Vancouver to Alberta Trip Planning

[green1]

I did notice that the canmore charger is in a handicap stall, And there's no good reason either, all they need to do to fix it is move their bike rack a foot or two and remove a bollard and you'd have an actual stall to charge in. (or re-paint the handicap stall to the other side of the door) With the current signage, the only way to legally use that stall is to be BOTH handicapped, AND driving an EV.

 

[gpetti]

I did notice that the canmore charger is in a handicap stall, And there's no good reason either, all they need to do to fix it is move their bike rack a foot or two and remove a bollard and you'd have an actual stall to charge in. (or re-paint the handicap stall to the other side of the door) With the current signage, the only way to legally use that stall is to be BOTH handicapped, AND driving an EV.

Check out the picture I took in Golden. Seems that area is a competition between EV, Handicap stall and Peat Moss storage.

 

[DGates]

Check out the picture I took in Golden. Seems that area is a competition between EV, Handicap stall and Peat Moss storage.

I noticed that too. There was a woman sitting in a Jeep in the spot right beside the handicap/charger spot. I asked her if she would mind moving her car over to the next spot so I could charge without using the handicap stall as I was going to be there a while. She was very friendly and more than happy to move the car. Her husband just then came out of the store and they both were really excited to talk about the car. They were an older couple that had lived in Golden for over 40 years. We ended up chatting for a about 20 minutes and they even gave me a ride a couple km into town to a nice restaurant along the river.

On another note, I ended up meeting up with gpetti today in Calgary and got this pic of both our cars together. Nice black and blue on bright sunlight.

 

[Canuck]

Ummm... which one is blue? They both look black on my tablet. And how can you get away without front plates?

 

[Mayhemm]

Ummm... which one is blue? They both look black on my tablet. And how can you get away without front plates?

Yeah, it's pretty hard to tell the difference between Tesla's blue, black, green and grey a lot of the time. That's why I went with red; no confusion.

Anyway, gpetti's blue P85+ is on the left. You can tell by the wheels.

 

[gpetti]

Yeah, it's pretty hard to tell the difference between Tesla's blue, black, green and grey a lot of the time. That's why I went with red; no confusion.

Anyway, gpetti's blue P85+ is on the left. You can tell by the wheels.

Correct, on my PC you can see the subtle difference. Usually in sunlight its obvious but in cold lighting my car looks pretty black. In Alberta we are not required to hang front plates and I believe D Gates removed his at the Alberta border, well maybe not literally right on the border but somewhere in Alberta. Enjoy the naked Tesla front while you can! Think he will be back in BC soon so front plate back on.

 

[DGates]

Correct, on my PC you can see the subtle difference. Usually in sunlight its obvious but in cold lighting my car looks pretty black. In Alberta we are not required to hang front plates and I believe D Gates removed his at the Alberta border, well maybe not literally right on the border but somewhere in Alberta. Enjoy the naked Tesla front while you can! Think he will be back in BC soon so front plate back on.

After the drive from Vancuver the car was pretty dirty so I cleaned it up at a car wash in Calgary. My front plate is held on using the J-bolt method so it's super easy to take it off. I'll sadly have to put it back on in a couple days when we head back to BC.

Yesterday we drove from algary to Drumheller and spent the day at the Tyrell Musuem then drove to the Ramada Inn at Brooks and have been plugged in all night. Off to Dinosaur Provincial Park today then back to Calgary this evening. It's been a fantastic road trip so far!

 

[Mayhemm]

I recently made the trek from Calgary to Squamish (Supercharger YEAH!) and finally back here to Saskatchewan. Will report with pics soon.

 

[Vger]

I recently made the trek from Calgary to Squamish (Supercharger YEAH!) and finally back here to Saskatchewan. Will report with pics soon.

Bravo! I look forward to your report!

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Been in the Calgary/Banff/Jasper area for the past few days and I can only be jealous of the sheer raw beauty of this place and of the fact that some of you get to drive your Model S in the vicinity!

