Wiki Canadian Trip Planning

[Zapped]

CHARGERS JASPER,AB and EDSON, AB
Is anyone aware of plans to put EV charger(s) in Jasper, AB
Banff has 5 or 6 ( correct me if there's more ) and Jasper has none ( according to PlugShare )
The scenery between Jasper and Banff is amazing and would be a great trip in an EV. ( 288 km)

Now to get to Edmonton (360km) , a charger on Hwy 16 would be required also . ( unless you're fully charge with a Model S 85 in Jasper )

 

[pairtrader]

Now to get the Edmonton (360km) , a charger on Hwy 16 would be required also . ( unless you're fully charge with a Model S 85 in Jasper )

I called around in April when I considered taking the north route to Edmonton from Vancouver and I found a campground in Niton Junction, AB that claimed to have had several EVs charge there. 30A if I remember corrrectly. Sorry, can't remember which campground, but there are only a few there. It was very close to the highway. The trouble with relying on campgrounds and RV parks along that route is that most do not open until the middle or end of May.

 

[Cottonwood]

I called around in April when I considered taking the north route to Edmonton from Vancouver and I found a campground in Niton Junction, AB that claimed to have had several EVs charge there. 30A if I remember corrrectly. Sorry, can't remember which campground, but there are only a few there. It was very close to the highway. The trouble with relying on campgrounds and RV parks along that route is that most do not open until the middle or end of May.

Remember that 30A RV outlets are only 120V. With the correct adapter(s), you can get 20A of charge current on an older S and 24A on a newer S. Best case, 120V*24A is only 2.88 kW or 8-9 mph of charge rate. You could need a long time there if you need many miles in your battery...

50A RV outlets are 240V and those will give you upwards of 28 mph charge rate. 3x faster charging on a 50A RV outlet is a big deal!

 

[pairtrader]

Remember that 30A RV outlets are only 120V. With the correct adapter(s), you can get 20A of charge current on an older S and 24A on a newer S. Best case, 120V*24A is only 2.88 kW or 8-9 mph of charge rate. You could need a long time there if you need many miles in your battery...

50A RV outlets are 240V and those will give you upwards of 28 mph charge rate. 3x faster charging on a 50A RV outlet is a big deal!

Thanks Cottonwood. I drove down the Oregon coast and used 50A RV sites and your numbers sound accurate. I had trouble using the 30A outlets though. I thought I had the correct adapter, but it didn't quite fit. Someone mentioned to me that owners have been bending the prongs slightly to plug in. Do you find that your 30A adapter connects easily? I'd like to get it working for my next trip since 30A sites are more common that 50A sites.

 

[m1ker]

Calgary to Kimberley. Has anyone done this? We are hoping to do this trip in March; our first longer range trip with the Tesla. It's 276KM from our house to Fernie (Crows nest pass route) where I'm hoping to charge up at their Sun Country CS-90 (68A@229V) while we grab dinner, and then carry on to Kimberly.

At kimberley we would charge from a wall plug for 2.5 days which should get us to a fully charged battery for the return trip, AMD same stop in Fernie for the long push home.

Everything I've read and seen indicates it's very doable. I'll call Fernie to confirm their charger is operational before we go. Has anyone done this trip?

 

[pairtrader]

Calgary to Kimberley. Has anyone done this? We are hoping to do this trip in March; our first longer range trip with the Tesla. It's 276KM from our house to Fernie (Crows nest pass route) where I'm hoping to charge up at their Sun Country CS-90 (68A@229V) while we grab dinner, and then carry on to Kimberly.

At kimberley we would charge from a wall plug for 2.5 days which should get us to a fully charged battery for the return trip, AMD same stop in Fernie for the long push home.

Everything I've read and seen indicates it's very doable. I'll call Fernie to confirm their charger is operational before we go. Has anyone done this trip?

I'm assuming you're going in March to ski, but if you end up going in April, there are 50A chargers at RV parks that can be very useful, but are not shown on Plugshare.
Kimberley Riverside Campground

I used RV parks all the way down the West Coast past L.A. and found them to be very common and reliable. Seasonal closing is the issue here in Canada.

 

[m1ker]

I'm assuming you're going in March to ski, but if you end up going in April, there are 50A chargers at RV parks that can be very useful, but are not shown on Plugshare.
Kimberley Riverside Campground

I used RV parks all the way down the West Coast past L.A. and found them to be very common and reliable. Seasonal closing is the issue here in Canada.

Thanks pairtrader. Yes it will be in March for skiing. I'm looking forward to the trip!

 

[bsd]

At kimberley we would charge from a wall plug for 2.5 days which should get us to a fully charged battery for the return trip, AMD same stop in Fernie for the long push home.

I haven't done any parts of your trip, but I have trickle charged the car on two trips from a 110V/15A socket. One trip was successful, but I was charging over 5 days. The other trip was not so successful (2.5 days but with poor wiring). Just be prepared to get half of what you expect. It may be worth checking if there's a 14-50 that you could charge from instead.

 

[m1ker]

I haven't done any parts of your trip, but I have trickle charged the car on two trips from a 110V/15A socket. One trip was successful, but I was charging over 5 days. The other trip was not so successful (2.5 days but with poor wiring). Just be prepared to get half of what you expect. It may be worth checking if there's a 14-50 that you could charge from instead.

How many KM/hr were you able to get from the 110V/15A socket? Is anyone here using a NEMA 14-50 extension cord.

 

[Zapped]

Only got 1 km / hr at a hotel in downtown Vancouver using 110V/15A. Ended up leaving my car parked down the street at a public EV station with 220V for the night.

 

[bsd]

How many KM/hr were you able to get from the 110V/15A socket? Is anyone here using a NEMA 14-50 extension cord.

