I started a long, non-supercharger drive today, and so far have been told by Customs, and EVSE hosts in St. Stephen and Quispamsis that I'm their first customer. I'm both surprised and disturbed by this. Surprised because I believe the EVSEs have been here for a while (both Sun Country's), and disappointed because we're not likely to get superchargers here anytime soon. If these EVSEs go unused, they're likely to get neglected.
To encourage others to make a similar excursion, I'll post my experiences to this thread. So far, it's gone well. But, it's important to recognize that most RV parks in this area only have 20A and/or 30A electricity. On a good day those provide 1.9kW and 2.4kW respectively. (You need a special, non-Tesla supplied adapter for 30A). Without 50A RV parks here are not nearly as good a backup as they are in the states.
Day 1:
I drove from Portland, Maine to the urban border crossing in St Stephen on an 90% charge (S85) without anxiety. Customs at this minor crossing was totally unfamiliar with the car and insisted on looking over the entire thing. The frunk was a little troubling to them, since they don't normally check under car's hoods, and would not have if I hadn't told them they hadn't finished going through all my stuff yet. It took about 45 minutes in total to cross.
Based on Plugshare I expected two good EVSEs in St Stephen, so I could count on some redundancy if there were ICEing or malfunction problems. I'm pretty sure there is only one EVSE here, so no redundancy. But, the one EVSE that is present is a good 90A 208V Sun Country unit at the visitor center. These are always on, so you don't need a card, app, or to call someone to get them enabled. The visitor center is open until 6PM in the summer and has bathrooms and wireless. The wireless was on after the center closed, and could be accessed from tables outside the building providing you got the password when they were open. There are some places to eat within very easy walking distance, but not much shopping.
After a few hours I proceeded to the EVSE hosted by Amsterdam Inn in Quispamsis. It's also a Sun Country 90A, 208V, and works perfectly. It's location is not likely to ever get ICE'ed. The Hotel is very nice, has wireless and is reasonably priced. There's shopping and food nearby.
The Tesla stopped getting data not long after crossing the border. It shows signal "bars", but doesn't seem to be able to send or receive data. Somewhere I read that US Teslas don't get 3G service in Canada, so I was prepared, but come on Tesla. Fix this. It's embarrassing. I have an ATT cell phone, which switches to Rogers, and T-mobile switches to Bell.
More tomorrow.
To encourage others to make a similar excursion, I'll post my experiences to this thread. So far, it's gone well. But, it's important to recognize that most RV parks in this area only have 20A and/or 30A electricity. On a good day those provide 1.9kW and 2.4kW respectively. (You need a special, non-Tesla supplied adapter for 30A). Without 50A RV parks here are not nearly as good a backup as they are in the states.
Day 1:
I drove from Portland, Maine to the urban border crossing in St Stephen on an 90% charge (S85) without anxiety. Customs at this minor crossing was totally unfamiliar with the car and insisted on looking over the entire thing. The frunk was a little troubling to them, since they don't normally check under car's hoods, and would not have if I hadn't told them they hadn't finished going through all my stuff yet. It took about 45 minutes in total to cross.
Based on Plugshare I expected two good EVSEs in St Stephen, so I could count on some redundancy if there were ICEing or malfunction problems. I'm pretty sure there is only one EVSE here, so no redundancy. But, the one EVSE that is present is a good 90A 208V Sun Country unit at the visitor center. These are always on, so you don't need a card, app, or to call someone to get them enabled. The visitor center is open until 6PM in the summer and has bathrooms and wireless. The wireless was on after the center closed, and could be accessed from tables outside the building providing you got the password when they were open. There are some places to eat within very easy walking distance, but not much shopping.
After a few hours I proceeded to the EVSE hosted by Amsterdam Inn in Quispamsis. It's also a Sun Country 90A, 208V, and works perfectly. It's location is not likely to ever get ICE'ed. The Hotel is very nice, has wireless and is reasonably priced. There's shopping and food nearby.
The Tesla stopped getting data not long after crossing the border. It shows signal "bars", but doesn't seem to be able to send or receive data. Somewhere I read that US Teslas don't get 3G service in Canada, so I was prepared, but come on Tesla. Fix this. It's embarrassing. I have an ATT cell phone, which switches to Rogers, and T-mobile switches to Bell.
More tomorrow.