Tim Hortons Charging Infrastructure/An Introduction

Hi all!

I’m Daniel – I’ve been a Model S reservation holder since November of 2012 and a Tesla driver since last Wednesday, August 7[SUP]th[/SUP]. I’ve met a few of you previously through GHEVA, and on here, of course. To those of you I haven’t met, please accept this as my formal introduction :smile:

I’m also a Tim Hortons franchisee in Milton, Ontario. My parents have been Tims franchisees in Milton since 1989 and after graduating from University 5 years ago, I was lucky enough to join them. We are very very active in our local community – we sponsor numerous sports teams, are proud ambassadors of the Tim Hortons Childrens Foundation, the Darling Home for Kids, and Good Neighbours Community Cleanup Day. We also have a LEED certified restaurant that we are very proud of. Milton is a tremendous community and we’re proud to have been here for so long. We work hard to keep it clean and to reduce waste produced by our own restaurants, and our homes.

I wanted to reach out to all of the local EV drivers and enthusiasts regarding my newest restaurant, which is set to open in early-mid September. After some discussions with our corporate side, I have been given permission to install two dedicated EV parking spots with two Sun Country CS-90amp chargers (https://suncountryhighway.ca/chargers/) in front of our restaurant. One of these chargers was kindly donated by Sun Country. (Thanks guys!) Charging will be free for guests for the foreseeable future and I will be do my best to prevent EV drivers from being ICE’d.

Our new restaurant is located at 1088 Thompson Rd S in Milton – that’s a 6-minute drive south of the 401 at James Snow Parkway. As I mentioned, we should be open in early to mid September. It’ll be very convenient for those of you driving the west corridor of the 401.

I’ve attached some photos of the site as it stands right now – please don’t hesitate to ask any questions or introduce yourself! Hope to see you all for coffee in the near future.

- Daniel

Doug_G said:

Excellent location! This will be really useful. We most definitely need more high power charging options in the big cities.

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Thanks! We certainly do need more high power charging options. I'd love to speak to local businesses, but I understand that chargers, associated install costs (especially post-construction), and utilities do add up tremendously.

sublimaze1 said:

Oh, how I miss bits.

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You're always welcome at my restaurants for some timbits!

eMileage said:

Congratulations Daniel! Hope to see you again soon at another GHEVA meetiing.

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Thanks! I'll certainly be at the next meeting. Its been a busy summer (I got engaged at Christmas and finally took some time to celebrate) but I'm anxious to get into the swing of things again.

mnx said:

Might drop by sometime in September for coffee and electrons. It probably be my first attempt at using the twin chargers in my S.

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It'll be the first time for me too! I can't wait. I'm around our restaurants every day, so if one of you are passing by and just want to introduce yourself, PM me and we'll have a coffee.

djp said:

Thanks for putting these in Daniel! Great to see more high speed charging on Canadian roads, I'll definitely stop by.

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It's my pleasure. I know it's just a start but I'll be doing my best to convince other restaurant owners of the long term benefits.

Duckjybe said:

That's fantastic! It will be worth the drive to Milton. Can you also try to convince corporate Tim Hortons to start putting in CS-90's instead of the 30A Chargepoint chargers at other Tim's?

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I plan on analyzing usage of the chargers (avg. charge duration, time of day, power consumed, peak vs mid vs off peak, etc) and providing a report to corporate on these findings. I don't doubt that this report will prove that guests want access to more power. Right now, the 30A chargers represent a way for certain restaurants to test the market and see what the response is from EV drivers in their area. It's funny to think that us Tesla owners are the only ones who can truly utilize the power of a CS-90 at the moment. Also, there are restraints when it comes to the use of utilities as our restaurants are tightly built to spec - there isn't much wiggle room with capacity (in most cases) and post-construction work is much lamented in our business. With that being said, I'm all for more power (CS-100's are now available :smile. I'm very happy with the work our corporate team has done so far on this project, our recycling and waste reduction initiatives, and I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Doug_G said:

The thing is, if you want to deliver a usable amount of power during a donut run, you need to have maximum power. People who install 30A chargers are going to conclude that they aren't useful, because we'll go elsewhere.

