Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Atlantic Canada Superchargers

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Exciting news about the New Minus charger!

Unfortunately, I need Westville!!!

My drive, in a MY, will be Halifax to Antigonish, overnight in order to charge to 100%, to Charlos Cove (100km), L1 charge overnight, then the 310km back to Aulac (taking secondary roads, which TBH, I'm looking forward to.)

My concern, that my hotel in Antigonish will have other EVs at it also needing to charge and I won't leave there with the 100% I need to do the 410km trip from Charlos Cove to Aulac. Teslafi consistently shows my actual range is 80% of the rated range on summer road trips so this is tight but doable as long as we can leave Antigonish with 100%. I regret not ordering the CCS adapter in the spring. I was waiting for Tesla Canada to start selling it rather than go through the hoops of ordering it from Korea.

We put off this visit when we were down in September 2021 because Westville was due to open by the end of 2021. We can't put the trip off any longer due to the age of those we are visiting. And now there's no time to get the adapter.
 
My concern, that my hotel in Antigonish will have other EVs at it also needing to charge and I won't leave there with the 100% I need to do the 410km trip from Charlos Cove to Aulac. Teslafi consistently shows my actual range is 80% of the rated range on summer road trips so this is tight but doable as long as we can leave Antigonish with 100%.
Lots of options here. 1) charge overnight somewhere else in Antigonish - check Plugshare. 2) Slow down. 3) L2 charge while you have lunch. Enjoy the drive.
 
Lots of options here. 1) charge overnight somewhere else in Antigonish - check Plugshare. 2) Slow down. 3) L2 charge while you have lunch. Enjoy the drive.
1. Its 220km from my Halifax location to Antigonish, so I need ~7 hours of charging at L2. Are you suggesting parking my car at the Arena, leaving it there overnight and walking back to the hotel? It's only 1.2km so doable but inconvenient and I don't know if I can park overnight on municipal property.

2. Slow down how much? My 80% efficiency is based on traveling between 100 and 105 kph. Even if going 80kph gets me to 90% efficiency, that's only 30 more km range, so only cuts out 1 hour of the L2 charging. The trip between Charlos Cove and Aulac was always on secondary roads so expected speed of 80kph and built into my calculations. Slowing down more than that will certainly piss off the locals.

3. L2 charging during supper is possible (we don't plan to leave Halifax until after lunch since it is only a 2.25 hour drive.) We can charge during lunch on the way to Aulac (which is not our final destination, there's still another 2.5 hours of driving that day). That makes up 2 hours of the 7 hours of L2 charging I expect I need. If I drive 80kph on the 100 series highways that gains another 30km of range so now I only need ~4 hours of charging. I suppose if we get into Antigonish early enough we can park the car at the Arena for those 4 hours. Personally, I'd rather spend that time visiting with the family in Halifax before leaving there. My destination isn't Antigonish, it is only being used as a charging stop.

The wildcard is the L1 charging in Charlos Cove. At home we get 8km/h (dedicated circuit for charging) but at the rental resort in Northern Ontario we get about 5.5km/h (and it blows the breaker from time to time when the circuit other things use the circuit in the daytime.) So, while we be in Charlos Cove about 23 hours, we don't expect the car to be plugged in all that time and are expecting about 80km added range. If it is at the 8 and we could be plugged all 23 hours that would get us 184km and knock another 4 hours off the L3 charging. But we can't count on that.

My priority is visiting and I have no people in Antigonish but because Westville is a year late opening, I have no choice but to spend time in Antigonish instead of more time visiting with my people on the Eastern Shore.

If we weren't doing this on our way home, I'd do what someone else suggested, park the Tesla in Halifax and rent an ICE to go to Charlos Cove and back. Save time and possibly money (no need for the overnight in Antigonish.)
 
Are you suggesting parking my car at the Arena, leaving it there overnight and walking back to the hotel? It's only 1.2km so doable but inconvenient and I don't know if I can park overnight on municipal property.
Yes! 1200m is nothing.

2. Slow down how much? My 80% efficiency is based on traveling between 100 and 105 kph. Even if going 80kph gets me to 90% efficiency, that's only 30 more km range, so only cuts out 1 hour of the L2 charging. The trip between Charlos Cove and Aulac was always on secondary roads so expected speed of 80kph and built into my calculations. Slowing down more than that will certainly piss off the locals.
Air resistance is proportional to the square of the velocity. Slowing down by 20% means you will have more than a 20% improvement in efficiency. Just keep a mindful watch on your projected range and adjust accordingly.

