Atlantic Canada - any Tesla owners out there?

[Biker]

I'm from Toronto, but I would like to drive out to Halifax and maybe into Cape Breton. I don't see any good charging options once you get east of Quebec City. Does anyone from the Atlantic Provinces have any suggestions - or is this just not a good idea yet?

 

[PatP]

Try EV Trip Planner - Sun Country Highway

They have charging stations all across Canada (from BC to PEI).

 

[Biker]

I have tried it. It shows lots of charging spots, but it's not clear as to how quickly or slow each stop will be. I was hoping that there are some Atlantic Canadians out there who know what the best spots are. Seems to me that I would be stopping for more than 4 hours most of the time.

 

[PoweredByRain]

I have tried it. It shows lots of charging spots, but it's not clear as to how quickly or slow each stop will be. I was hoping that there are some Atlantic Canadians out there who know what the best spots are. Seems to me that I would be stopping for more than 4 hours most of the time.

Look at PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge your car!
It's not consistent, but if you click on a location you'll often see the power available in the description. Assume 200V under load (if on a 208V circuit; if you're lucky it'll be on a 240V circuit), and by default chargers are 30A. So that's 200V * 30A = 6 kW. Not fast.

If you see something like "Sun Country Highway CS90, 70 amp service" - this means it will provide 70A max. Actually 72. It's confusing: the CS90 means it's on a 90A circuit breaker, but you can only continuously draw 80% of the circuit breaker rating. Anyways, connecting to such a station you will get either 40A (if your car has only one charger) or 72A (if your car has dual chargers). With dual chargers the most you can get is 80A. If that's at 200V then it's 16 kW max.

These are all veeeeeeery slow charging rates compared to Superchargers (120 kW), and compared to your ability to drive. It's really only feasible to charge overnight at 30A; at 6 kW it will take roughly 14 hours to charge the battery from empty to full.

If you enjoy staying overnight at a hotel every 400 km, then by all means go for it. It just isn't going to be convenient until there are Superchargers on the route, and who knows how many years it'll be before that happens.

 

[elecanuck]

I'm in the same boat, I'm looking to head east this summer from the Hammer to Halifax as the family wants to see the wonder car.

I've got a CHAdeMO coming next week to charge in Portland, Maine and *hopefully* at a Nissan dealer in Bangor to get me to New Brunswick without having to overnight (I used EVtrip planner to estimate about 19-20 hours with charging to get to St. Stephen).

After that it gets really long as PoweredByRain notes, I estimated a further 12 hours driving/charging to get to Halifax, so my Dad is meeting me with a flatdeck car hauler and the D is getting chauffeured into Nova Scotia:biggrin:

 

[mrElbe]

You could also order this handy dandy Chinese charger. Just climb up the nearest utility pole and connect.

 

[wayner]

I'm in the same boat, I'm looking to head east this summer from the Hammer to Halifax as the family wants to see the wonder car.

Don't they still have that ferry from Maine to Yarmouth? Wouldn't that get you pretty much all the way to Halifax, especially if you could charge on the boat.

p.s. Moved from NS to the Hammer - you sound like Stan Rogers!

 

[elecanuck]

Haha, I was a broken man on a Halifax pier and took off to Upper Canada.

Great point on the boat, the ferry still runs (thanks to $23 mill from the gov't), I think its about $700 for a car and one passenger and takes 10 hours, not sure if one can charge but that would be slick as you could make it on a charge!

 

[wayner]

Haha, I was a broken man on a Halifax pier

the last of Elon's privateers.

 

[Biker]

Poweredbyrain and elecanuck, Thanks for the straight forward info. I think that 400K a day is just not enough, but that is what I was wondering as well. I would need to get closer to 800K a day to have it make sense.

Maybe not this summer, eh?

BTW, love the Stan Rogers references. I have a few friends who used to play with him at folk festivals in Ontario. He never was a sailor ... but he sang a great story

 

[Cottonwood]

Poweredbyrain and elecanuck, Thanks for the straight forward info. I think that 400K a day is just not enough, but that is what I was wondering as well. I would need to get closer to 800K a day to have it make sense.

Maybe not this summer, eh?

BTW, love the Stan Rogers references. I have a few friends who used to play with him at folk festivals in Ontario. He never was a sailor ... but he sang a great story

It only helps a little, but if you have dual chargers (add them for US$2,000 now) and you can find the HAL2, Sun Country Highway 70 or 80 Amp, (90 or 100 Amp Circuit Breaker), you should be able to do 600-700 km per day. This is done by doing an overnight, range charge each night and a 4-6 hour mid-day top up between morning and evening drives of 300-350 km.

Superchargers are way faster, but this leapfrogging can work with dual chargers. Also, there is one CHAdeMO in Truro, NS; see Glooscap Annex | 75 Treaty Trail Truro, NS | CHAdeMO | PlugShare. You might be able to do 800 km or more planning around that CHAdeMO.

