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Driving Between Ottawa and Toronto

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Doug_G

Lead Moderator
Global Moderator
Apr 2, 2010
17,888
3,421
Ottawa, Canada
Update: Superchargers in Kingston are now in full operation!


Primary Charging Opportunities En Route

Kingston Supercharger!

Kingston - Best Western Plus Fireside Inn - CS90, 70 amps delivered. Has a restaurant. I've had mixed success here; spot is not reserved I have been ICE'd. Adjacent parking spot is reserved for disabled.

Peterborough - Best Western Otonabee Inn - CS90, 70 amps delivered. Available to hotel guests only.

Cobourg - Best Western Plus Cobourg Inn - CS90, 70 amps delivered. Available to hotel guests only.

FUTURE: Belleville - Best Western Belleville Hotel - CS40, 32 amps delivered. Nicely located so it will not get ICE'd; however, power is insufficient to fully charge a Model S overnight.

Other Charging Opportunities En Route

Peterborough - Berc's Steakhouse - CS40 - only 32 amps delivered. Good steaks, slow charging. Owner parks in the spot, which is great because it keeps it from being blocked; she will move it upon request. Cord also reaches adjacent spot.

Kingston - Ambassador Hotel - CS40 - only 32 amps delivered. Very EV friendly, but power is insufficient to charge a Model S overnight. Has a restaurant; great place for an overnight stay. Charge station is in "check-in" parking which means it's pretty much always available.

Shannonville Motorsports Park - CS90 and CS40. Use the one with the big cable first! Accessible only when the track is open - not in winter.

Thousand Islands KOA - a bunch of NEMA 14-50's available, but call ahead especially on weekends. Not open in winter. Owners are very "green". Officially $10 for a charge, although they might not let you pay (I've tried!).

The Opinicon resort at Chaffey's Lock, 1697 Chaffey's Lock Rd (just put The Opinicon in navigation) - 40A J1772, free for use.

Charging in Ottawa

Canada Science and Technology Museum - CS90, 70 amps delivered. Charger is in the front parking lot near the front door alongside the wheelchair spots. Update: as of May 1, the museum now charges for parking. The cost is $1 per half hour, maximum of $6 per day. CURRENTLY OFFLINE DUE TO MUSEUM CLOSURE.

Ottawa Hospital - two CS90's, 70 amps delivered. There is a fee for using these stations.

59 Grenfell Crescent - CS90, 70 amps delivered. Charger is at rear. If you find a Tesla parked in front of it, that would be my car. Just come to the door and I'll unplug it for you! Tim Horton's within walking distance.

Gatineau - Ramada Plaza Manoir Du Casino - CS90, 70 amps delivered. Just across the river in Quebec, at the casino. Never been there myself.

Ottawa City Hall - 30A charger. Free parking for two hours for EVs. At back parking lot of City Hall. Roadsters don't work but Model S does. Popular so access is spotty. Pilot project so may not be permanently available.

Charging in Toronto

Lawrence Avenue Supercharger!

Town Inn & Suites, Church Street. CS90, 70 amps delivered. Free parking. Charger is outside at ground level, not in the parking garage. Owner has a Roadster.

Delta Chelsea. CS90, 70 amps delivered. Located in Valet parking area - parking costs $39! Great location otherwise.

Tesla Yorkdale - two Roadster HPC's (70A), with adapter for Model S. You have to enter the right underground parking garage. Go to the outer road ("Yorkdale Rd on Google Maps") at the South side of the mall. Near the center of the mall there is an entrance to underground parking. Drive in, go straight, then turn right. Big Tesla banner. Parking spots are roped off so you won't get ICE'd.

La Primavera Hospitality & Convention Center in Vaughan, CS90, 70 amps delivered. Not tried this one myself. Near 407.

Tesla Service, Mississauga. Roadster and Model S charging. Charger is inside the shop so only available during business hours. Best call ahead.

Popular Routes

There are four main routes:

416 / 401 - the "obvious" route. See the next route for some charging tips. Don't exceed the speed limit; you'll just end up spending even more time charging! This route is probably the slowest for an EV, because it's not the shortest and the speed limits are higher - you'll spend more time charging.

County Road 10 / 401 - County Road 10 is a beautiful drive that avoids larger towns. Also much shorter than 416 route, so the slower speeds get you to Kingston in the same amount of time with much less power usage. Highly recommended. Charging can be done in Kingston or in Cobourg (Cobourg now guest-only). Note that Cobourg is 300 km from Ottawa, but you can do this in a Model S even in winter if you're careful. Best to stick very close to the speed limit on the 401 unless you're drafting a truck. Luckily you can stop in Kingston if you think you're going to come up short. There are also other backup charging sites such as Shannonville Motorsports and 1000 Islands KOA, but they are not available all year. On County Road 10, if you use a GPS it will fight you the whole way - it will keep trying to divert you to various highways. Ignore it and follow the signs.

Hwy 15 / 401 - Similar to County Road 10 but you go through some larger towns so it may take a bit longer. Also there is more traffic so you may find it harder to drive slowly if you need to.

