Montreal

As avid readers of this blog might have noticed, I have not done a trip report in a while. Mostly because motorway travel in an EV is not really an issue these days. New EVs can easilly cover 300 km without charging, and once at a charging station one charges up before the driver enjoys a burger or goes to the bathroom, not both, as 20-30 minute charging stops have become the norm. Even in an older EV, such as my trusty 2018 Nissan Leaf, motorway travel is quite possible as this blog will certainly attest to, I have gone to Timmins, Ottawa and Windsor just to name a few. However, I felt there was a Montreal sized hole, in my trip reports and thus I decided to fill it.

Montreal sits about 550 km from Toronto. There is ample charging along Hwy401, I stopped after about 150km, then 130,150 and 120 km, which worked with my meal plan. One need not drive to Montreal, in fact an argument can be made that the train is more comfortable (source). Indeed, if ones business is mostly in downtown Montreal, say attending a major sporting event, the train makes a lot more sense as you avoid the inevitable traffic jam once the sporting is over.

I did this trip in my trusty 2018 Nissan Leaf S. This was a part of a ski-trip further into Quebec, hence of course, the roof-racks were put on to keep the ski-gear away from the kids (source). Further I did use my fan to cool the pack during fast charging (source), this kept things from getting too hot, and allowed a decent fast charge, even at the last stop, in fact the frist two stops were about an hour, with the last stop an hour and fifteen minutes. Driving time was about 7 hours, a little longer than google’s 6 hours, but admitently, I had to ease off the throttle a few times to stretch the electrons.

Montreal is a wonderful city, so close, yet so different and such a delight to visit. The Cuisine is wonderful, deli-meat sandwiches are an art form, along with wonderful influences from France and the rest of the world. After a weekend in Montreal, it was time to move on with our trip, but the city is always a delight to visit.