Saturday was Tough!

The morning started well with departure 10 minutes ahead of schedule, no rain, and very light traffic on I95. Unfortunately I made a bad decision on our hotel choice for the night past. I made the choice based on price....don't do that...it will come back to bite you. I could have had a room 10 miles back that had a complimentary charger that would have let me start the day with a full charge. Hold that thought!
The second mistake for today was to use most of my remaining charge to get to Florence SC to the Electrify America Fast Charge Station at Walmart in Florence. We arrived on time and proceeded to connect to a charger. Unfortunately after 50+ minutes of trying to connect and dealing with a professional customer service rep from EA we could not get a charge! This meant we were stuck at a mall with only 34 kms of power left and the two nearest fast chargers in Columbia (wrong way!) or Charleston (on route but 180kms). The only real option was to use a L2 at a local car dealership. An L2 charger might give us 40 kms of travel per hour charge meaning we needed 4-5 hrs of charge to get to Charleston....ouch...

This is where my luck turned. We drove 2 kms to Five Star BMW/Chev and began a truly wonderful experience.

As soon as we got out of the car we were greeted professionally a sales staff and directly to Dan in Service. Dan listened to my tale of woe and made several offers. First we could use a charger for as long as we needed and that it would be complimentary. Secondly, since it was 11:30 he was concerned that we might need food, so he made some suggestions. He then suggested that we might like to visit the Mall and that he had a driver that would take us there by dealer shuttle and pick us up when we wanted to return. He gave us his card with the number to call. Another employee listening suggested that she had just put a pot of coffee on and we were welcome to watch TV and relax in the lounge. Dan then pointed out washroom locations and said that his driver would be ready when we were. This was just the start.

The charger was a Chargepoint J1772 and very easy to get started. We were ready for the Mall!

While shopping at the Mall I received a phone call from a Electrify America manager who had listened to the recording of my lengthy phone call with their customer service rep at the EA Fast Charger. He wanted to apologize for their inability to get us the charge we needed and after the appropriate discussion he offered us a free charge at our next stop. Not a totally satisfactory solution but the intentions and behaviours of he and his staff were appreciated, just hard to say so when you are still at little ticked!

We were picked up at the Mall after a coffee and Quiche at Starbucks and returned to sit in the lounge in the service bays at Five Star. Dan came to check in on us, now known as "his Canadians". We chatted a bit and ended up knowing a fair bit of his ties to Canada through an earlier life in Waterdown NY. He showed us pictures of his current chicken roost, his rooster, hens and the daily egg production. I must apologize in that I am new to blogging and should have had him send me pics of the rooster, eggs etc so that i could share them with you. I didn't even take a pic of Dan or his shuttle driver.

One thing that became evident over the five hours that we spent at or near Five Star was the consistent level of professional and friendly service at the dealership. This not "just" southern hospitality. This business has standards and believes in training. I was responsible for the same during my career and can not overstate how impressed I was. To that end I asked for the card of the General Manager so that I can forward my thoughts. I was told that I could meet him in person if I had the time. John Coomer listened to my tale and compliments and was as gracious as his staff. I was really happy that I could pass on my appreciation for Dan's help and the courtesies extended to Mary and I by all of his staff.

 So now all we add to do was to drive the last 340 kms to Sea Pines at Hilton Head. We made it to the first of 3 Fast Chargers in Charleston, the half way point, without incident, and arrived at the condo by 10 p.m. for a wonderful dinner with Linda and Martin. Good wine too!

Very glad to finally arrive!

Some Friday Pics A Day of Contrasts

Our second stop on Friday was at the Stonebridge Mall on the Potomac, a very pleasant surprise. The chargers were efficient and located close to this wonderful Walgreens. Food selection fantastic and the wine store the best ever. We bought 4 bottles probably because the salesman was so nice to talk to and well versed in his product.

After huge traffic delays due to an accident on I95 just south of Washington we arrived at this Emporia/Norfolk Virginia Walmart. The Fast Charger was the fastest and really easy to use. The Walmart was typical of earlier Walmarts!

Friday's route from Altoona to Dunn NC, 757 kms, which is a little loger than Day 1. Two big reasons why we can go further: warmer temps and it is mostly downhill. A lot at first and then only gradually but it would surprise you how good a gradual downslope is for power consumption.