No, I haven't sighted any of your beauties yet.

Beyond the Trans-Canada Hwy, route 93 would be a fabulous drive in an MS; I can just imagine the "Model S Nature Pics" against the backdrop of Bow Lake, Lake Louise, the Athabasca Glacier and so on. A Supercharger in Saskatchewan River Crossing would be perfect

 

[In2oil]

i'll be looking forward to your report and pictures! it will be very cool to see how fast you got your Model S charging.. some did post 500+ km per hours...at the supercharger! Congrats on your trip to BC from SK...

 

[Vger]

Been in the Calgary/Banff/Jasper area for the past few days and I can only be jealous of the sheer raw beauty of this place and of the fact that some of you get to drive your Model S in the vicinity!

No, I haven't sighted any of your beauties yet.

Beyond the Trans-Canada Hwy, route 93 would be a fabulous drive in an MS; I can just imagine the "Model S Nature Pics" against the backdrop of Bow Lake, Lake Louise, the Athabasca Glacier and so on. A Supercharger in Saskatchewan River Crossing would be perfect

Welcome to the neighbourhood! I guess by nature pics, you would mean like these! :biggrin:

- - - Updated - - -

BTW, this was a year ago, last April. We were lucky to have a gorgeous day that early in the season. As you can see, the snow was only very recently off Hwy 93, and the snow tires were still on the car, and the cable chains in the sub-trunk, just in case!

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Beautiful pics, @vger. Thanks! Back in SF now and miss the Canadian Rockies already...

 

[dasRad]

Kelowna to Vancouver, return.

We finally got around to driving from Kelowna to Vancouver last week in near ideal conditions. For those of you that are interested, I have some data.

Route: Home is about 10 km on the Kelowna side of the bridge over the lake. We started from home with a range charge and a displayed Rated Range of 425 km. Over the bridge, along Hwy 97 through West Kelowna, up (1400m climb) the Coquihalla Connector (Hwy 97C) to Pennask Summit and along to Merritt. Quick stop at the Merritt TI (intersection of 97C and Hwy 5), then south along the Coquihalla to the Blue Moose Cafe in Hope. Charge there for 2 hours and then into Vancouver along the Trans-Canada. The return trip was along the same route, including a stop in Hope for an hour of charging. Passengers + luggage ~ 600 lbs.

What I now know: If I drive such that my reported "AVG ENERGY" is 178 Wh/km, then my displayed Rated Range decreases at exactly the same rate as the distance I cover. So, if I want to cover those 425 Rated Range kilometres that I get from a range charge, then I need to average 178 Wh/km. This has been reported elsewhere, but it wasn't so clear to me until this trip. A corollary is that, from a range charge, I have 75.7 kWh of useable battery capacity before I hit 0 km of Rated Range (178Wh/km * 425 km = 75.7 kWh). This is on a 85 kWh battery with v5.9 firmware.
On the charging side, I find that I add Rated Range at a rate of 1 km for every 200 Wh of energy fed to the vehicle (as reported by the vehicle/VisibleTesla/phone app), so there is about 12% energy loss in the charging/usage processes.

Westbound Trip:

Leg	DISTANCE	TOTAL ENERGY	AVG ENERGY	Comments
Kelowna (home) to Merritt TI via Hwy 97C	134 km	30.6 kWh	228 Wh/km	Warm with slight tailwind. Drive at posted speed limits. Conditions pretty much ideal.
Merritt TI to Hope (Blue Moose) via Hwy 5	118.8 km	22.2 kWh	187 Wh/km	Warm with ~20km headwind. Drive at posted limit +10 km/h. Conditions ideal except for headwind.
Kelowna to Hope summary	253 km	52.8 kWh	209 Wh/km
Hope to Tesla Service Centre via Hwy 1	151.1 km	30.9 kWh	204 Wh/km	Warm with 50 km/h headwind in Hope dropping to 20 km/h headwind from Chilliwack into Vancouver.
Kelowna to Telsa Service Centre summary	404.2 km	83.6 kWh	207 Wh/km

