Eastern Canada Superchargers

[mknox]

Of interest. It looks like they plan for a 277/480 Volt transformer. In Squamish, they had to accept the 346/600 Canadian standard and then put in another transformer to convert that to 277/480 that the Superchargers want.

I noticed that too. at the Toronto Supercharger, the utility provided a 347/600v supply and Tesla installed a step-down transformer inside the wooden fence compound. Will have to ask one of my contacts at Kingston Utilities about this.

 

[Aussie Bob]

Pleased to see plans as visited potential site in September. Many potential rest spots available nearby while car is charging.

 

[RichardC]

***KINGSTON UPDATE***

Ok, here we go...here is a link to very detailed drawings of the project. I uploaded it to my softball website, I have the flu and can't think straight, (and I don't upload files very often).

http://www.freewebs.com/kingston3pi...100 - REV 2 (S&S)(CITY COMMENTS) 09-19-14.pdf

Looks like it will be 6 stalls for now at least. The 6 stalls in a line, but 3 parking spots on either side of the curb. They are putting the transformer and switch over beside an existing transformer, and then running power lines in the ground quite a ways to the SC cabinet and stalls location. It will be very obvious to see when they start.

My planning contact says it has no need to go through the approval process and is ready to go. She also gave me the Tesla contact who is heading up this site and I have left a voicemail with them. Hopefully they call me back and we can get some rough timelines from Tesla.

Very exciting! Hope to see ground broken soon! I'll pop by next week and take a look....was just there a few days ago and nothing.

Thanks very much. Great news.

I note that this has not yet been reflected on: http://supercharge.info/

We look forward to some further news on the expected go-live date!

 

[Peter_M]

Fantastic news! Sounds like we'll see ground-breaking very soon! I'll drop by the site on Sunday and post if anything is happening.

One thing: I sure hope the signs on page 11 of the plans are just examples and not what they actually plan to use! "Electric Vehicle parking" and "30 minute parking" won't do anything to prevent ICEing. The signs need to say "No parking except for electric vehicle charging" and have the standard red and black no parking symbol.

 

[RiverBrick]

I heard that the new Montreal store/service center will have Superchargers, so the report is at least somewhat credible.

I heard that as well a while back, but since then Tesla was delayed starting basic work on the new location due to permitting issues. The current word is that they're going all out to make up for lost time in order to open the store/service center in January. Then, once the place is up and running they'll sit back and analyze the feasibility of an on-site Supercharger.

One hindrance is that though the showroom and service bay are large, the outside lot is on the small side. This picture is from Google StreetView. The paid-parking lot on the left is not a part of the TM property and there's only a single-lane alley where it says "Service reception" on the right.

 

[Doug_G]

Wow, the building itself looks okay but the effect of the overstuffed parking lot and crude lawn display is to make the place look like a dump.

Is there more space behind the building?

 

[mrElbe]

Looks like way more space than the Toronto Service location. And they were able to squeeze in the Superchargers.
That sidewalk in the Street View looks like a disaster.

 

[Kalud]

This is how it looked 3 weeks ago. I might snap a pic next week...

I also found it quite hard to imagine a Supercharger there... Maybe in the back of the building...

 

[FrozenCanuck]

I haven't checked this thread in a few days and I'm really pumped about that Kingston location! Fan-frikkin-tastic news to see a SC going right beside the 401 like that. Talk about opening up Toronto-Ottawa and Toronto-Montreal even during the cold winter season. This is awesome. So nice to see it's well beyond rumour now.

Thanks for posting those details!

 

[Doug_G]

There originally was a Supercharger map dot in the Trenton area. Wonder why it went away?

So Google Maps says its 256 km from the Kingston Supercharger to the Lawrence Supercharger. If it's -20C you're still going to have to be a bit careful.

Nominal "Rated Range" of 424 kilometers is readily achievable at about 95 kph in summer conditions (mileage may vary... but don't go with the "ideal range" numbers!). Let's speed up from 95 kph to a fairly common 120 kph, reducing range to 78%, or 330 km. Now let's take 80% of that due to cold winter conditions; we're at 264 km. At this point we have almost no safety margin... I always recommend a 30 km buffer. Oh, and suppose you don't want to wait for a full range change, which takes quite a while. Knock off another 10% and we're at 238 km - well short of the destination.

So the Kingston Supercharger absolutely enables travel along the 401 corridor, but it's not "business as usual" driving under all conditions. Keep an eye on your consumption in winter!

 

[rapoport3a]

This may spur me to go to Montréal sooner rather than later.

Mike and I are still waiting for action west of Toronto, or in Michigan (that Tesla-friendly state). I'm looking at a trip that's 312 km between charges, no significant elevation change. Don't know if that's feasible in cold weather with a side of rain or snow. I don't drive at 120 km/h, would be happy with 100–105 if it would get me where I need to get. Any thoughts? Thx . . .

 

[Doug_G]

That's definitely pushing the envelope in extreme winter conditions. I've done a road trip in a full-blown blizzard at -20C, and 300 km was right about the limit when going 80-90 kph, not 100.

If I needed to go 300 km in the winter, with no backup charging opportunities, I wouldn't leave if there was both a blizzard and extreme cold. I'd do 250 km no problem, but I'd still be keeping an eye on my power draw.

 

[rapoport3a]

Thanks, Doug. I should have added I'm looking at mid-November.

 

[RiverBrick]

Is there more space behind the building?

I think there's no space between the coming service center/store and its backside neighbor. Here are some pics from Tuesday. Be forewarned, you don't see much more than in Kalud's photo from a few weeks ago. The grassy area has been paved over, but I didn't capture that. There were very few vehicles on the property besides the black pick-up and I didn't see any logo identifying a contractor.

Looking down the alley towards the service bay entrance.