I vaguely recall only having added 40-50km's range after 1.5 days. This was in Montreal in the summer. Like Zapped, I ended up charging it overnight at a Nissan dealership.

 

[pairtrader]

Only got 1 km / hr at a hotel in downtown Vancouver using 110V/15A. Ended up leaving my car parked down the street at a public EV station with 220V for the night.

This is interesting. I've never charged slower than 6km/hr. I always used that number as my worst case scenario, but I guess that's not the case.

 

[mibaro2]

This is interesting. I've never charged slower than 6km/hr. I always used that number as my worst case scenario, but I guess that's not the case.

I've gotten worse than 6km/hr. Mostly on old outlets, or using an extension cord. I got 1km/hr yesterday
using an extension cord on an old 110v outlet. (was doing a Tesla show for my company, so was just for show). I turned on the cabin heater, and was charging negatively..first time I had seen that!

 

[Doug_G]

In extreme cold you will get no charge whatsoever from a 110V outlet, because all the energy goes into the pack heater. As it gets colder you get less and less range, and eventually none.

In fact with early firmware releases you could actually lose range while plugged into 110V at -20C. Tesla had to do a firmware mod to prevent that from happening.

 

[mknox]

In extreme cold you will get no charge whatsoever from a 110V outlet, because all the energy goes into the pack heater. As it gets colder you get less and less range, and eventually none.

Last week, I stayed for two nights at a hotel in London, ON. All they had was a 120v wall outlet, but I plugged in as soon as I arrived and when the battery was presumably warm from the drive. The temp dropped well below freezing that night (and the next) and got to maybe the freezing mark during the day. I was able to maintain 3 miles/5 km of range per hour for my complete stay and added over 115 miles/185 km during my stay.

I would imagine that if I had let the car cold soak before plugging in, say the next day or something, that I would have chewed up a lot of time and power just getting the battery warm again. I imagine it would also be a lot worse if the temps were a lot below freezing, and not just a little below as in my case. In any event, I was happy with what I got.

 

[Doug_G]

Last week, I stayed for two nights at a hotel in London, ON. All they had was a 120v wall outlet, but I plugged in as soon as I arrived and when the battery was presumably warm from the drive. The temp dropped well below freezing that night (and the next) and got to maybe the freezing mark during the day. I was able to maintain 3 miles/5 km of range per hour for my complete stay and added over 115 miles/185 km during my stay.

I would imagine that if I had let the car cold soak before plugging in, say the next day or something, that I would have chewed up a lot of time and power just getting the battery warm again. I imagine it would also be a lot worse if the temps were a lot below freezing, and not just a little below as in my case. In any event, I was happy with what I got.

I said "extreme cold", e.g. -20C and colder. The car will charge at 0C but it will be a bit slower. I'm not sure at exactly what temperature charging stops working.

 

[mknox]

I said "extreme cold", e.g. -20C and colder. The car will charge at 0C but it will be a bit slower. I'm not sure at exactly what temperature charging stops working.

For sure. The point I was trying to make in my roundabout way was that plugging in to a 120 volt outlet with a fully warmed battery may have helped, since none of the energy had to be wasted heating the battery up and, perhaps, the steady 1 kW or so of power charging the battery was enough to keep it warm for the duration.

 

[RiverBrick]

For Canadian hotel charging, roulezelectrique pointed out this press release: http://www.groupegermain.com/en/pressreleases/index/keywords:charging

Cliffs: The Germain group, owner of about 15 hotels in Canada, is officially a Tesla destination charging partner. Currently, 4-5 of their properties offer guests both HPWC and J1772. In addition, J1772 is available at their Halifax location and charging stations are planned for the group's other properties.

 

[KenN]

Looking for some thoughts on a Vancouver-Kelowna run. Charging at Hope is a no-brainer, but does anyone have experience on how much charge you need to leave Hope with to ensure no problems on the Hope-Kelowna leg?

It's only 239 km, but of course there is a LOT of climbing up to the summit around the Brenda Mine area. After that it's all downhill/regen so no worries. Can it be done on, say 360 km rated range (my current 90% charge), or will the last few km of ascent cause me a panic attack? Maybe pop into Merritt for a half our of juice from the CS-90 there?

Edit: I'm interested in figures for both summer and winter driving.

 

[dasRad]

Looking for some thoughts on a Vancouver-Kelowna run. Charging at Hope is a no-brainer, but does anyone have experience on how much charge you need to leave Hope with to ensure no problems on the Hope-Kelowna leg?

It's only 239 km, but of course there is a LOT of climbing up to the summit around the Brenda Mine area. After that it's all downhill/regen so no worries. Can it be done on, say 360 km rated range (my current 90% charge), or will the last few km of ascent cause me a panic attack? Maybe pop into Merritt for a half our of juice from the CS-90 there?

Edit: I'm interested in figures for both summer and winter driving.

See here for data that I've seen over 3 trips this fall. It will cost you 30% more in the winter than it does in the summer. The biggest variable from one day to the next is probably the wind strength and direction. Cutting your speed from the posted speeds of 120 km/h to, say, 90 km/h will result in 40% less wind resistance (on a calm day) and a considerable energy savings (see nleggatt's post).

In the winter I wouldn't leave Merritt with less than 200 km of rated range if you want to make it into Kelowna comfortably. On 11 November 2014, we left the Bailey House in Merritt with 190 km of rated range and arrived home (10 km past the the floating bridge) with -1km of rated range.

A range charge in Hope when headed east (or in Kelowna when headed west) should be good in winter conditions, but do a check at the intersection of 97C and 5 and decide if you want to stop into Merritt for a top up. That's with an S85.