Friday's Route

We chose this Wingate in Altoona for two reasons: We had Wyndham points from our trip to Vancouver to see Tyler so the night was free tonight! and secondly and most importantly they have two Level 2 Sema Chargers. For less than $6 i got a 20% charge that guarantees us getting to the Hagerstown Premium Outlet Malls Fast Chargers mid morning.

This simple little level 2 charger was really easy to use. Thank you Wingate!

Each bar in the graph represents how many Kw hrs it would take to travel 100kms. over a 5 km stretch. Therefore theTen bars represent the last 50 kms. Note how each bar is getting taller meaning we are using higher amounts. Then bars 9 and 10 drop to almost nothing. Why, might or might not ask? The first 8 indicate rise in elevation or going uphill seriously...the last two bars represent the descent into Altoona where we are regenerating power and actually adding to our range rather than subtracting. Fun to watch and very real! The bar on the right is the current in use bar about to make the third contribution in a row.

Boy did it rain! We shopped a bit but I did have to check to make sure it was still working.

Another Electrify America Station. Very quick to connect and use.

These chargers can do up to 350 Kwh, over 5 times faster than any car 

can handle so they have a future.

This is my dash screen. Lots of infoand the Entertainment screen has lots more.

This is the second layer of ice from yesterday's storm as most of the first melted off. St Catharines experienced four separate blackouts yesterday but fortunately in a different quadrant each time.

Got me thinking that this could be an ice rink next year!

Bikes are packed

Looks like lots of stuff but actually an easy pack this morning. Old towels covering pedals and gears make it look "busy" but we are travelling light. Unfortunately the bikes have to come out each evening at the overnight stops and be stored in our room.

Electrify America Announcement Today

Electrify America announced today that the Sheetz Fast charging station at 157 Carriage Rd, Rocky Mount North Carolina is operational as of today Feb 6. This may not seem like a big deal to most of you (actually 99% of you probably) but it is on our chosen route and will make life a little more comfortable. Thank you Electrify America and see you Friday at supper time!

Hilton Head Trip Day 1 Thursday Feb 7

We know from our first 9 months of happy ownership of our Chevy Bolt that every time you leave on a 300 km trip you have to plan on a preferred charging location. I repeat that for peace of mind you must know where and when you plan to recharge!

To help you with that I recommend the website Plugshare. There dozens of mapping apps for charging locations but this one is best for several reasons. It shares info for all of the competitors in the charging marketplace, it updates daily, and best of all it shares user experiences as they charge.It also lets you plan and save your trip from charger to charger.

You may be thinking "only the insane would want to stop so often just to get fuel" and I would have agreed as I was certainly there for many years but times have changed and so have I!

We will drive the 1600+ kms to Hilton Head with two overnight stops at hotels that have chargers. This means that we eliminate the time and expense of those two charges and like from home we are charged and ready to go for early morning starts. We also plan our start, stop and charge times in sync with our need for food and washroom breaks. In the past we might have stopped for 45-50 minutes for a lunch break but now we might have to extend that to 75-80 minutes depending on the next segment distance.

The first day's drive is to Altoona PA . If you open and enlarge this Google map routing (Click "Altoona"!)you will see other important changes from our "routes of the past". The first is in Buffalo where we turn onto Route 5 just before the arena.The shortcut to Fredonia saves 9 kms over the normal I90/190 route but also reduces battery consumption considerably. Yes, there will be a few stop lights in Lackawanna but the lower speed limits and reduced distance really help with a minimum time loss.

A Nissan Leaf charging at Fredonia

We will be stopping in Fredonia at the new Electrify America fast chargers. Electrify America was born of the Volkswagen fines as a result of their lying and cheating with emissions and fuel economy. Nasty history but probably a good new beginning. The fines are paying for a massive installation of a network of new generation fast chargers very much like that of Tesla.

Unfortunately there are three standards in chargers: Tesla, Chademo and CCS/SAE. Tesla speaks for itself, Chademo is the Asian Standard and CCS is used by the Europeans and North American manufacturers. Teslas can use an adaptor at a CCS charger but the others can not adapt to Tesla.

Some chargers are free with the host picking up the tab. IKEA, Toronto Airport Authority, and various hydro utilities such as Veridian in Ajax or Alectra in Niagara are but a few examples of generous corporate sponsors, all with their own and different motivations.

Other Canadian corporate initiatives include the likes of Scotiabank, Tim Hortons and Canadian Tire. These all involve user costs and different levels of success. The most successful to my mind is not the one with the lowest cost but the one with the fastest and most reliable service. Canadian Tire with their new "Nissan" co-venture DFC chargers have a great phone app and are extremely efficient but are the most expensive of the three at $20 an hour.

