We made the trip from Vancouver to Kelowna and back this past weekend, with the idea of seeing if it would be possible to make the trip on a single charge with our P85. We went via Hwy 1, the Coquihalla and the Coquihalla Connector, starting in South Surrey, approximately 40km from downtown Vancouver.
The total one way distance, including a stop at the Sun Country charge station in Merritt, was 368km from South Surrey (or 396 km from Vancouver). It is 95% expressway, ranging from sea level to 1,236m at the Coquihalls summit then down to 605m in Merritt then back up to 1,728m at the Pennask summit and finally back down to 343m in Kelowna. For those that have not driven this highway before, it can be a car killer!
Temperatures on the way to Kelowna were in the low 30's (C) so we had the air conditioning set to 20 the whole distance. I used the cruise control on the freeways and stuck to the posted speed limit of 110km/h. On the way back it was cooler so the a/c was off the entire way. There were four adults in the car with all of our luggage. I had my range on the "ideal" setting so started out with a full charge and 494km of range. Not knowing what the energy use would be, we planned to stop at the Sun Country charge station in Merritt to add some range.
Here are the results:
One comment on the Sun Country chargers is that every time I used one, it was only operating at 200volts, so I didn't get the range I normally get in an hour when charging at 240volts. Not sure if that's what they all operate at or what, but it should be better than that. They are easy to use though. Also there was a Volt charging in Merritt when we were there and it sounded like the ICE generator was really struggling to get the Volt up the hills. The owner said the engine was "screaming" when going up the hills to the passes.
Trip back was even better, again started with a max charge in Kelowna, generated more energy that we used coming down the steep hill into Merritt, then added 65km of range at the Sun Country station. Ride up the Coquihalla was effortless for the MS, and we could hear the howling engines of the other cars we passed going up the big hills. Only way our guests knew we were climbing was their "popping" ears as we gained altitude.
From the Coquihalla summit down to Hope (bottom of the Coquihalla), the range stayed constant at 244km, so did not generate as much as coming down from the Pennask summit, but didn't use any either! Traffic into Vancouver was light, so kept with traffic at 120km/h, and ended up with a range of 120km, so again we would have made the trip with a single charge.
The car had more than enough power to climb the steep mountain passes with the a/c on. The cruise control was flawless, keeping the car at a constant 110km/h both up and down the hills. I even had an RCMP ghost car follow me for awhile checking my speed! In Kelowna, someone unplugged the car once, may have tried to steal the plug adapter as a "prize". That would have screwed us if it wasn't locked into the charge port - another + for Tesla!
I wasn't very precise on keeping stats on the trip, but better than Broder did though! Your driving style may be different than mine, so your results may vary. Please plan your trip carefully.
Cheers!
The total one way distance, including a stop at the Sun Country charge station in Merritt, was 368km from South Surrey (or 396 km from Vancouver). It is 95% expressway, ranging from sea level to 1,236m at the Coquihalls summit then down to 605m in Merritt then back up to 1,728m at the Pennask summit and finally back down to 343m in Kelowna. For those that have not driven this highway before, it can be a car killer!
Temperatures on the way to Kelowna were in the low 30's (C) so we had the air conditioning set to 20 the whole distance. I used the cruise control on the freeways and stuck to the posted speed limit of 110km/h. On the way back it was cooler so the a/c was off the entire way. There were four adults in the car with all of our luggage. I had my range on the "ideal" setting so started out with a full charge and 494km of range. Not knowing what the energy use would be, we planned to stop at the Sun Country charge station in Merritt to add some range.
Here are the results:
- climbing up to the Coquihalla summit was effortless for the MS. Speed was constant and the a/c didn't skip a beat.
- in Merritt, we had 160km of range remaining with a distance of 127km to go, so I added 50km of range to a limit of 210km
- at the Pennask summit, with a distance of about 48km to Kelowna the available range was around 60km. At the bottom of the hill in West Kelowna, range on the car was 77km
- final range at the Sun Country charge station at our hotel in Kelowna was 52km - so we would have made it without the charge in Merritt!
One comment on the Sun Country chargers is that every time I used one, it was only operating at 200volts, so I didn't get the range I normally get in an hour when charging at 240volts. Not sure if that's what they all operate at or what, but it should be better than that. They are easy to use though. Also there was a Volt charging in Merritt when we were there and it sounded like the ICE generator was really struggling to get the Volt up the hills. The owner said the engine was "screaming" when going up the hills to the passes.
Trip back was even better, again started with a max charge in Kelowna, generated more energy that we used coming down the steep hill into Merritt, then added 65km of range at the Sun Country station. Ride up the Coquihalla was effortless for the MS, and we could hear the howling engines of the other cars we passed going up the big hills. Only way our guests knew we were climbing was their "popping" ears as we gained altitude.
From the Coquihalla summit down to Hope (bottom of the Coquihalla), the range stayed constant at 244km, so did not generate as much as coming down from the Pennask summit, but didn't use any either! Traffic into Vancouver was light, so kept with traffic at 120km/h, and ended up with a range of 120km, so again we would have made the trip with a single charge.
The car had more than enough power to climb the steep mountain passes with the a/c on. The cruise control was flawless, keeping the car at a constant 110km/h both up and down the hills. I even had an RCMP ghost car follow me for awhile checking my speed! In Kelowna, someone unplugged the car once, may have tried to steal the plug adapter as a "prize". That would have screwed us if it wasn't locked into the charge port - another + for Tesla!
I wasn't very precise on keeping stats on the trip, but better than Broder did though! Your driving style may be different than mine, so your results may vary. Please plan your trip carefully.
Cheers!
