Western Canada Superchargers

[wws]

I used to live in Winnipeg, and I travelled in all directions to/from the city (Look at a more detailed map to see what I mean). Having said that, most car/truck traffic is East/West.

I was just curious that if Tesla had to choose between completing Calgary<->Winnipeg first, or Winnipeg<->Toronto first, which would make most sense? On Teslas 'coming soon' map there are 11 sites designated to the west and 15 to the east. Though obviously not all of them are needed to complete the paths - especially with the longer range cars. If they are trying to complete the whole route by the end of 2018, then a couple months here or there doesn't mean that much.

Several things to note here... most of the population of the country is within 200 miles of the Canada/US border, and traffic and transport of goods is pretty much one dimensional along that line (exception: Alberta). Secondly, a lot more things are shipped by train in Canada. The roads are not dominated by 18 wheelers, as they are in the US. Cars own the major highways.

Someday I'd enjoy doing some driving across Canada. In particular, doing the Al-Can has been on my bucket list for years.

 

[MarcoRP]

New thread created Mid-Canada Superchargers sorry I put it in the wrong section

 

[XHabjab]

I was just curious that if Tesla had to choose between completing Calgary<->Winnipeg first, or Winnipeg<->Toronto first, which would make most sense? On Teslas 'coming soon' map there are 11 sites designated to the west and 15 to the east. Though obviously not all of them are needed to complete the paths - especially with the longer range cars. If they are trying to complete the whole route by the end of 2018, then a couple months here or there doesn't mean that much.



Someday I'd enjoy doing some driving across Canada. In particular, doing the Al-Can has been on my bucket list for years.

Greater population centers would be served by going West first, but people trying to travel across the country would need both. The way I look at it, doing Kenora ON through to Alberta would help the most people the fastest. That long barren stretch through Ontario North of Lake Superior would really just be people "just passing through".

 

[XHabjab]

A sighting!

There is a blue dot for Portage MB on the supercharge.info site.

The first location in Manitoba.

 

[wayner]

I was just curious that if Tesla had to choose between completing Calgary<->Winnipeg first, or Winnipeg<->Toronto first, which would make most sense? On Teslas 'coming soon' map there are 11 sites designated to the west and 15 to the east. Though obviously not all of them are needed to complete the paths - especially with the longer range cars. If they are trying to complete the whole route by the end of 2018, then a couple months here or there doesn't mean that much.

I guess that depends on your objective and how many people are interested in driving across the country. 9500 Teslas have been sold in Canada and 6500 of them were sold in ON+QC, about 2900 in BC+AB and approximately zero have been sold in the rest of the country.Completing the stretch east of Winnipeg first may see more folks from the East come West, but there likely won't be a huge number of folks going in either direction. It will be interesting to see how many Model 3s are sold but I think the trend will be the same in that the sales are primarily in ON, QC and BC as those provinces have incentives and they have Tesla Service Centres.

 

[XHabjab]

I guess that depends on your objective and how many people are interested in driving across the country. 9500 Teslas have been sold in Canada and 6500 of them were sold in ON+QC, about 2900 in BC+AB and approximately zero have been sold in the rest of the country.Completing the stretch east of Winnipeg first may see more folks from the East come West, but there likely won't be a huge number of folks going in either direction. It will be interesting to see how many Model 3s are sold but I think the trend will be the same in that the sales are primarily in ON, QC and BC as those provinces have incentives and they have Tesla Service Centres.

Except that I have an interest in travelling TO Winnipeg and I don't live there.

The idea of owning a little electric car and just travelling a few miles from home is the defective paradigm that Tesla shattered. I have a Tesla and I wanna TRAVEL with it.

 

[wayner]

Except that I have an interest in travelling TO Winnipeg and I don't live there.

The idea of owning a little electric car and just travelling a few miles from home is the defective paradigm that Tesla shattered. I have a Tesla and I wanna TRAVEL with it.

It will be easier for you than for most Canadians. You should be able to make it to Winnipeg with the completion of one more SC in Fargo, ND as you could travel north from KC on I-29, although you wouldn't be able to go far once you get there. Most Canadians need to wait for a heck of a lot more SCs to be built, unless we want to travel south of Lake Mich through the US.

 

[JSergeant]

Except that I have an interest in travelling TO Winnipeg and I don't live there.

The idea of owning a little electric car and just travelling a few miles from home is the defective paradigm that Tesla shattered. I have a Tesla and I wanna TRAVEL with it.

You can get to Winnipeg from Fargo if you stay at the Element hotel in Fargo - it has a destination charger, and there are a couple of hotels in Winnipeg which have destination chargers too. We did that a couple of years ago. We also drove across to Regina and Saskatoon and ultimately to Calgary using the Sun Country chargers, which are fine as long as you are patient.

 

[5YJSA]

Greater population centers would be served by going West first, but people trying to travel across the country would need both. The way I look at it, doing Kenora ON through to Alberta would help the most people the fastest. That long barren stretch through Ontario North of Lake Superior would really just be people "just passing through".