 

[Bangor Bob]

If you can get a Chademo adapter, that would be your best bet. Looks like you should be able to supercharge at Montreal, top up in Burlington VT via Chademo (there are a couple to choose from), Supercharge at Hooksett NH, and then top up in Portland ME (there are a couple Chademo chargers and a HPWC) before catching the ferry. A dash of level 2 in Halifax and then the Chademo in Truro will get you to the Island. Getting back could be a trick.

Eventually there will be a supercharger in Bangor (we have a Nissan dealer Chademo at the moment), and somewhere around Woodstock NB, but that could be a few years. At the moment plugshare doesn't show any Chademo chargers in NB, which is a problem. Going entirely in Canada via Quebec and NB, you'll be stringing together L2 chargers and RV park 14-50's. Good luck, Maine and NB are high-speed charging wastelands at the moment, I'm afraid.

-- BB - Canuck expat waiting on a Model 3

 

[Biker]

Thanks Cottonwood and BB. So going through US could work then, right?

Looks like I'll need to invest another $450 for that Chademo adapter, but it would be cool to be able to drive all the way to Cape Breton. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't even be thinking about it if I still had an ICE.

My son is getting married in Port Hawksbury this August and our daughter goes to Dalhousie. This way I can transport some things for my daughter and be able to chauffeur the newlyweds.

I would probably stay at camp sites when I need to recharge overnight, but Best Westerns could be an option.

 

[Mayhemm]

I actually made this trip last autumn using only Sun Country Highway's Level 2 network, though I split off to Newfoundland at the end rather than Cape Breton.

New Brunswick has fairly good options in Edmundston, Fredericton, and Sackville. It's not until you hit Nova Scotia that things get a bit tight, as charging options are slower and more spread out.

I made a habit of staying in hotels that offered charging on-site, such as the Hôtel Universel in Rivière-du-Loup, QC or various Best Westerns, and doing a full range charge overnight. If you end up needing to charge before you even start out, you won't make much progress that day.

Then I'd drive as far as I could (usually 350-400km) before stopping for a 4-to-6-hour charging session. Ideally, I'd try to grab food or do some shopping to help kill time while the car charged. If there's nothing around I'd grab a nap or watch a movie in the car. The time usually went pretty quickly.

Once the charging was done, I'd travel to the furthest hotel I could reach with on-site charging and repeat everything the next day. Usually I'd make 700 to 800km of progress per day. The key is dragging yourself out of bed fairly early so you're driving in daylight (potentially more traffic but much less fatiguing, IMO).

This method doesn't allow much spare time to do tourist-y things, but I'm not really into that, so it was no big loss for me.

Good luck on your trip, whichever route you decide on!

 

[Jaff]

Won't the Drummondville Supercharger be open soon?

He could then go Drummondville to Riv du Lu (about 330 kms) or to Quebec City (about 150 kms)...both RDL & QC have Sun Country 100 / 90 amp Level II charge stations available...

If you can get a Chademo adapter, that would be your best bet. Looks like you should be able to supercharge at Montreal, top up in Burlington VT via Chademo (there are a couple to choose from), Supercharge at Hooksett NH, and then top up in Portland ME (there are a couple Chademo chargers and a HPWC) before catching the ferry. A dash of level 2 in Halifax and then the Chademo in Truro will get you to the Island. Getting back could be a trick.

Eventually there will be a supercharger in Bangor (we have a Nissan dealer Chademo at the moment), and somewhere around Woodstock NB, but that could be a few years. At the moment plugshare doesn't show any Chademo chargers in NB, which is a problem. Going entirely in Canada via Quebec and NB, you'll be stringing together L2 chargers and RV park 14-50's. Good luck, Maine and NB are high-speed charging wastelands at the moment, I'm afraid.

-- BB - Canuck expat waiting on a Model 3

 

[Phillip L]

I am making the same trip to N. S. The difference being that I have a summer place down there so once I get to the ChaDeMo in Truro I should be fine because I am only going just beyond New Glasgow. I have ordered a ChaDeMo which is in the mail. So I think I will go through Quebec and stay overnight in Edmunston at the Best Western. Will stop for some electrons in Fredericton and Moncton to get to Truro.

 

[Biker]

How many days do you think the drive would be to Halifax? Is 3 days pushing it since the charging at Fredericton and Moncton would take quite a while?

 

[elecanuck]

I am making the same trip to N. S. The difference being that I have a summer place down there so once I get to the ChaDeMo in Truro I should be fine because I am only going just beyond New Glasgow. I have ordered a ChaDeMo which is in the mail. So I think I will go through Quebec and stay overnight in Edmunston at the Best Western. Will stop for some electrons in Fredericton and Moncton to get to Truro.

If you are going 'just beyond New Glasgow' between July 24 and August 11 watch for a red P85D, I'll be in Merigomish

 

[Biker]

I'll be there around Aug 5 to Aug 10. Grey PD.

 

[Phillip L]

If you are going 'just beyond New Glasgow' between July 24 and August 11 watch for a red P85D, I'll be in Merigomish

I don't believe it. I am going to Lower Barney's River. My wife's family are from the "Shore Road".