Supercharger - Niagara Falls, ON

[sakimano]

Does Supercharging really matter for Porsche? I continue to believe that people who spend > $100k on a vehicle have no interest in driving over 400km. Which is also why that Supercharging didn't matter as much for Tesla at first when it catered to enthusiasts and the 0.1%.

You really think people with nice cars aren't interested in long drives? How do you think they're getting to Muskoka on Friday...helo? Or Tremblant? Or Tobermory?

I have a P90D and drive it 400kms a day about once a month. The car was $160,000 new. I've taken it on numerous 1000 km road trips and will continue to do so. I don't think I'm an outlier. I think you are maybe.

Sure someone isn't taking a Scuderia on a 400 km trip but the Tesla is far more utilitarian than a sports car or typical imagination of what a $100,000 car might be. Escalades are now $100,000 by the way.

Maybe $200,000 is the new $100,000.

 

[wayner]

I likely overstated my case a bit, but I do believe that for the most part I think that peope with nice cars aren't as interested in long drives. Toronto to Muskoka is nowhere near 400km. If you want to go from Toronto to Tremblant you fly Porter airways into the Mt Tremblant airport. Montreal or Ottawa to Tremblant is not a stretch for an EV. And since you are going for at least a day then you can use destination charging.

Toronto to Tobermory is about 300km, also easy to do without a charge in a longish range EV.

I have had my P85D for over 5 years and now have 60,000km so I drive about 12,000km per year. My longest trip has been to Ottawa which didn't occur until last summer. My previous longest drive was to London and back. I haven't driven longer than 450km in over 20 years and have no interest in doing so again. I go to Cape Breton to play golf 2-3 times per year, at times with as many as six people in my party, and would never consider driving.

My friends and colleagues who are able to afford a >$100,000 are similar. Many of them have cottages in Muskoka, Haliburton or "the county", and they drive to those but when they have to go longer distances they fly, or potentially take the train if going to Montreal or Ottawa.

After all when you live in Toronto, the world looks like this:

 

[Kmartyn]

Love that map above. Somebody could probably do one based on supercharger locations for us Tesla drivers looking to go beyond the GTA. Until we moved from the Leaf to the TM3 SR+ this summer, we did not go too far in our EV, particularly in the winter. Now I make almost monthly day visits to my parents in London in the Tesla. With a new V3 SC about to open there, that will be even easier. A visit to Bobcageon this summer for a few days was easy, even though 120 VAC trickle charging was all that was available at the destination. Next summer we have a cottage booked on Lake Joe. 2 SuperChargers on the way in Barrie if needed, and a few destination chargers in Port Carling area. No worries at all.

Our winter trip next year, probably going to be South Carolina. Mixed feelings about driving, but would like to give it a try.

 

[Iwantmy3]

I love that map as well. However, I disagree with the bit about long drives. I want a nice car so that I can do long drives. We drove our model 3 LR to Florida last March. We did the drive from Savanna Ga to the GTA in 18 hours including traffic and border crossing. We are planning to drive to Vancouver and back this summer (should give us a chance to test out the cross Canada V3s)

Just because we can afford to fly doesn't mean we would prefer to.

 

[blackscraper]

I'd second Iwantmy3 and Sak. i want nice cars with the capability of long drive. I have driven to Florida twice now, let alone other long trips such as to Quebec. Whereas my S90D serves well under most situations, it still lacks the speed on road trips which take 20% longer than an ICE. Although superchargers can mitigate that to some extend, i still want an EV with much longer range and faster charging speed.

 

[Soey22]

Monday night Jan 27th I stopped to check for any updates to the site. Looks to be the same as the photos posted 2 weeks ago. Was too dark to really take any photos for the sake of the thread. I’m there twice a week so I’ll keep a look out for updates. Hopefully soon will see some stalls!!

 

[YYZ-IAD]

Shows what happens when you want electric cars to be a real business...it's just as expensive as gas in many of these situations

In Niagara region - certainly on US side of border, electricity is .15/kWh. I have a 100 kWh battery. .15 x 100 = $15. A lot cheaper than gas. Count less maintenance and EVs are a real business. Why else is Telsa worth more than Ford, GM combined?