I did the cross Canada trek once, from Halifax to Victoria, and I've said many times since:

Approximately 115% of Canada is in northern Ontario.

That damn road never ends. I think I'm still trying to get to Kenora...

 

[5YJSA]

I guess that depends on your objective and how many people are interested in driving across the country. 9500 Teslas have been sold in Canada and 6500 of them were sold in ON+QC, about 2900 in BC+AB and approximately zero have been sold in the rest of the country.Completing the stretch east of Winnipeg first may see more folks from the East come West, but there likely won't be a huge number of folks going in either direction. It will be interesting to see how many Model 3s are sold but I think the trend will be the same in that the sales are primarily in ON, QC and BC as those provinces have incentives and they have Tesla Service Centres.

This is obviously a station being put in so Elon can get to his cousin's farm if he's coming from the East.

 

[wayner]

This is obviously a station being put in so Elon can get to his cousin's farm if he's coming from the East.

I think it is faster if he takes a SpaceX Falcon rocket!

 

[Chuq]

New thread created Mid-Canada Superchargers sorry I put it in the wrong section

Perhaps a mod also move the related posts from this thread into that one?

 

[PLUS EV]

If this does happen, should we make a new active thread about Mid-Canadian Superchargers? It should be of Saskatchewan-Manitoba-Ontario (around Thunder Bay). Does anyone follow this?

Perhaps a thread for the TransCanada build out would be nice. I would define it as anything east of Calgary and west of Sudbury. You could also title it something like Prairies and Northern Ontario.

 

[PLUS EV]

Speaking as someone who isn't very familiar with Canadian highways... If I were a resident of Winnipeg, would I be more likely to travel westward highway towards Calgary? Or eastward towards Toronto?

You'd be more likely to travel southward! But then westward, and then eastward. Very few people seem to make the Northern Ontario crossing. It takes days, but I had fun doing it! I'll have even more fun (some day) doing it in my Model S.

 

[3s-a-charm]

I was just curious that if Tesla had to choose between completing Calgary<->Winnipeg first, or Winnipeg<->Toronto first, which would make most sense? On Teslas 'coming soon' map there are 11 sites designated to the west and 15 to the east. Though obviously not all of them are needed to complete the paths - especially with the longer range cars. If they are trying to complete the whole route by the end of 2018, then a couple months here or there doesn't mean that much.



Someday I'd enjoy doing some driving across Canada. In particular, doing the Al-Can has been on my bucket list for years.

Canada size and travel distances are often hard to comprehend. I have driven a few times from Calgary, Alberta to Thunder Bay, Ontario which takes 17-20 hours. From Thunder Bay to Toronto (same province) takes nearly the same amount of driving time! Driving through Saskatchewan and Manitoba with Autopilot would actually make it enjoyable. You barely need Autopilot... just lock the steering wheel in the center position and go! /s

 

[PLUS EV]

Canada size and travel distances are often hard to comprehend. I have driven a few times from Calgary, Alberta to Thunder Bay, Ontario which takes 17-20 hours. From Thunder Bay to Toronto (same province) takes nearly the same amount of driving time! Driving through Saskatchewan and Manitoba with Autopilot would actually make it enjoyable. You barely need Autopilot... just lock the steering wheel in the center position and go! /s

Yeah crossing the prairies is a breeze, but then you get to Ontario and it's windy 2-lane roads with 80kph speed limits. I remember the friendly girl at the Ontario Welcome Centre outside Kenora telling me that it took 3 days to drive across Ontario and I thought she was joking! You can do it in 2 but that wouldn't be very fun. My stops were Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Ottawa.

 

[AudubonB]

I have done chunks of Ontario in decades past but only once - about 15 years back - did I make the run from Winnipeg to Toronto. What greatly disappointed me about that was the paucity of views of Lake Superior - what a great shame.

 

[PLUS EV]

I have done chunks of Ontario in decades past but only once - about 15 years back - did I make the run from Winnipeg to Toronto. What greatly disappointed me about that was the paucity of views of Lake Superior - what a great shame.

I remember that as well. OTOH there are a number of small lakes right near the highway that made the drive fairly scenic.

IIRC you pretty much only get a good view of Lake Superior from the Terry Fox Memorial near Thunder Bay.

 

[Visscher]

I drove a vw back from Montreal to Kelowna in 3 days. 20 hrs driving, 4 sleeping in the back. I hated Ontario because of the stupid slow speed limits. And my radio was broken. No interest in driving that again.

 

[Passage]

I drove a vw back from Montreal to Kelowna in 3 days. 20 hrs driving, 4 sleeping in the back. I hated Ontario because of the stupid slow speed limits. And my radio was broken. No interest in driving that again.

I'm assuming that "20 hours" is a typo as it is over 4 000 kms! I also did it in a VW vWestfalia back in the early 90s and even with a working radio there wasn't much to listen to north of Superior.