Supercharger - Whitewood, SK

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

A post on the Mid-Canada Supercharger thread has photos of construction at the Co-Op in Whitewood, SK
Mid-Canada Superchargers

So here's a separate thread for it.

Whitewood, SK

Along National Highways: TCH/SK-1
Along Provincial Highways (<=8km): SK-9

TCH/SK-1:
From: Regina, SK (Permit) - 168.7 km
To: Brandon, MB (Construction) - 189.3 km
Diversion: 0.5 km
From: Moose Jaw, SK (Construction) - 246.3 km
To: Portage la Prairie, MB (Construction) - 314.2 km

From: Canmore, AB - 1028.1 km
To: Sudbury, ON - 2101.4 km

The distances from Regina, SK and to Brandon, MB seem a little long for really nasty winter travel, so maybe Tesla will fill the gaps at some point, but it should cover all but the worst of weather.

 

[XHabjab]

A post on the Mid-Canada Supercharger thread has photos of construction at the Co-Op in Whitewood, SK
Mid-Canada Superchargers

So here's a separate thread for it.

Whitewood, SK

Along National Highways: TCH/SK-1
Along Provincial Highways (<=8km): SK-9

TCH/SK-1:
From: Regina, SK (Permit) - 168.7 km
To: Brandon, MB (Construction) - 189.3 km
Diversion: 0.5 km
From: Moose Jaw, SK (Construction) - 246.3 km
To: Portage la Prairie, MB (Construction) - 314.2 km

From: Canmore, AB - 1028.1 km
To: Sudbury, ON - 2101.4 km

The distances from Regina, SK and to Brandon, MB seem a little long for really nasty winter travel, so maybe Tesla will fill the gaps at some point, but it should cover all but the worst of weather.

Curiously, Trent signed the lockout tag on June 15 2019. Looks like it has been there for a while.
I wonder when they started work...

 

[MarcoRP]

Reposting the photos from @1.21 Jiggawatts post here. This Supercharger will definitely replace Moosomin for this year. Photos by Justin Thorpe on fB

P.S. the link on Supercharge Info has been edited

 

[InternetDude]

246km to the only known Supercharger site to the west will be quite a stretch in -30 with snow & wind. Definitely no problem in summer. Let's hope they put another location in between here and Moose Jaw.

 

[MD-2000]

246km to the only known Supercharger site to the west will be quite a stretch in -30 with snow & wind. Definitely no problem in summer. Let's hope they put another location in between here and Moose Jaw.

Just curious what happens in -30 or -20 ? I know how bad city stop and go can be but what sort of mileage can I expect with LR AWD on a continuous highway drive? I’d it like half the rated kilometers or 2.5x or 1.5x? My only experience is city last winter.

 

[Big Earl]

Just curious what happens in -30 or -20 ? I know how bad city stop and go can be but what sort of mileage can I expect with LR AWD on a continuous highway drive? I’d it like half the rated kilometers or 2.5x or 1.5x? My only experience is city last winter.

If snow and below freezing, expect 40 to 50% less range. Short city trips are worse than long highway trips.

 

[Sisko - DS9]

If snow and below freezing, expect 40 to 50% less range. Short city trips are worse than long highway trips.

I am not sure how you are measuring that or running your Tesla, but 40-50% I just have not experienced. I have had my Tesla since early 2016 and I live in Ontario and drive to work every day; and travel to remote areas outside of Ottawa. I have been in -30 degrees Celcius. It all hinges on how you prep your vehicle. And do not get all sanctamonious about EVs and their limitations. Because people with ICE vehicles have to prep their vehicles for winter and very low temperatures as well, if they want to get through those situations as well.

I have a garage and I use it to hold my car (Tesla); I pre-heat it so when i leave for a trip the car is preheated and I leave to drive (sometimes 4-5 hour drive). I do not have to stop any sooner than usual on the highway to charge, whether it is -10 or -30. Because I pre-heat, the energy usuage for maintaining heat is not that much different than using A/C in the hot summer in the car. Now if you are going through driving winds and snowy conditions; yes this eats more energy. Can cost me as much as 25-35% more. But not 40-50%. sure I will lose that on my battery if the car "slept" outside and that i got in and started to drive without pre-heat and the battery now has to heat up the car, the battery, defrost windows, etc. 40-50% is not always to be the case, prep is important. Just my experience... maybe yours is different.