This last photo is taken from a neighbor's lot. It's only point is to show that the paper meant to keep the renovations private was peeling back in two spots. I admit to being a bit indiscreet by peeking in. The inside was very raw. They look to still be in the tear-down phase.

 

[Doug_G]

Thanks, Doug. I should have added I'm looking at mid-November.

You should be fine. Just keep an eye on your power consumption/range. We're getting a bit off-topic... but anyway here's the best way to do that:

1. Bring up the Energy App and set it to Average mode (it stupidly keeps defaulting to the useless instantaneous mode).
2. I usually set 10 km for the graph; that way your driving for the last 10 km is factored into the Projected Range figure.
3. Now bring up Navigation alongside the Energy App. Set your destination. (You can mute the audio if it annoys you.)
4. Observe the Distance-to-Go display in the navigation.
5. Make sure the Projected Range is at least 30 km more than the Distance-to-Go (or whatever your safety margin is)
6. If you start seeing the difference between those numbers drop, slow down!

It's best to get a handle on your energy consumption very early in the trip. Anything you do to save range will have much more effect if you do it from the beginning of your trip!

Tips on saving energy:

1. Slow down. 5 kph makes a huge difference.
2. Reduce cabin heat.
3. Crank up the seat heaters so you can reduce cabin heat more.
4. Preheat the car using the remote app while plugged in before you depart. This warms the battery and the cabin.
5. See #1
6. See #1

Don't worry about the radio, headlights, wipers, seat heaters, etc. They take negligible amounts of energy.

Reducing speed is more effective than turning off the heat. No need to freeze your butt unless you're in big trouble... in which case you weren't paying attention.

Preheating is extremely important. If the cabin and battery pack are fully cold soaked, you could be using 12 kW standing still. The preheat runs for 30 minutes; in extreme cold, restart it for a full hour.

One more thing - in cold conditions the car will take more energy when you first start up, even if you preheated. Don't be too alarmed, it will improve as the car warms up. One thing Tesla doesn't tell you is there's a heat pump, which uses the drive train as a heat sink. Once the motor has warmed up to operating temperature your cabin heater energy consumption will really drop.

 

[notailpipe2112]

I'll back up Doug here yet again. The SC dot in Trenton/Cobourg needs to come back for the reasons mentioned here. I've driven my 60 all the way the east coast of Canada, and to New York City. Both trips were in the dead of winter (Christmas and March Break respectively) and we saw snow, high wind and temps up to -20. Those trips were all about Sun Country, going slow and watching the numbers. I'm hoping regular winter trips on the 401 will soon be about Superchargers, waiting 20 minutes while having a coffee and EVEN more pride in owning a cutting edge car. Telsa! Please bring back Trenton/Cobourg for the reasons of safety and convenience!!!

There originally was a Supercharger map dot in the Trenton area. Wonder why it went away?

So Google Maps says its 256 km from the Kingston Supercharger to the Lawrence Supercharger. If it's -20C you're still going to have to be a bit careful.

Nominal "Rated Range" of 424 kilometers is readily achievable at about 95 kph in summer conditions (mileage may vary... but don't go with the "ideal range" numbers!). Let's speed up from 95 kph to a fairly common 120 kph, reducing range to 78%, or 330 km. Now let's take 80% of that due to cold winter conditions; we're at 264 km. At this point we have almost no safety margin... I always recommend a 30 km buffer. Oh, and suppose you don't want to wait for a full range change, which takes quite a while. Knock off another 10% and we're at 238 km - well short of the destination.

So the Kingston Supercharger absolutely enables travel along the 401 corridor, but it's not "business as usual" driving under all conditions. Keep an eye on your consumption in winter!

 

[Jaff]

So Google Maps says its 256 km from the Kingston Supercharger to the Lawrence Supercharger. If it's -20C you're still going to have to be a bit careful.

This ^^^, plus the fact that traffic from the 407 or 401 down the DVP to Lawrence St. is SO MISERABLE, is why, imo, another stop between Kingston and Toronto is needed...if Cobourg had a Super Charger, than that alleviates the "white knuckle" effect of the winter Toronto to Kingston run, AND allows those starting their journey west of Hamilton to bypass the Toronto SC (and it's miserable traffic) completely and recharge at Cobourg...

 

[Duckjybe]

This ^^^, plus the fact that traffic from the 407 or 401 down the DVP to Lawrence St. is SO MISERABLE, is why, imo, another stop between Kingston and Toronto is needed...if Cobourg had a Super Charger, than that alleviates the "white knuckle" effect of the winter Toronto to Kingston run, AND allows those starting their journey west of Hamilton to bypass the Toronto SC (and it's miserable traffic) completely and recharge at Cobourg...

Yes please!!!!

 

[PoweredByRain]

Nominal "Rated Range" of 424 kilometers is readily achievable at about 95 kph in summer conditions

I think that's a bit pessimistic - I managed 400 km with 40 km range shown as remaining during the summer Ottawa-Toronto, and for most of the trip I was doing 100 km/h - but I agree with the rest of what you said. Certainly you need to start with pessimistic assumptions, and keep an eye on those two numbers, as Doug described - the estimated distance remaining vs the estimated remaining range. If the remaining range starts decreasing faster, then you need to go slower, or start thinking of charging before the destination!

Somewhere to charge outside of Toronto, which allows completely bypassing Toronto, would be really nice. But Tesla might be thinking of just enabling the route first, before making things "nice". There's been infill in other cases - look at Las Vegas for a prime example. And that issue was only dealt with a couple of months ago on one side (St George), and the improvement on the other side (Primm, NV) is under construction.

 

[Beckler]

Remember you're all still in the early-adopter phase. In 5 years when everyone else is in a Model 3, there will be more supercharger locations than you know what to do with.