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Tesla in Toronto Advice re:Charging

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Thank you guys for the multitude of replies. While i won't be following the advice of completing ridding myself of a car (already own a gas vehicle), as suspected relying on superchargers and local chargers will likely become a significant nuisance and will detract from my EV experience.

I will remain hopeful that with EV's becoming more popular, superchargers/regular charging stations become more readily available.

The thought of having to linger around the Eaton Center for a last minute charge was the nail in the coffin. Hopefully the proposed Annex charger is not another Valet only option (similar to the four seasons etc.)

Thanks for your time!
 
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Thank you guys for the multitude of replies. While i won't be following the advice of completing ridding myself of a car (already own a gas vehicle), as suspected relying on superchargers and local chargers will likely become a significant nuisance and will detract from my EV experience.

I will remain hopeful that with EV's becoming more popular, superchargers/regular charging stations become more readily available.

The thought of having to linger around the Eaton Center for a last minute charge was the nail in the coffin. Hopefully the proposed Annex charger is not another Valet only option (similar to the four seasons etc.)

Thanks for your time!

City council has voted to build up a ton of public chargers for the condo EV orphans. Similar to the network in Montreal. Lets hope this happens.
 
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Metro Hall parking (Wellington/John under Roy Thompson Hall and connected to the PATH) is my first choice go-to when I drive downtown for work (where I am parked now). $17 (6am to 6pm but in before 9am for this early bird rate) and they have a whole row (maybe 10-12 ish?) of Tesla chargers at 40amps (wall connectors or destination chargers.. not sure if there is a difference as they look like my wall connector at home)? They are free to use with the parking and the Tesla parking is never more than 50% full. I try to arrive with 20-30% charge and tweak my charging rate to get to 75% when I leave. If it finished charging early I just remotely up my charge limit and it resumes. I dont want to be ‘idling’ at a charge spot as I would still feel guilty even though there are more open spots. . I don't feel bad doing this as I have never seen it full. This brings down my cost of parking to maybe $12-13.
 
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Parking is parking. If you're going to work/workout/eat/buy food/do whatever at X spot. You're gonna park your car (if you took the car). Charging there for free/fee is the cost of charging.

But, like you said, if charging is the sole purpose then no. The cost is too much.
Exactly. But add to that, often it is cheaper to Uber to your destination in Toronto than pay for parking. By owning a car with economics like this you force your hand into always taking it, out of guilt or something, when it's entirely likely it's not the right mode of transport. Driving is no faster, either.. Biking is the fastest way to get around Toronto, especially with an ebike. @Oneka could you clarify your disagreement?
 
Exactly. But add to that, often it is cheaper to Uber to your destination in Toronto than pay for parking. By owning a car with economics like this you force your hand into always taking it, out of guilt or something, when it's entirely likely it's not the right mode of transport. Driving is no faster, either.. Biking is the fastest way to get around Toronto, especially with an ebike. @Oneka could you clarify your disagreement?

We are creatures of comfort and spoiled in Canada. However, in the winter time. Given the option of driving to work vs a bicycle. You know which one wins? The TTC is past capacity and slow. Might as well pay a little more for comfort and peace.
 
I will add, for my Toronto friends.. I have a CHAdeMO adapter now. If anyone needs to borrow it let me know (as long as I am not on a trip).

I will also mention this. When I am parked downtown during the week for work and I need to get around downtown I will just jump on the subway and leave the car parked. Its all about convenience (over cost) for me and may not be the most economical every day. I am breaking even with the car vs taking the GO Train every day but my convenience is MUCH (like I am in heaven) better. I drive in at 5:30 am for the gym so zero traffic and let AP do its thing quite perfectly on the Don Valley Parkway home.
 
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I will add, for my Toronto friends.. I have a CHAdeMO adapter now. If anyone needs to borrow it let me know (as long as I am not on a trip).

I will also mention this. When I am parked downtown during the week for work and I need to get around downtown I will just jump on the subway and leave the car parked. Its all about convenience (over cost) for me and may not be the most economical every day. I am breaking even with the car vs taking the GO Train every day but my convenience is MUCH (like I am in heaven) better. I drive in at 5:30 am for the gym so zero traffic and let AP do its thing quite perfectly on the Don Valley Parkway home.

