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Driving the Maritimes

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Gwgan

Almost a wagon
Aug 11, 2013
3,460
2,895
Maine
I took what came to be known as the Robot Car, the Model X, from midcoast Maine to St. John’s Newfoundland for five nights by way of the long ferry. It carried mostly two people and a dog, sometimes a third person, and a few times acted as shuttle for several adults.
The trip east was as quick as could be with problematic and sparse DC fast charging. Sat on a SunCountry EVSE for as long as possible before boarding the ferry and arrived in St. John’s with 5%. The return trip was more relaxed with two nights in NS—with several newly activated chademo stations, and two nights in NB—where the difficult station was more well behaved.

Some stats:
Total distance 1959 miles.
Total DC charging costs 128.64 CN, ~98 USD
Total time waiting on paid charging 9h 22m
In NL, before I was certain about staying on a free charger overnight, there was one overnight paid parking, cost about $10, with free slow charging.

The two longest legs, between home and first/last stop in Canada each used about 75% battery. This extrapolates out to 195 miles at 100% charge this time of year for this P90D with 56k miles on square set up 20” Nokian eNTYREs.

Difficulties:
Dog friendly hotels and destination charging rarely overlap.
A closing falcon wing door struck one passenger’s head (my fault).
The front passenger door did not like to fully open when car was parked on a hill.
The 12 volt battery warning appeared about half way through the trip.
The parking brake did not release on the first try, twice.

EV highlights:
No EV’s are being sold by local dealers in NF by consensus. There is an enthusiast organization to promote EV adoption and one of the principals installed a 14-50 so I could visit the land of my forefathers in the Tesla and now other EV’s can travel farther from the city.
Quality Tesla time with fellow early adopter (same guy).
Answered “how far can you go” and “how long does it take to charge” more times than I can count—there is groundswell interest!
One dozen chademo stations came online in Nova Scotia while I was in NL. New Brunswick already has many on the roads and Tesla will have a couple Superchargers before my next trip (and maybe some in Newfoundland too if the rumors are true).
 
I just returned from NS and I my plan was to charge at one ChaDeMo short of the last one needed because I worried about it being occupied. Had no problems but it was heaven to hit the Superchargers starting with Riviére du Loup.
Do you find the Loop SC a bit annoying to get at? It always irks me getting on/off the highway to get to it.
 
Do you find the Loop SC a bit annoying to get at? It always irks me getting on/off the highway to get to it.
Absolutely. Going east or coming from the east is really awkward. Have to go up the hill and through the old part of town, only made much worse by the construction that has been going on for a few years now (when is it ever going to be finished?), that makes you take all those little streets.
 
Thanks for the details! If we get our Model X by August (it will be tight) we will be driving from Sudbury to Portland, Maine, then getting on the Cat ferry to Yarmouth to see my inlaws. We were excited to see all the Flo chargers up and running now. Then driving back home through Digby, St.John, Quebec etc. I saw your X and comments on plugshare at some of the chargers.
 
Thanks for the details! If we get our Model X by August (it will be tight) we will be driving from Sudbury to Portland, Maine, then getting on the Cat ferry to Yarmouth to see my inlaws. We were excited to see all the Flo chargers up and running now. Then driving back home through Digby, St.John, Quebec etc. I saw your X and comments on plugshare at some of the chargers.
If you need another X to show off, gimme a shout. I don’t mind road tripping down for a little show and tell, or for a Tesla convoy. ;)
 
Didn't want to start a new thread...is this drive any better this year?
I'm planning to head out to cape breton in the summer but since the lack of chargers and dog friendly places to stay I am going to rent a car in Aulac and do cape breton that way for a week. From what I can see the supercharger distance throughout new brunswick to get to/from Aulac will be very tight, probably not doable on my S 85. Is a chademo adapter pretty much a must at this point?
 
Didn't want to start a new thread...is this drive any better this year?
I'm planning to head out to cape breton in the summer but since the lack of chargers and dog friendly places to stay I am going to rent a car in Aulac and do cape breton that way for a week. From what I can see the supercharger distance throughout new brunswick to get to/from Aulac will be very tight, probably not doable on my S 85. Is a chademo adapter pretty much a must at this point?

abetterrouteplanner.com says you should be able to do it in an S85. Though one stretch between Saint Leonard NB and Lincoln NB superchargers would be a little close if there was a headwind the whole way.

Edit: sorry i was looking at a different route through Canada, if you're going through Maine it'll be different I still suggest abetterrouteplanner.com
 
It is really tight. Ev trip planner says it is 69kwh between those two and I have 67kwh usable. I could slow down but that is really tight lol

Abetterrouteplanner estimates an S85 with 10% battery degradation uses 76% of its capacity from St-Leonard to Lincoln when traveling at 110 kph when the weather's good. I am surprised EV trip planner is so pessimistic. What do they say for rated kilometers?
 
No you were right that is the route I would take.
It is really tight. Ev trip planner says it is 69kwh between those two and I have 67kwh usable. I could slow down but that is really tight lol
Augment with the Tesla CHAdeMO adaptor & you won’t have to rent a car. You’ll be fine if your not in a hurry after Aulac with 50kw chargers in NB/NS.
 
Augment with the Tesla CHAdeMO adaptor & you won’t have to rent a car. You’ll be fine if your not in a hurry after Aulac with 50kw chargers in NB/NS.
Not only would I have to find dog friendly places to stay but also a destination charger or near a charger that I can walk to...pretty much impossible!
Canada not good for tesla road tripping yet, doing it in the US was easy and awesome.
 
From Saint léonard to Lincoln, you could make a stop in Woodstock. No Supercharger yet, but there is a nice BB with 2 destination chargers. If you call ahead they can fix you a nice lunch while you can get a few miles.
The Peak Sunset if my memory serves me well.
 
For information. Just got back from a trip to Nova Scotia and back. Even with the detour, due to the flooding, to Saint John and up to Fredericton along the west side of the Saint John River I did not have to use my Chademo adapter once. That is in my 2015 Model S 85D, so would be even easier in a newer Tesla with more range. And that was in April with temperatures about 3 to 8 degrees. Would be even easier in warmer weather.