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I definitely agree. Our average guest does not stay long enough to recuperate significant KM's through charging at 30A. 90A is a different ball game. You'd be surprised at some of the data that I've seen on 30A charging - the conclusion is that drivers stay longer and tend not to give up on the charger based on output alone. Regardless, the more power, the better!

DRK said:

Hi Daniel, This is fantastic NEWS. I just picked up my car on Saturday so I am very excited to meet all of you hopefully at the Next meeting. We have a cottage in Fenelon Falls and I have asked the local Chamber of Commerce to speak with the SUNCOUNTRY folks as well. Now I can say that your store is on board. Hope to speak with you all soon.

Dave

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Dave, that's awesome. Congrats on your car. Very similar to mine! I can imagine much like myself, you are dying to drive it almost every minute of the day.

Good luck with the Chamber of Commerce and spreading the word. There will be more of us, Tim's, and other businesses, that join the movement along the way. There are lots of apps out there that give you the location of nearby charging locations like PlugShare, Chargepoint. Check them out if you haven't already.

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mknox said:

That is AWESOME! I often stop in Milton for a coffee on my way home from work (a habit from the days when I used to pull off for gas!) and will make it a point to patronize your location when I do.

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Fantastic! I'll try and organize a meetup at my restaurant sometime after the dust settles.

I think the location is perfect - it's close to a lot of main arteries and attractions (QEW is 15 minutes south. 401 is 6 minutes north. 407 is very close. New outlet malls 5 minutes East. Etc.)

drees said:

Have you or did you consider installing additional conduit for additional charging stations because of this fact?

Trenching cost also tends to cause businesses to install charging stations to be installed right up front, when the best location to prevent unnecessary ICEing is usually farther away. Plug-in owners generally don't mind the extra walk as it means that it they will be more likely to plug in.

2 stations is a great start, but if it's the only spot around I can imagine both being frequently used, especially if they are 80A capable. Being able to easily install more stations in the future could be very desirable.

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Milton is a growing town and although I am very watchful of trends and consumer habits in our area, there isn't a need for more than 2 CS-90's at our restaurant. I see this being the case for at least the first few years. I was (and still am) very hesitant to ask for more capacity or to push the project to a larger scale. I need to prove that this technology is a draw to guests before I can move forward anymore than I have.

I don't want to venture too deep into discussion of our corporate happenings, but I'm very very happy to be starting at this point. There's only room to grow from here.

As for the location of the chargers themselves - I wanted them to be front and centre for guests. There is no better way to drive interest than to have chargers visible to everyone. I'll be the official ICE police. :smile:

mknox said:

There's another 90 amp charger in Milton at a nearby hotel...

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There is! Milton will become quite the hotspot for EV's. It's a full fledged commuter town and it's an access point for other nearby destinations. Even the border is only about an hour away! (Lots of folks don't seem to remember that.)

Mayhemm said:

Daniel, I just want to congratulate you on:

a) Helping to make Tim's a success
b) Pushing forward EV pilot programs like yours
c) Having the foresight to install high-powered stationed that people will want to use. New construction is the optimal time to have them installed while minimizing costs.

Given my location, I don't know if I'll ever get out to Milton but, if I do, I will a point of supporting your establishment. When I get my Model S in the spring, I plan on doing some cross-country traveling, so who knows?

Thanks again for doing this!

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Thanks for the well wishes!

On your congratulations...
a) I think our business has improved vastly over the last 5 or so years, but there is still much to be improved upon. Perks for guests (like this one) are definitely something I'm proud we are getting into.
b) I will continue to push this program as best as I can - spreading the word to local businesses and other franchisees in our own community is the least I can do.
c) I've seen the growth of a really amazing community here on the forums and amongst EV drivers, especially those of Tesla. I love where the technology is heading and the efficiencies that we can gain from it. Just like those of us on the forums, getting into this as early adopters means we can share our learnings with those who come later.

Hope to see you at my restaurants some day! A cross country trip in a Model S sounds absolutely amazing! I'd love to do that one day too!

razasunny54 said:

This is awesome news.

The more CS-90 chargers in cities the better . I will for sure visit your location once it's up and running. My car and myself often need a re-charge

Regards,
Raza

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Thanks Raza. I remember meeting you at the first GHEVA meeting! Hope you're loving the car as much as I am. I'll be sure to send you an invite for coffee in the near future.