Recently, a youtouber did a 500 km test-run with a Leaf similar to my 2018 Nissan Leaf in 7 hours and 45 minutes (source). Thats quite different from my 10 hrs and 30 minutes over the 570 km or so from Toronto to Tremblant. Lets explore why, some of the differences are in the cargo department, I often have a roof-box to hold the ski’s, and two kids, wifie and a dog do add a bit to the overall weight. But much is also in the charging strategy as our youtuber stopped more often, as that last 70-97 % can take as long as 10 -> 70 %. While some improvements can be had, we would only save about 30 minutes in the end.
Lets look at the trip-logs from one of my Tremblant trips, where we drove the 584 km from Toronto to Tremblant in 10 hrs and 33 minutes.
And Lets compare this to our youtuber’s 500 km test run.
Our youtuber manages to drive faster and charge faster too. Average charge speed for me was 25.6 kW, while our youtuber managed 28 kW (10 % advantage). Drive speed showed similar differences, 76 km/hr vs 85 km/hr (10 % advantage). Efficiency figures show a smaller 5 % advantage, 5.9 km/kWh vs 6.1 km/kWh, even though our youtuber is driving faster.
So, what can I do on my next Tremblant run? Driving further than my first stop in Coburg is certainly tempting. After that our youtuber drove 150 km, then stopping every 100 km for after that. This is doable, Toronto to Belleville is about 180 km, that would be a good first stop as there are multiple charging options in Belleville. Next, Brockville might work at about 160 km, as again there are multiple charging options available. Ottawa would be next, 120 km further, and lastly Namur in Quebec (100 km further), before a final 50 km push to Tremblant. This route mostly follows 401-416-A50 via Ottawa, so it should be possible to drive a little faster. Efficiency would likely be a little lower, as a fully loaded leaf, roofbox and all, is no efficiency monster. But I should be able to close the gap slightly on driving speed, perhaps managing an average of 80 km/hr. Lets peer into my charging logs and see what that might look like.
Well now, we are looking at a slight improvement, at about 10 hrs total, vs the 10 hrs 33 minutes. Mostly by driving faster, at 85 km/hr. I still need to go deep into the battery pack both in Belleville and Brockville. Mostly as there are few good charging options for my Leaf, particularly along the Brockville to Ottawa leg (I like at least two cabinets, four if I can find them, and a Chademo plug), see map below.
It is also true that this route (401-416) via Ottawa is a bit longer at 620 km, than my youtuber 500 km test run. Which would require a slow extra charging session (the battery will be hot after so many fast charges, and a 100 km drive). The charging would take an hour and the driving another hour, hence I feel that “10 hrs” is a reasonable guestimate, so not huge savings, but some are possible by driving a little faster.
Electric car adventures 