Eastbound Trip:

Leg	DISTANCE	TOTAL ENERGY	AVG ENERGY	Comments
Granville Island to Hope via Hwy 1	156 km	27.8 kWh	178 Wh/km	Perfect conditions - warm with 20+ km/h tailwind. Drive at posted speed limits. Driving at 178 Wh/km results in Rated Range on dashboard screen dropping at exactly the same rate as distance covered.
Hope to Merritt TI via Hwy 5	118.4 km	27.3 kWh	231 Wh/km	Perfect conditions - warm with 20 km/h tailwind. Drive at posted speed limits. Use cruise control from toll booths into Merritt.
Granville Island to Merritt TI summary	274.1 km	55 kWh	201 Wh/km
Merritt to Kelowna (home) via Hwy 97C	133.8 km	22.3 kWh	167 Wh/km	Perfect conditions - warm with 20 km/hr tailwind. Drive at posted speed limits using cruise control on Hwy 97C. Used 126 km (corrected from 176 km on 11 Oct 2014) of Rated Range from Merritt TI to Pennask Summit (1728m). Actual mileage from Merritt TI to Pennask Summit is 73 km. This is a significant climb. Gained 15+km of Rated Range on section between Pennask Summit and Peachland. The drive from Pennask Summit to Kelowna (bridge) will generate as much energy as the car will consume; i.e. you could start at Pennask Summit with 0 Rated Range and arrive at the bridge in Kelowna with 3 or 4 km of Rated Range!
Hope to Kelowna summary	252.2 km	49.6 kWh	197 Wh/km
Granvillle Island to Kelowna summary	407.9 km	77.3 kWh	189 Wh/km

Summary comments:
Our Vancouver trip was done in fairly ideal conditions. The difference in energy usage between the westbound leg and the eastbound leg is probably entirely down to wind direction. It MIGHT be just possible to reach downtown Kelowna from downtown Vancouver on a range charge in ideal conditions.
Kelowna to Hope is feasible in summer conditions with an 85 kWh battery, but not likely in winter conditions where (our) vehicle uses 25 to 30% more energy.
Hope to Kelowna is feasible in summer conditions with an 85 kWh battery; possible in winter, but I wouldn’t chance it.
To travel between Hope and Kelowna in winter conditions, without significant range concerns, would require a charge en route (Merritt).

 

[Zapped]

Maybe I missed it but how fast were you driving ?

 

[dasRad]

Speed limit on the Coquihalla (Hwy 5) and the Coquihalla Connector (Hwy 97C) is now 120 km/h. Speed limit on Hwy 1 from Hope to Surrey is 110 km/h and 100 km/h closer into Vancouver. See Comment columns in earlier post. I didn't buy a performance vehicle with the intention of using it to hold up traffic. For the most part traffic was moving at the speed limit or just above.

 

[DGates]

My family and I took a 2 week, 3600 km road trip this past July. Vancouver to Calgary, Banff, Drumheller, Brooks, Kelowna and back home. Powered almost entirely by Sun Country chargers. Fantastic experience.

BC Hydro has a write up about the trip comparing it to the author's gas car trip.

https://www.bchydro.com/news/unplug_this_blog/2014/vancouver-to-calgary-roadtrip-comparison.html

The attached excel file has all the details for those interested.

View attachment trip_data.xlsx

 

[gpetti]

My family and I took a 2 week, 3600 km road trip this past July. Vancouver to Calgary, Banff, Drumheller, Brooks, Kelowna and back home. Powered almost entirely by Sun Country chargers. Fantastic experience.

BC Hydro has a write up about the trip comparing it to the author's gas car trip.

https://www.bchydro.com/news/unplug_this_blog/2014/vancouver-to-calgary-roadtrip-comparison.html

The attached excel file has all the details for those interested.

