Eastern Canada Superchargers

[RiverBrick]

Not Supercharger related, do not count on Montreal airport Marriott Courtyard destination charging until un unknown driver gets back from vacation. A Tesla has been "charging" there for two weeks.

Charging protocol/etiquette when charging at hotels?

 

[Doug_G]

I agree that the Supercharging strategy is a bit wacky but I recall I first learned of it when the Tesla Supercharger team did their very first 'high speed' crossing of the USA, which they did once the density of Superchargers was in place to allow such a thing. Specifically, I recall their (admittedly risky) strategy was to always stay in the bottom part of the battery with minimal buffer with a goal to minimize their total charging time across the full coast to coast trip. I recall they would often get into Superchargers with (admittedly non-Doug G approved) battery levels of just 10-20 miles as a rule. Each charge was as quick as possible and they ran they math every time to account for temp/wind/altitude/rain to try to make it work. Wacky!

I also remember reading that when they were ahead of the game on energy they'd treat themselves to running the sound system for a bit.



Seriously? Tesla spreading misinformation about their own technology? The radio might just use enough power on a long trip to reduce your range by a hundred feet.

 

[Doug_G]

It is entirely true that charging power in kW is greater at lower (but not lowest) state of charge and decreases as battery becomes more full.

On our long supercharger trips, we range charge to 100% to start, and then drive as rapidly as laws (and sense) allows till the next charging location, however, if the opportunity to skip a station is available, there is a decision that potentially needs to be made, slow down and skip a charger, or not. Generally, I skip if I can get to a charger with 15% SOC (on a Tesla S85) at goodly enough speed (note the bold). If I cannot maintain speed by skipping, I stop at the next charger, as it is almost always true that the charging rate is greater than the travel speed in my experience.

We also range charge at superchargers when we are taking a long break such as lunch, dinner or a nerf football game in the parking lot. ;-) We never range charge if we don't have to though, as that is a time waste if you need to get on the road.

My family travel rules : Always range charge to 100% before starting a long supercharger enabled trip, and for long stops (as above) and range charge whenever you stay at a destination charger overnight.

We have range charged our 2013 Tesla S 85 hundreds of times, and have almost no battery degradation (<3%) after ~100,000 km.

Major thumbs up. That's how you do it!

 

[SluyterCapital]

It is entirely true that charging power in kW is greater at lower (but not lowest) state of charge and decreases as battery becomes more full.

On our long supercharger trips, we range charge to 100% to start, and then drive as rapidly as laws (and sense) allows till the next charging location, however, if the opportunity to skip a station is available, there is a decision that potentially needs to be made, slow down and skip a charger, or not. Generally, I skip if I can get to a charger with 15% SOC (on a Tesla S85) at goodly enough speed (note the bold). If I cannot maintain speed by skipping, I stop at the next charger, as it is almost always true that the charging rate is greater than the travel speed in my experience.

We also range charge at superchargers when we are taking a long break such as lunch, dinner or a nerf football game in the parking lot. ;-) We never range charge if we don't have to though, as that is a time waste if you need to get on the road.

My family travel rules : Always range charge to 100% before starting a long supercharger enabled trip, and for long stops (as above) and range charge whenever you stay at a destination charger overnight.

We have range charged our 2013 Tesla S 85 hundreds of times, and have almost no battery degradation (<3%) after ~100,000 km.

I totally agree. We did Ottawa to Miami and back over the past two months. We have gotten comfortable with leaving any supercharger (temperature, wind and elevation considered) with 10% estimate upon next Supercharger arrival. If that number decreases while we travel then we slow down a tad. If that number increases then we are free to go faster. If there are temperature, wind or elevation changes that we are driving into we then go to 15%. Winter driving throws all this out the window and we go to 30%. Preheating and fully charged is almost a must.

Most Superchargers are located in or near Hotels so we stay there and always leave full at 100%. We plan our stops around meals so a long trip only really requires maybe 1 or 2 non sleep or eating stops. The trip was wonderful.

Our 2013 P85 gets rated range when travelling 75 mph. After 60,000 km I fully charge to 402km and 90% to 367km

 

[Drone Flyer]

I totally agree. We did Ottawa to Miami and back over the past two months. We have gotten comfortable with leaving any supercharger (temperature, wind and elevation considered) with 10% estimate upon next Supercharger arrival. If that number decreases while we travel then we slow down a tad. If that number increases then we are free to go faster. If there are temperature, wind or elevation changes that we are driving into we then go to 15%. Winter driving throws all this out the window and we go to 30%. Preheating and fully charged is almost a must.

Most Superchargers are located in or near Hotels so we stay there and always leave full at 100%. We plan our stops around meals so a long trip only really requires maybe 1 or 2 non sleep or eating stops. The trip was wonderful.

Our 2013 P85 gets rated range when travelling 75 mph. After 60,000 km I fully charge to 402km and 90% to 367km

My 2016 75D gets 407 and 365 km respectively.
Newer technology in battery construction is obviously improving.

 

[hingisfan]

My 2016 75D gets 407 and 365 km respectively.
Newer technology in battery construction is obviously improving.

Wow that's awesome! My RWD 60 only gets 284 at 90%.

 

[iKhalid]

Wow that's awesome! My RWD 60 only gets 284 at 90%.

At least you're luckier than me! Mine gets 272 @ 90%.