 

[RedOctober]

In Niagara region - certainly on US side of border, electricity is .15/kWh. I have a 100 kWh battery. .15 x 100 = $15. A lot cheaper than gas. Count less maintenance and EVs are a real business. Why else is Telsa worth more than Ford, GM combined?

Now chasing Toyota

 

[wayner]

In Niagara region - certainly on US side of border, electricity is .15/kWh. I have a 100 kWh battery. .15 x 100 = $15. A lot cheaper than gas. Count less maintenance and EVs are a real business. Why else is Telsa worth more than Ford, GM combined?

That would be similar to the all-in rates in Ontario for off-peak. The posted off-peak rate is $0.101/kWh. There are several cents in other fees that will get you to around C$0.15 all-in.

 

[ccudmore]

Some pictures from today.

 

[CanadaGoose]

Literally looks the same

 

[Soey22]

I was there Tuesday Feb 11th... still the same

 

[sakimano]

In Niagara region - certainly on US side of border, electricity is .15/kWh. I have a 100 kWh battery. .15 x 100 = $15. A lot cheaper than gas. Count less maintenance and EVs are a real business. Why else is Telsa worth more than Ford, GM combined?

I guess the guys who build the charging stations, the land they're on, the equipment, the insurance, the upkeep...it's all free?

We're talking about charging an electric car as a business at a station on the go. We're not talking about a HEAVILY government subsidized home utility service. Very different.

 

[YYZ-IAD]

I guess the guys who build the charging stations, the land they're on, the equipment, the insurance, the upkeep...it's all free?

Actually a symbiotic relationship. For instance many of the Pennsylvania superchargers are on land owned by Sheetz gas stations. Sheetz loves getting the extra business from those parked at their business for 30 mins getting a charge. I dont have access to the business arrangement, but I expect that Sheetz is happy to contribute the land, and even defray the installation costs. Ditto for the other superchargers in malls, casinos, etc. There is a mutually beneficial relationship.

 

[CanadaGoose]

All the Cadillac Fairview malls in Canada seem to have Tesla Superchargers, I’m sure they pitched in for that.

This Niagara Falls location though is in a plaza with an high amount of vacancies. I don’t know if a supercharger is going to help business very much around there.

 

[lens300]

Just went by. Seems like there has been some movement. The white cabinets are new and there has been some wire run. I got a good shot of the shipping label on the boxes

 

[DiscordianDave]

View attachment 513938 View attachment 513936 Just went by. Seems like there has been some movement. The white cabinets are new and there has been some wire run. I got a good shot of the shipping label on the boxes View attachment 513936

Thanks!! Definitely a V3 Tesla Supercharger based on this - 12 liquid pedestals can only mean V3. Also, not sure if it was well known that they are using Powerpacks as part of Supercharger V3 setup, but the shipping label confirms it since there is a controller for one.

 

[mociaf9]

Thanks!! Definitely a V3 Tesla Supercharger based on this - 12 liquid pedestals can only mean V3. Also, not sure if it was well known that they are using Powerpacks as part of Supercharger V3 setup, but the shipping label confirms it since there is a controller for one.

The V3 supercharger system uses some of the same control hardware but that doesn't mean that they are actually using the batteries as part of the superchargers. We have seen a few locations that do have either integrated or co-located Powerpack batteries but it is by far the exception not the rule.

 

[Big Earl]

Thanks!! Definitely a V3 Tesla Supercharger based on this - 12 liquid pedestals can only mean V3. Also, not sure if it was well known that they are using Powerpacks as part of Supercharger V3 setup, but the shipping label confirms it since there is a controller for one.

V3 sites are designed for use with PowerPacks (and solar), but very few installations have received them. I suspect they probably include the PowerPack controller for future expansion.

 

[wayner]

All the Cadillac Fairview malls in Canada seem to have Tesla Superchargers, I’m sure they pitched in for that.

Not quite all - many Cadillac Fairview malls have Tesla Superchargers, particularly in Ontario. Masonville Place in London and Shops at Don Mills are two examples of CF malls without SCs.