Depending on my time and the weather of the day I can either make the drive to Belleville and back for free or pay $20 at the Belleville CTC. Electrify America is $18 US per hour and is taking a lot of heat from those who wrongly think it should be free!

Can things go wrong...you bet... electric car charging is  currently all about Murphy's Law...but the progress since we made our purchase is absolutely incredible and seems destined for exponential progress!

Since weather is so, so important we are looking at the ten day forecasts daily for any indication of concern.

Follow this link toWeather Underground, my go to weather app. On Sunday evening they were forecasting a high of 11 C for Thursday which is fantastic for battery usage. Unfortunately they may get more than an inch of rain

Some background information

We leave for Hilton Head in less than 48 hours in an all electric vehicle. You can not do this without a firm understanding of your vehicle, the route, where to charge. I am writing this because I love my car, I'm a convert to "green" thinking, I'm into itinerary details and planning, and above all I want to help others understand what can be done.

Last spring it was time to buy a new car and we all know that the car buying experience can range from a whole lot of fun to a whole lot of stress. I can only hope that in my 30+ years in the auto sales business that I kept the needle for customers closer to the former than the latter!

Since we are retired and with 4 wonderful grand children 28 kms from home we wanted function over sport, quiet over noise, economy over luxury and above all to send them a message that we are listening...to them.

Our 2013 Volkswagen Golf, Wolfsburg edition, was really a wonderful car so we looked there first. They had a new electric version last spring that teased us but failed to meet the distance test with a maximum range then of 200 kms in ideal conditions. Great for commuters but I have to drive to Belleville at least once a month. I would have to stop and charge 3-4 times in warm weather and 6 times in cold times like last week!

In doing research last winter I had to find the cars that had better range. Tesla, too expensive, leads the way with range but fails my need for function. The lower priced Tesla 3 is a sedan...where do I put my bike? ...and don't say on a rack...don't even go there!

The Nissan Leaf is interesting and the new Kia Soul e-version kind of cool but both somewhat limited in range. There are many others that may meet your wants or needs but did not check our boxes.

One of the serious challenges in shopping for an electric vehicle is availability. Try to find one on a dealer's lot!  Supply is an issue but dealers who make their livelihood selling pickups aren't yet interested....yet...! There are exceptions as some dealers and some salespeople are more progressive than others. Mary and I found Jim Faragalli of Wills Chev Olds in Grimsby to be the best. He found us a car when others sang the blues! Jim has sold many Volts and Bolts and knew his product well. John McHugh, the General Manager, is committed to the  electric vehicles and told me he would be grabbing as many as he could. They have managed to finally acquire inventory as this link shows!
Jim, John, Ashley and the service team have all treated us well so drop in and say Ian sent me! ...yes I did spend 30+ years in sales...and proud of it too! I was referred to Wills by my Poker buddy John Klassen. Thank you John!

Fortunately there is also a place where you can see most electric vehicles and learn about charging etc., in a completely unbiased way (not that I was shown any bias or pressure by Jim) Through a partnership between manufacturers, power companies and government, a "showroom" for electric vehicles, the Electric Vehicle Discovery Centre near York University, is the perfect place to visit.

If you have any thoughts about buying an electric car, do yourself a favour, visit the website but more importantly visit the Discovery Centre and compare makes and models....or just ask for Jim at Wills...

Our JuiceBox Home Charger

This is one of the prime motivators in owning an Electric car. Charging a car in your garage (or driveway) while you sleep! In Ontario we have surplus electricity between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. and this is reflected in the rates we pay. Currently we pay about 11.5 cents per Kw delivered ($.065 plus del.). Our battery capacity is 60 Kw so about $7.00 for a "fill up". Follow this link to more info on the JuiceBox

In the summer we got close to 500 kms on some full charges! General Motors suggests 383 kms as the range with driving conditions including terrain, speed, and temperature being the key variables. Last week in the extreme cold the car's computer screen predicted a range of only 235 kms !!! We are keeping a close watch on the weather forecasts for departure day.

BTW the charger cost of $839 plus tax, plus installation, came to just over $1400, less a government rebate (now cancelled) of $750, for a net cost to us of $650. For a fuel cost comparison we use our previous car, the VW Golf which coincidentally was almost the exact specifications in size. In 15,000 kms of driving the charger has already paid for itself.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the trip route!