they can digest - not only did we have 2 adults and 2 children, we also had the back packed with snow suits, food, snow-shoes, two toboggans and blankets and other supplies... so maybe make the weight 2 adult and 2 early teens.

Questions?

 

[ElectricFarmBoy]

Awesome report. Makes me want to try the same trip from a Langley start -- I have an 85 pack so it should be doable.

 

[nleggatt]

On an 85, especially with a range charge would be a breeze. Probably only a 15 minute coffee stop on the way home just for extra buffer. When do you get your car? I'm thinking of recreating my Whistler trip and seeing if we can get some other Cars from the Lower Mainland to join in.

 

[Hobiemon]

Thanks nleggatt, I plan on a Port Moody to either Kelowna or Oliver trip soon and definitely Port Moody Oliver in June. I will make sure I range charge from here. I have some options to top up and am meeting with the Sun Country rep this week and will get some tips from him as well. Glad all went well, isn't it great to just drive guilt free!

 

[nleggatt]

@hobiemon, sounds like a good trip. In a few weeks we are going to do the Abbotsford to Merrit (possibly to Kamloops) trip. Will be very interesting to see how that goes. There are conflicting reports about which SC Charger is in Merrit. I've been told the CS90 from City Hall, BUT, on SC's website it says 40Amp...

I should also note: @electricFarmBoy - at Manning, there are about 30 120V plugs that are used in the RV Parking and a 30 Amp 3 Prong RV plug (if you have that adapter). Not sure how you get permission to plug-in there, but, if you were to go boarding for the day, might not be a bad extra few bucks or whatever to ensure you're car gains a few km while your tearing up a few runs If the temperature was really low as well, might allow cabin pre-heating. Eitherway just another piece of the puzzle

 

[Doug_G]

There's no reason to avoid doing a Range mode charge. Spending a few hours at a higher charge level is inconsequential. Much better for the pack to Range charge than risk running it down to zero.

 

[nleggatt]

There's no reason to avoid doing a Range mode charge. Spending a few hours at a higher charge level is inconsequential. Much better for the pack to Range charge than risk running it down to zero.

Thanks Doug. I should clarify that the reason I didn't do a range charge was a). We hasn't planned on going to manning until just before we left. So no time to add the range charge. B) I figure if I know I can do these trips comfortably on a standard then I know ill be well beyond concern when range charged.

 

[Morristhecat]

Sounds like a nice adventure @nleggatt. Love hearing about these local trips and chargers.