Charging on the new Ivy Kempower chargers

Posted bylukefrugalevPosted inUncategorized

Ontario started the Ivy charging network back in 2020 (source). Ivy operates on most Onroute rest-stops common along Ontario’s highways (source), as well as other locations. In my experience, reliability has been better than average, perhaps 90% or so first charge success, hence I would check plugshare and the Ivy-app ahead of time. I found myself using one of their new Kempower charging units and was impressed.

Recently, Ivy has started to upgrade their older chargers to shiny new Kempower units. These are nice, as now you can charge at all available plugs, while before, only about half the plugs could be used for charging. For the site, at the Innisfil ONroute, 6 EVs can now charge simulaneously, while before only 4 EVs could. I was the only EV there, on a chilly Sunday afternoon, and I got full-power (or as much as my 2018 LEAF can take anyways).

Kempower also has a lovely web-interface that drivers can use to keep track of their charge. Once the charge has been started, a QR code is displayed on the dispenser which you can scan with your phone, giving you access to statistics on your charging session. A sample is shown below.

Visualizing my Kempower charging session at the Ivy Innisfil ONroute. Tap the battery on the inital screen (left), brings up the session history ont he right. Tapping on the volts and amps shows available current from the charging station (not shown), as well as the maximum current your EV is accepting.

Overall the charging session was a success, I got the electrons I needed to get home, along with a nice snack and a washroom break I was due for. The detailed graph on the web-interface (shown above), predicted that I would hit 80 % in about 30 minutes total, which proved correct. It took me a minute to realize that I need to tap STOP on the touchscreen on the dispenser to stop the charge not the physical button located underneath the STOP on the screen, other than that, things worked great and I look forward to seeing more of these, particularly at busy stops with frequent queueing, those two extra charging plugs are nice. The following is a list of the Ivy Kempower charging stations as of late 2025 (source):

  • ONroute Innisfil
  • ONroute King City
  • ONroute Cambridge North and South
  • ONroute Trenton North and South (Chademo support provided by two older cabinets)
  • ONroute Port Hope
  • ONroute Mallorytown North and South
  • ONroute Odessa
  • ONroute Napanee

Tried one of these? How did it go? Drop a comment to let me know.

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