Family trip from Toronto to Prince Edward Island (PEI) a grand success. Canada is a beautiful country.
Took our 2018 Model 3 LR with 51k kms odometer (485km range which is only 7.6% degradation of battery from new).
3974km over nine days (equal to The White House, Washington DC to Miami, Florida and back, or Paris, France to Naples, Italy and back).
Saved $588 in transportation costs (compared with our ICE 20mpg vehicle), Our EV was 3.5X less expensive than ICE.
Prevented 1070kg of CO2 emissions being thrown into our atmosphere.
I live in a neighbourhood which has at least one Tesla on every street. Teslas are everywhere here, so I was quite shocked in my findings on the road.
East of Quebec City, Quebec, EVs are very rare, in the neighbourhood of one to every 250 to 300 vehicles I saw. We spent three days in PEI and I could count all the EVs I saw using my hands. Anyone thinking EVs will overtake ICE anytime soon is mistaken. This transition will take many more years than what my neighbourhood tells me. It felt like 2018 again as strangers would ask me about my EV and take photos of it.
On the flipside, EV chargers are very plentiful compared to EVs. Most exits off the major highways have EV chargers. Many of the Tesla Superchargers sites (every +-75km) also had third party charing sites. Almost all 3rd party sites were completely empty. Below photo is just South of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec.
View attachment 958917
It gets even better for charging. We were plugging in to 2 level charging sites at most destinations, whether beaches, Anne of Green Gables heritage site, motels, upscale hotels. If you look for them, they were near everywhere, and empty. We were leaving most places with a full charge. Many were free. At North Cape, PEI, the most Northern tip of PEI, before you hit the Atlantic Ocean, guess what, a GRIZZL EV charging, 30 amp, and was free. We spent three hours hiking the trails and walking the beach and added 120km.
View attachment 958923
View attachment 958918
While staying at Hotel-Musee Premieres Nations (highly recommended), just North of Quebec City, there were six FLO EV chargers that had yet to be connected, however the hotel also had two level 2 chargers. When I charged, I left a note on my dash stating "if anyone needs a charge, text me and I will vacate EV charging spot). Two hours later I received a text, went out to move my Tesla, and struck up a conversation with a Honda Clarity Plug-In owner. He said he had on order a Hyundai Ionic 5 and last heard still had a 12 month waiting period. I told him it would be worth the wait. Respect.
From Quebec City, Eastward out to PEI, every tenth vehicle on the highway was a loaded semi. The demand for Tesla semi is huge. Not sure why PEI (250km tip to tip) would not be perfect for EVs. They have huge amount of solar on residential homes, and good EV charging infrastructure. Used FLO charges at City Hall parking lot in Sumerside, PEI, across the street from our century home hotel were we stayed in PEI. The City had three GM Bolts with chargers on site.
I will leave my TMC friends with this image. The future? No, this is the present.
View attachment 958916