 

[vandacca]

Those discrepancies are all over the map...something sounds fishy to me. Could 365 km be "ideal" range and the other two (284 km and 272 km) be "rated" range?

 

[hingisfan]

Those discrepancies are all over the map...something sounds fishy to me. Could 365 km be "ideal" range and the other two (284 km and 272 km) be "rated" range?

Rated for my 284 @ 90%

 

[Drone Flyer]

Those discrepancies are all over the map...something sounds fishy to me. Could 365 km be "ideal" range and the other two (284 km and 272 km) be "rated" range?

No, these are all rated range estimates upon reading the figures after charging.
So, 365 rated really means about 300 under regular conditions.
More like 250 in the cold Winter.

 

[RiverBrick]

Complete power outage at Rivière du Loup SC since 9:41pm Monday as per Tesla. Tech on the way but not until Wednesday.

I left Fredericton at 9am and will be there by 1pm. Thankfully there's a CHAdeMO station nearby.

I saw your report that it's back up, thanks. Some poor guy had just purchased a Tesla and was Supercharging for just the 1st or second time when the stations went down. He said he plugged in, then after about 15 seconds the charging stopped and the red Tesla lights on all the stalls went dark.

Traveling to the Atlantic provinces is a bit like entering a time machine. Little improvement to charging infrastructure since 2012-2013 when Kent Rathwell set up the Sun Country highway and drove his Roadster coast-to-coast.

There are a lot more L2 now in New Brunswick, but mostly 30A.

 

[rypalmer]

Some poor guy had just purchased a Tesla and was Supercharging for just the 1st or second time when the stations went down. He said he plugged in, then after about 15 seconds the charging stopped and the red Tesla lights on all the stalls went dark.

So HE was the one that broke it. No wonder he didn't report it on Plugshare.

You're right regarding the lack of improvements in charging infrastructure. The one exception I'd note is that Tesla has paid for many destination chargers, especially in NB. Not only for the hardware, but also the installation. It's very easy to get a hotel room for cheap with 48A charging compared to every other province I've driven through.

I'll be writing a sternly worded letter to Add Energie / Circuit electrique / Flo soon outlining a case for 48A chargers as a minimum when payment is accepted. 30A is WAY TOO LOW in cold climates.

 

[Phillip L]

So HE was the one that broke it. No wonder he didn't report it on Plugshare.

You're right regarding the lack of improvements in charging infrastructure. The one exception I'd note is that Tesla has paid for many destination chargers, especially in NB. Not only for the hardware, but also the installation. It's very easy to get a hotel room for cheap with 48A charging compared to every other province I've driven through.

I'll be writing a sternly worded letter to Add Energie / Circuit electrique / Flo soon outlining a case for 48A chargers as a minimum when payment is accepted. 30A is WAY TOO LOW in cold climates.

At 30A you can stay for 8-9 hours overnight and still not be fully charged in the morning. Need 40 A minimum to be fully charged, if you are close to empty, and that is what I try to do to get as far as possible before crashing for the night.

 

[SmartElectric]

At 30A you can stay for 8-9 hours overnight and still not be fully charged in the morning

Indeed.

The nature of the voltage at non-residential locations is 208V charging which provides 50kW of power over 8 hours. Residential 240V 30A is 58kW. Of course, these are theoretical rates, we know there is charging losses and vampire drain, so 40A@208Vx8h=66kW, much closer to the 74kW storage available in a Tesla S85.

Of course, a 30A@208Vx10h produces 62kW, which is generally enough for an "overnight" stay given a late arrival, sleeping 8h and having breakfast. So, while it's technically true 30A isn't sufficient, in practical terms, I have never had an issue or concern with 30A charging at the dozens of "destination charging" locations I've visited.

YMMV

 

[rypalmer]

Going from 10% to 100% on a ~70kWh battery in 8 hours also coincides with a typical work day. On three phase power this is about 42 amps. Hence my 48 amp recommendation.

I DONT CARE ABOUT FREE CHARGING. CHARGE ME FOR CHARGING BUT GIVE ME THE BIG AMPS BABY!! GO BIG OR GO HOME.

/rant

 

[Doug_G]

At 30A you can stay for 8-9 hours overnight and still not be fully charged in the morning. Need 40 A minimum to be fully charged, if you are close to empty, and that is what I try to do to get as far as possible before crashing for the night.

I've had the experience. Really 40A is a minimum for reliable overnight charging.

 

[rypalmer]

I'll be writing a sternly worded letter to Add Energie / Circuit electrique / Flo soon outlining a case for 48A chargers as a minimum when payment is accepted. 30A is WAY TOO LOW in cold climates.

Flo got back to me today.

They said they are working on higher powered L2 chargers with the "Natural Resources Canada a $6.7 million contribution" they received in February.

 

[Aussie Bob]

Major thumbs up. That's how you do it!

View attachment 219232

That's what we did on our recent trip to Virginia. We also need to rest every two hours anyway so we charge as much as possible and sometimes our App tells the car is ready before we are!

 

[Chrisizzle]

Ugh. Midnight in Toronto and I got the 8th and final stall. Can't see anyone else sitting in the cars and two are still wrapped in plastic.

Inventory / service car frustration.

Chris Owen Halper on Twitter

 

[Chrisizzle]

Photo for my comment above. At least two inventory/service vehicles plugged in at midnight in Toronto.