 

[DMC5180]

Model 3 does not have the resistive pack pre-heating that the S and X have. It's a much slower longer process.

 

[SammichLover]

Curiously, Trent signed the lockout tag on June 15 2019. Looks like it has been there for a while.
I wonder when they started work...

Wow. If the location is correct on supercharge.info I drove past that location on July 3, I think. I had pulled into the Whitewood for a boost at the Library. I didn't charge, as there was a non-Tesla vehicle with ON plates there and the note left on plugshare said they were going to be there for a few more hours. I left on that road going out of town, past the hotel where they were staying, the Co-op station, etc.

 

[MD-2000]

Model 3 does not have the resistive pack pre-heating that the S and X have. It's a much slower longer process.

I was wondering if I can do it while plugged in? I schedule my charging for 1AM and I think that once it's done, if I use heat it comes off the batteries not the charger power.

 

[SammichLover]

I was wondering if I can do it while plugged in? I schedule my charging for 1AM and I think that once it's done, if I use heat it comes off the batteries not the charger power.

AC charging inherently creates a fair amount of heat in the pack. If you’re on a 11kW charger (60A breaker, so 48A @ 240V) it’ll be over 1kW heater. Enough that in 80F and above the car will eventually use the Supercan A/C to cool the pack.

 

[MD-2000]

AC charging inherently creates a fair amount of heat in the pack. If you’re on a 11kW charger (60A breaker, so 48A @ 240V) it’ll be over 1kW heater. Enough that in 80F and above the car will eventually use the Supercan A/C to cool the pack.

So I'm guessing based on this, that if I finish supercharging from low to most of a full battery charge even in winter, I can expect the batteries will be warm enough that there should be no effective distance loss due to battery temperature? And then by cruising at highway speeds (100kph, 110kph?), the battery will roughly maintain that more-than-adequate temperature? So the only distance loss will be the amount of cabin heat used?

That would be nice.

 

[SammichLover]

So I'm guessing based on this, that if I finish supercharging from low to most of a full battery charge even in winter, I can expect the batteries will be warm enough that there should be no effective distance loss due to battery temperature? And then by cruising at highway speeds (100kph, 110kph?), the battery will roughly maintain that more-than-adequate temperature? So the only distance loss will be the amount of cabin heat used?

That would be nice.

There will be a crossover ambient temperature where the air flowing by the bottom will draw more heat than the battery/motor generates. I don’t [yet] have any idea what temperature that’ll be. At that point I expect the software will put the rear drive unit into the “inefficient mode” to keep the pack temp up. At an even lower ambient temp that’ll get overcome, too. Which side of -40 that is on? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There won’t be anyone with experience on this with the current software so we’ll be learning new things come Oct or so.

 

[X-Men]

New pictures of whitewood supercharger location originally posted by @planeboy1 on twitter today. He promised to post more pictures of Brandon, Portage and Wpg

 

[cdnthought]

I am not sure how you are measuring that or running your Tesla, but 40-50% I just have not experienced. I have had my Tesla since early 2016 and I live in Ontario and drive to work every day; and travel to remote areas outside of Ottawa. I have been in -30 degrees Celcius. It all hinges on how you prep your vehicle. And do not get all sanctamonious about EVs and their limitations. Because people with ICE vehicles have to prep their vehicles for winter and very low temperatures as well, if they want to get through those situations as well.

I have a garage and I use it to hold my car (Tesla); I pre-heat it so when i leave for a trip the car is preheated and I leave to drive (sometimes 4-5 hour drive). I do not have to stop any sooner than usual on the highway to charge, whether it is -10 or -30. Because I pre-heat, the energy usuage for maintaining heat is not that much different than using A/C in the hot summer in the car. Now if you are going through driving winds and snowy conditions; yes this eats more energy. Can cost me as much as 25-35% more. But not 40-50%. sure I will lose that on my battery if the car "slept" outside and that i got in and started to drive without pre-heat and the battery now has to heat up the car, the battery, defrost windows, etc. 40-50% is not always to be the case, prep is important. Just my experience... maybe yours is different.