View attachment 58311

Nice! I also liked your quote about ICE technology - that expresses something I often try to express in words, but not as succinctly: "a horrendously complex hack of a solution to provide propulsion to a vehicle"

I'm not sure if you saw my spread sheet but yours is formatted slightly differently, i.e. with the itinerary on the vertical axis rather than the horizontal. Still trying to decide which I like better as it would be good to have a standard spreadsheet for trips. Having said that, I'm hoping that with Superchargers we might not care so much about the details.

 

[dasRad]

Kelowna to Vancouver, return. Updated numbers

Now that the weather has become a bit colder, I have some updated numbers for the drive between Kelowna and Vancouver via 97C (the Connector), Hwy 5 (the Coquihalla) and Hwy 1 west of Hope. The two end points are my house (in Kelowna about 10 km from the east end of the bridge over to West Kelowna), and Granville Island. The table lists the number of km of Rated Range (rounded to 5 km increments) used for each leg under various conditions. If you want the values in kWh, multiply the Rated Range by 0.178 kWh/km.

Leg	Actual Distance (km)	Best (km of RR)	Very Good (km of RR)	Good (km of RR)	Poor (km of RR)	Very Poor (km of RR)
Travel Conditions (as they affect range)		Warm and dry with tailwind	Warm and dry. Minimal headwind	Cool and dry. And/or significant headwind	Wet or cold. Or Strong Headwinds	Winter (cold and snow covered)
Home to Pennask summit	60		120	120	140
Pennask to Merritt TI	74			50	70
Home to Merritt TI	134		165, 175	175	210
Merritt TI to Coquihalla summit	68			110	120
Home to Coquihalla summit	203		275	280	330
Merritt TI to Hope	119			130	160
Home to Hope	252		285, 295	305	360
Hope to Granville Island	160			180	190
Granville Island to Hope	160	155	160		225
Hope to Coquihalla summit	49				130
Hope to Merritt TI	118	160	160		210
Granville Island to Merritt TI	274	310	310		435
Merritt TI to Pennask summit	75	125	130		150
Merritt TI to home	134	130	135		180
Hope to Pennask summit	193	285	290		360
Hope to home	252	290	295		390
Granville Island to Pennask summit	361	435	440		580

Comments: This last weekend's trip was done in "poor" conditions.
On the west bound trip, the summit areas were just below freezing with snow/sleet showers. Other than that, wet. Travel at speed limit (120, 110) except in snowy sections.
On the east bound trip, headwinds were very strong (30 km/hr plus and gusty from Vancouver to the Coquihalla summit. Temperatures 10C dropping to 6C between Vancouver and Hope. Left Hope at 3C with temperature dropping to -5C in Merritt and -14C at Pennask summit. Roads bare and dry. Travel at speed limit into Merritt and at 10 km/hr below the speed limit over the Connector.

The numbers show energy consumption 30% higher in poor conditions than in good conditions. Regen also appears to be less in cold conditions. It is still possible to get between home and Hope on a range charge, but there isn't much of a buffer. It is not possible to reach Merritt from Vancouver in poor conditions without a charge enroute.

Note: The drive into the Baille House charger in Merritt from the Merritt TI (5km) doesn't cost you any Rated Range, but the drive back out will cost you around 11 km of Rated Range at -5C.

 

[dasRad]

New Chargers in Salmon Arm, BC

The Comfort Inn and Suites in Salmon Arm have recently completed the installation of 2 level two chargers. I'm told that the electrical contractor was working on them last week and it is unclear if they are in operation, or if they are available to the general public. A quick test provides the following performance characteristics:

One Tesla HPWC on a 208V line, currently providing 40A (8.3kW).

One Clipper Creek HCS-60 supplying 48A at 200V (9.6kW).

Given that the Clipper Creek HCS is supplying 48A, I'm hopeful that the HPWC has not yet been fully configured (dip switch settings?).

Both chargers are switched at the front desk and not normally powered at this time.

The only other 2 chargers in Salmon Arm are 6kW units, so it would be great it the Comfort Inn and Suites makes their chargers available to the general public.

Apologizes for the quality of photos.