Just completed a road trip in my 2013-era 'old school' 60 all the way to Woodstock, NB. A few observations after hitting Superchargers in Kingston/Cornwall/Drummondville and using Sun Country (with various odds and sods the rest of the way):
1. Superchargers really rock. Obvious statement but my experience has been they work just as advertised, even in a 60. That means you can generally (in the summer) stop at each one for only about 20-30 minutes (if you are starting from low numbers like 10-20 kms...sorry Doug G, we cut it close), fill to 200-ish and burn to the next one. The stop time is just right to get a coffee, walk a dog, have a stretch. I travelled with wife, two kids and dog and it worked great.
2. Sun Country work, but... I've used a lot of Sun Country in the 2 1/2 years I've had this car and they really are a saviour for those that chose to go further afield, and don't mind the wait. However, the minor challenges come up with places like Riviere du Loup (yes, I know the SC is coming soon), where you are likely to have to complete with others staying the night as there is usually only one charger per location and you have to go out late at night to move your car, or whatever. This happened to us twice. I wish places would install two minimum, but hey one is better than nothing. Also, it is challenging in places like Edmunston where they have an awesome set-up to do a quick top up charge, but there aren't really options to support the location by having lunch as their is no restaurant (unless I missed it). Sometimes I wish I could just pay $5 right on the machine (or email payment?) to the location so that that could see I'm not an el cheapo (although we always give props via PlugShare at least).
3. There are lot of new Teslas in Canada! I was surprised how many people I met that got their cars in the last few months, or one in case just last Friday and immediately did a road trip to get it out! Canada is heating up, so I really hope the big holes in the SC map like Cobourg/Riviere du Loup/Quebec City/Niagara(?) get filled soon to get ready for all those fancy Model Xs coming.
4. Quebec loves Tesla! I could not believe how many thumbs ups, compliments, looks we got in Quebec. We saw a lot of them on the road too, so clearly Quebec is a real haven for Tesla.
5. Tesla Destination Chargers - I wish Tesla would make a very strong suggestion (maybe they already do?) that all locations that advertise as Destination Chargers must be true 80 amp. It is very disappointing to have a car with twin chargers and then find a 40 amp spot (like Hotel Sepia in QC) showing as 'up to 80 amp' on the Tesla website. Again, maybe I'm missing something here, and I know you will all correct me if I'm wrong.
6. Theory as to why Superchargers take so long in Canada - After seeing the SCs in Drummondville, but more specifically in Kingston, it occurs to me that part of Tesla's master plan with SCs must really be to find locations that, ideally, are brand new and can be built up with high capacity electric infrastructure built in from the ground up. It takes a lot of juice to power an SC, and you see with Kingston that the outlet mall location is net new and clearly built with fully modern power infrastructure in place including huge transformers, etc. It seems to me that the lead time to build a new outlet mall would be in years, not months, timeframe and it would not surprise me at all if Tesla starts the negotiation process very early with those developers planning new stuff in Canada to ensure they build in the right hardware from the get-go. Even better for the developer (as is clearly the case in Kingston) they are buying into the 'aspirational' element of the Tesla brand that plays out very nicely by plopping some stalls right in the middle of 'aspirational' outlet mall. Looking at it from the perpective of the developer, the brand/customer fit is a dead match...not necessarily in terms of actual Tesla car buyers, but people who really wish they could own one! So, using Cobourg as an example, this makes me think Tesla might be waiting to see which developer is currently working with whichever developer is currently working on a new mall there (cause there's always another new mall, right?) to build Tesla in from the get go...which basically mean the timeline for us to get our SC is dependent upon the developer timeline to build the mall itself, not on Tesla's ability to get new ones in as fast as humanly possible.
So, in short, road tripping in the summer with a Tesla is great. Smooth, relaxing and fun. The only way to make winter trips the same (I have also gone out to New Brunswick in the winter...before Superchargers existed and it was complete torture with bad/cold weather) is to have Superchargers every 100 kms on the Trans Canada. I look forward to that day.
