Wife and I were thinking on how to speed up our trip to Tremblant, the idea of taking just one stop came up. Not sure if I’m up for that personally, I kinda do like my coffee/pastries/meals/dog-walks etc. But lets continue with it anyways to see where it might lead us. To begin with, there are roughly two routes, both of which go through Ottawa, be it either on Hwy 115 & Hwy 7 or 401 & 416. The former is slightly shorter (570 km vs 615 km), but charging is generally more available along the 401 & 416, and you would need a 300-400 km range EV to make the trip.
Lets start with Geography, the two routes both go through Ottawa, the shorter of the two, Hwy 115 & Hwy 7 through Peterbourough is 400 km in length, while 401/416 is 450 km. Plus the Peterbourough route is slower with a 80 km/hr speed-limit, hence if you have an EV with a range a bit over 400 km, that could be an option, with a charging stop in Ottawa, or perhaps Carleton Place or Perth perhaps if you happen to have an EV which can access the supercharger network, in which case 350km or 320 km range would do.
Taking the 401/416 is faster, by about 15 minutes, hence you will be driving quite a bit faster which will strain your range figures. While the Peterbourough route might come closer to the EPA range figures for your EV, I would discount at least 20% for the 401/416 route on the account of higher speeds. Nevertheless, if you can make it to Kempville (400 km from Toronto), then you should be fine with an 80 % charge for the remaining 215 km. I suspect you would need to at least make Gananouque (290 km from Toronto, with 325 km remaining) for your single charge stop.
There are a few EVs on my recent Spring 2024 EV survey that actually might work. The Tesla Model 3, Hyundai Kona or the Kia e-Niro might work for this, as they do have EPA range ratings in excess of 400 km. I do suspect a two stopper might be the more sensible plan, in particular as roof-boxes do make carrying ski gear a lot easier, but they do eat into your range figures, hence why not enjoy a meal in Namur, QB about 50 km before Tremblant, with a Flo station around the corner.
There is also the issue of the charging curve, namely that EVs generally charge quite quickly to 50-80%, where the charging slows down dramatically after that. Hence at our lone charging stop, we most likely would need to charge our EV to nearly 100% to make it to Tremblant. But yes, a one stop to Tremblant is certainly doable.
Electric car adventures 