3. L2 charging during supper is possible (we don't plan to leave Halifax until after lunch since it is only a 2.25 hour drive.) We can charge during lunch on the way to Aulac (which is not our final destination, there's still another 2.5 hours of driving that day). That makes up 2 hours of the 7 hours of L2 charging I expect I need.
All your L2 estimates seem to be predicated on 30A charging. Your car can take up to 48A. Take a good look at Plugshare to see if you can find some faster L2 options.
 
  • Helpful
Reactions: PLUS EV
Anybody take the Westville exit and notice any work happening at the Irving lately?
If nothing is heard beforehand, I might take a trip up at the end of the month and scout around a little.

TBH, I don’t expect to find any starts until the beginning of Sept, it’s just too close to the wrap up on New Mina’s for Spark to be able to fit Westville into their schedule. They do other work besides SC installs, and most businesses are busy with the summer rush / vacations right now.
 
Just back from a week visiting friends and family in Halifax. Decided to skip a planned visit to see our family in Sydney after seeing and hearing about crowds and wait times as the eCharge and Flo locations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia--very sad situation. Experienced a short wait at the Aulac supercharger, but was happy to see so many Teslas on their way to and from Nova Scotia. Also spotted at Aulac was a brand new Ford Lightning charging at the eCharge L3. While in Halifax, took advantage of the Flo L3s located at the BMW and Nissan dealerships, usually after hours. Both were available afterhours and were never blocked by a parked, not charging vehicle. These are the only working L3s located withing the Halifax Metro area other than the 20+ mile drive to Enfields Superchargers. Our eCharge card worked well with both Halifax Flo L3s. Side notes: Halifax was packed for Natal day weekend and we spotted a LOT of EVs throughout the week.
 
Just back from a week visiting friends and family in Halifax. Decided to skip a planned visit to see our family in Sydney after seeing and hearing about crowds and wait times as the eCharge and Flo locations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia--very sad situation. Experienced a short wait at the Aulac supercharger, but was happy to see so many Teslas on their way to and from Nova Scotia. Also spotted at Aulac was a brand new Ford Lightning charging at the eCharge L3. While in Halifax, took advantage of the Flo L3s located at the BMW and Nissan dealerships, usually after hours. Both were available afterhours and were never blocked by a parked, not charging vehicle. These are the only working L3s located withing the Halifax Metro area other than the 20+ mile drive to Enfields Superchargers. Our eCharge card worked well with both Halifax Flo L3s. Side notes: Halifax was packed for Natal day weekend and we spotted a LOT of EVs throughout the week.
Glad you had a fun time.

Most of the bottlenecking seems to be occurring along the way to Cape Breton, here in NS at least. We definitely need more DCFCs though, even if only more plugs at existing locations.
 
1660059758188.png

Tesla Find Us (as of Aug 9 2022)
 
It's really too bad that Baddeck was removed from the list.
Yeah sad news all around. I assumed they had their sights on the Irving that’s right on the highway, and TBH doesn’t seem like an ideal spot. more often than not I notice an accident there from either a vehicle slowing down to pull into the gas station or someone getting back on the highway and cutting someone off, and although I’ma slave to Tim Hortons every morning, the Irving isn’t a big stop so the amenities are just fair. The area is prime for a supercharger but I often wonder if Tesla is searching for a better location on the area.
 
Government supported chargers are getting nearer. One deadline is this Thursday.

The Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP) is a $680 million initiative ending in 2027 and its objective is to address the lack of charging and refuelling stations in Canada;

The Request for Proposals (RFP) focusing on public places, on-street, multi-unit residential buildings, workplaces and vehicle fleets is now open until August 11, 2022 (23:59 Eastern Daylight Time).

 
  • Like
Reactions: daveX2021
Yeah sad news all around. I assumed they had their sights on the Irving that’s right on the highway, and TBH doesn’t seem like an ideal spot. more often than not I notice an accident there from either a vehicle slowing down to pull into the gas station or someone getting back on the highway and cutting someone off, and although I’ma slave to Tim Hortons every morning, the Irving isn’t a big stop so the amenities are just fair. The area is prime for a supercharger but I often wonder if Tesla is searching for a better location on the area.
I haven't spent a lot of time in the area, but the Irving seemed like the most promising location. The only other place that came close was the Alexander Bell Centre, but it's way off the highway and already has destination chargers. The Flo L3 always had a lineup.
 
  • Like
Reactions: daveX2021