Well that's the rub. Live downtown in a tiny box or commute for the same cost but live in a larger box with a yard ;)
 
Upped my charge by 40% lastnight so my efficiency was a bit better than normal with a battery at 16C when I left the house (yes.. %65 is pretty good for the winter when its left outside overnight). My one way GO train ticket is close to $7.00. My one way Tesla cost me $0.84 and got me there in 23 min (1/2 the time). I am married in the ‘burbs’ with 3 kids and a dog with milkshake in the yard. My downtown friend take almost the same time to get to work (501 streetcars, subways, etc).

The 129 KPH must have been downhill.. haha

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@rypalmer - Not sure why you continue to lecture the economics of car ownership and encouraging me to take a bike/public transit. I do leave the city frequently and am fortunate enough to be able to afford a vehicle to avoid public transit.

Not interested in commuting with business attire on a bike, nor risking being hit by a vehicle.

@JamstationP85D - Thank you for the Metro parking lot advice. I work close by.
 
If our roads were better designed, I'm sure more people would bike. I.E. streets where it's only bicycles and pedestrians like so many dense urban centers in the EU and Asia. Until then, North America is the home of the car; because moving 1 person quick while being inefficient is more important than moving many people quickly and efficiently.
 
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If our roads were better designed, I'm sure more people would bike. I.E. streets where it's only bicycles and pedestrians like so many dense urban centers in the EU and Asia. Until then, North America is the home of the car; because moving 1 person quick while being inefficient is more important than moving many people quickly and efficiently.

Some people prefer to not have to sweat their balls off or freeze their balls off by commuting on a bicycle or walking in the summer heat or winter cold when they can afford to drive a vehicle to and from work.
 
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Some people prefer to not have to sweat their balls off or freeze their balls off by commuting on a bicycle or walking in the summer heat or winter cold when they can afford to drive a vehicle to and from work.

Toronto's summer weather is a joke compared to 40+ C else where in the world . The only weather we can complain about is negative C of a few degrees. Anywhere else in Canada is colder by comparison except BC. We have it good here. Biking and walking a bit won't kill you - problem is that public transit is slower and thus we justify driving (occupying 1 lane per person) and then huge swaths of land/underground space to park said car. As Ryan Palmer said - inefficient and highly subsidized by society who cannot afford to drive.
 
Fellow Torontonian here, familiar with your area. Love Teslas and EVs in general, but if you're going to live where you do, with a commute like that, public transit or cycling are the only reasonable solutions. Mine is 13km round trip and this is what I do. The all-in cost for owning a $58,000 vehicle in the city of Toronto is at least $12,000 per year. To only drive 7,200km per year in it is near criminal. Plus, owning any car in Toronto is a royal PITA, especially if you are stuck parking on-street. Having no good solution to charge it is the icing on the cake. If public transit really doesn't work for you, it will be significantly cheaper to take an Uber to work and back every single day.

Going car-free is a financial life-hack that does not work in many places, but it doesn't get any better than where you are. Take advantage!

You are offering an advice assuming that financial concern on regular travel is the only thing that matters. But there are many other reasons for having a car in the city, even if not for daily work commute. Grocery shopping, weekend trips, etc etc.

In any case if you want to have a car just have it, if you want it enough to deal with the inconvenience, just have it. There’s nothing unreasonable about it. It’s just a car, and has nothing to do with being reasonable or not.
 
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You are offering an advice assuming that financial concern on regular travel is the only thing that matters. But there are many other reasons for having a car in the city, even if not for daily work commute. Grocery shopping, weekend trips, etc etc.

In any case if you want to have a car just have it, if you want it enough to deal with the inconvenience, just have it. There’s nothing unreasonable about it. It’s just a car, and has nothing to do with being reasonable or not.
OP asked specifically about charging. OP lives in downtown Toronto, where car ownership is effectively discouraged not only by financial realities from the scarcity of space, but by the availability of more appealing alternatives. Not everyone is as lucky to have such alternatives. OP described usage patterns similar to my own experience and are going to result in an ownership experience that is less than ideal - and not strictly from a financial perspective. I do think it's reasonable to point this out.