I can confirm that in my Model 3 LR Dual Motor that 50% loss is about right in our Saskatchewan / Manitoba Winters. I drove from our family acreage Russell to Brandon around New Year's, this was after charging to full and in a heated garage at my dad's place. Although we saw a range decrease due to winter tires and snow-covered highways during a blizzard, the main issue was the intense cold combined with the all-glass roof; on cold days you can SEE the heat waves coming from the roof. Therefore it's not KMS of range that matters most in Winter, it's TIME. I tried using only seat heaters and after a few minutes the windows iced up from the cold. We had to use the cabin heater, and that's what kills the range in the 3 in our climate. At full blow on days like that, combined with the other iniefficiencies mentioned, we say 50% real world range on the highway (250kms), or 2 hours of highway driving with a small reserve. Just did a similar trip, and we saw about 10% gain over rated, so it's not "my bad driving" or "something's wrong with your car"; the service tech and I talked and that's normal for my car in these conditions. Both trips were loaded with family and Christmas presents or summer cabin supplies.


Here is a snapshot of some highway travel during this cold time of year:

I love this car, but people traveling in my neck of the woods in electric vehicles need to know real work numbers before being stranded. Superchargers in SK and MB are a real necessity. Obviously, Model S and X may be different, or those with different roofs, but telling people they can expect a certain range in Winter is not a reality for Model 3's in my area's climate.

 

[cdnthought]

(so many typos sorry!)

 

[cdnthought]

Here's a nice shot from this past Winter in grid-lock on the way home from work in Winnipeg.

 

[MD-2000]

Hmmm... I wonder if we could make a suction-cup or some such roof lining to stick on the underside inside of the glass roof for long winter trips?

Yeah, I found losing 100km on a 25km round trip (plus sitting outside all day) was normal at -25C; but then it's Winterpeg stop-and-go, avg commute speed -30min or more to do 12.5km not unusual, that's 25km/h or average. Your winter gridlock Wh/km looks better than mine.

Did you use the aero wheel covers for highway? Did you determine if they made much difference?

Also, my wife was reading some cryptic Facebook (?) posts that we should be looking for another SK construction site... someone named "Lloyd" perhaps should be looking...

 

[SammichLover]

Also, my wife was reading some cryptic Facebook (?) posts that we should be looking for another SK construction site... someone named "Lloyd" perhaps should be looking...

For sure on the SK side of town? Or potentially the AB side?

That would definitely help going West from Saskatoon. But would be at the edge of range to use in winter w/just it.

 

[Sisko - DS9]

I can confirm that in my Model 3 LR Dual Motor that 50% loss is about right in our Saskatchewan / Manitoba Winters. I drove from our family acreage Russell to Brandon around New Year's, this was after charging to full and in a heated garage at my dad's place. Although we saw a range decrease due to winter tires and snow-covered highways during a blizzard, the main issue was the intense cold combined with the all-glass roof; on cold days you can SEE the heat waves coming from the roof. Therefore it's not KMS of range that matters most in Winter, it's TIME. I tried using only seat heaters and after a few minutes the windows iced up from the cold. We had to use the cabin heater, and that's what kills the range in the 3 in our climate. At full blow on days like that, combined with the other iniefficiencies mentioned, we say 50% real world range on the highway (250kms), or 2 hours of highway driving with a small reserve. Just did a similar trip, and we saw about 10% gain over rated, so it's not "my bad driving" or "something's wrong with your car"; the service tech and I talked and that's normal for my car in these conditions. Both trips were loaded with family and Christmas presents or summer cabin supplies.


Here is a snapshot of some highway travel during this cold time of year:
View attachment 444001

I love this car, but people traveling in my neck of the woods in electric vehicles need to know real work numbers before being stranded. Superchargers in SK and MB are a real necessity. Obviously, Model S and X may be different, or those with different roofs, but telling people they can expect a certain range in Winter is not a reality for Model 3's in my area's climate.

Wow, I am sorry to see that level of energy usage. I have just not had that level of reduction. Is that specific to the Model 3? the picture from "cdnthought" right after your post was also a Model 3. I agree with you that people in the area of which you reside should know the real-world expected range in the condiations they will face. I hope there are some insulation techniques or aftermarket products that one will be able to purchase that will help this thermal issue in the winter. Help keep the energy for range and not interior temp. I have always thought the Model 3 battery was more robust than the S/X.