Hwy 7 / 115 - for an EV this is the fastest route. Only charging opportunities are in Peterborough; unfortunately the fast charger at the Best Western is now guest-only. This is 300 km from Ottawa so you have to be careful in winter conditions. I've done it many times, but you have to monitor your power utilization along the route. My strong recommendation is to slow down as necessary to maintain a 30 km range margin. If you run out of juice between Ottawa and Peterborough there's nowhere to go. Unfortunately this route can be fairly busy, which is a problem if you have to drive slowly. Be prepared to pull off occasionally if you develop a "train" behind you.

In the summer I would not hesitate to recommend any of these routes. In the winter, especially for a novice EV'er, I'd recommend County Road 10 and stopping in both Kingston and Cobourg - just so you're not pushing things. Just remember that driving slower is faster. There's not much point in driving much faster than you can charge, you'll just take more time overall!
 
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Thanks for this, Doug. My expected delivery is in 2-4 weeks from now. Should I ask for a Max Range charge to be made to the car when I pick it up in Mississauga? I suppose I could l make the trip without it, if my charging stops were well planned. Is a max range charge advisable with a brand spanking new car ?
 
Thanks for this, Doug. My expected delivery is in 2-4 weeks from now. Should I ask for a Max Range charge to be made to the car when I pick it up in Mississauga? I suppose I could l make the trip without it, if my charging stops were well planned. Is a max range charge advisable with a brand spanking new car ?

Hey, I have the same delivery window, and my config looks to be identical to yours except I'm Blue exterior. I live about 4 miles from the Toronto Service Center, so it is doubtful I'll need a Range charge :smile: Perhaps I'll see you there.
 
Thanks for this, Doug. My expected delivery is in 2-4 weeks from now. Should I ask for a Max Range charge to be made to the car when I pick it up in Mississauga? I suppose I could l make the trip without it, if my charging stops were well planned. Is a max range charge advisable with a brand spanking new car ?

FWIW, my car came with a range car already on it.
 
Hey, I have the same delivery window, and my config looks to be identical to yours except I'm Blue exterior. I live about 4 miles from the Toronto Service Center, so it is doubtful I'll need a Range charge :smile: Perhaps I'll see you there.
Looking forward to it! I still do not have a VIN (I asked my DS today). And the mobile app doesn't indicate any cars linked to my account.

FWIW, my car came with a range car already on it.
Thanks for the info. I suppose the "best case" scenario is that the car is kept in a Max Range state for as little time as possible (i.e., top it off just before I leave to Ottawa). Perhaps I'll schedule an afternoon delivery, if possible, so they can top it off in the morning. If they are delivering cars fully charged, then I suppose it can't do too much harm. I won't sweat it.
 
Thanks for this, Doug. My expected delivery is in 2-4 weeks from now. Should I ask for a Max Range charge to be made to the car when I pick it up in Mississauga? I suppose I could l make the trip without it, if my charging stops were well planned. Is a max range charge advisable with a brand spanking new car ?

Yes, I'd recommend it. You never know when you might need a little reserve on a road trip. There's really no issue with doing a Range mode charge. Don't do it ALL the time - that will degrade your pack - but don't hesitate for a moment to do it when you need it. A few hours at higher charge level will not hurt it, and it's a lot better for the pack than driving it down to zero!

I asked Eli to Range charge my car. He proudly presented it to me with 481 km on the gauge. (Then I flipped it to Rated).
 
Summer temperatures make the trip much easier!

My meetings dragged into late evening in Toronto, so I ended up overnighting at the Cobourg Best Western. I arrived at 1:30 am... to tired to continue! I left in the morning with a full Range charge.

I drove at normal 401 speeds (seems to be ~110 these days instead of 120+... must have been a police crackdown or something). There were a lot of trucks, so I did some drafting just because it's gotten to be a habit, and in fact it was a bit hard not to, I but didn't need it. I used the back roads to get up to Ottawa from Kingston, as usual, but didn't hold back in the slightest. Floored it while passing, etc. I alternated between having the A/C on (for quiet) and having all windows and the pano open. Nice relaxing trip with no staring at the gauges.

I arrived in Ottawa with 147 Rated km left. :cool: Now that is a luxury road trip!
 
I regularly travel from Ottawa to Newmarket (just up the 404 from TO) following 7 then 115 at Peterborough and then 7A and back to 7. It's 383 km. I usually drive a manual Mercedes B 200 rated by Environment Canada at 6.7 l/100 km and even with four passengers and luggage can easily get 6.6 l/100 km (down to 5.9 when the gas tank is half full). My hope is that I'd be able to do the trip in a model S in a single charge, in the summer at least. Does that seem likely?
 
I hope is that I'd be able to do the trip in a model S in a single charge, in the summer at least. Does that seem likely?

Should be possible if you keep the speed down and don't gun it on stop lights. An advantage of taking two lane highways is you'll get better range than freeways. Worst case you can stop at the Best Western in Peterborough for a quick bite and top up on their 90A charging station.
 
Yes, it's absolutely possible to do 400 km in summer conditions, if you take it easy and keep a close eye on your power consumption. So 383 is quite doable.

Don't go over 90 kph unless you're drafting a truck. Set the Energy App to Average mode, and make sure that the Projected Range is always more than 30 km larger than the GPS distance-to-go. Keep your windows up and set the HVAC to Range Mode.

If you find your safety margin is getting too narrow, stop in Peterborough and top up over lunch. There's a CS-30 at Berc's Steakhouse and a CS-90 (much faster) at the Best Western.