Now with my third EV, we can look back and compare our journey with the different EVs. The original Nissan Leaf (2015), second generation Nissan Leaf (2018), and the 2026 Kia EV4. Overall advancement in EV technology are evident, with journey times greatly reduced as technology has improved. Lifestyle wise, the biggest jump for me was from the 2015 Leaf to the 2018 Leaf.
North bay is about 360 km from Toronto, about perfect distance for a weekend getaway. There is lots of charging available along the route. Flo, Ivy, Tesla and Lakeland are a few of the networks that you will find along the route. With the exception of Ivy, I have found the other three to be generally quite reliable. Do note that reliability and availability vary depending on the actual location, be sure to check plugshare. Also, I like going south of lake Simcoe, mostly as I live a little east of downtown Toronto. If you stick to the 400, Barrie is a lovely city to stop with lots of charging. Plus stopping by Webers burger you will find not just juicy burgers but also Tesla superchargers at both North and Southbound parking lots.
I have done this trip typically once or twice a summer for the last 5 years. The 2015 Leaf, which only had J1772 L2 charging (I should have spent a little more to get the Chademo fast charging plug), took some will-power, but we made it work, and in doing so showed that even a modest first gen Leaf can make long journeys, something you might find on autotrader for 5k.
Things got a lot easier with the 2018 Nissan Leaf, which had Chademo fast charging. At the time, the Ivy station in Gravenhurst was perfectly located mid-way along our journey, so all we needed was that one stop. The Ivy station is located right by a grocery store, a liquor store (handy for the bottle of gin needed to cover the cottage rental fee), and plenty of dining. Usually the Leaf was ready to go long before the humans were. We did typically have to slow down a little bit (usually to about 90 km/hr), as the 180 km per leg was on the edge range wise for the 2018 Leaf. Sadly at the time of this writing, that Ivy station in Gravenhurst has been down for some time, but it is perhaps easier to stop twice, once in Keswick and again in Huntsville.
With the EV4, things got easier still, as I did not need to charge, assuming I left Toronto with at least 80% on the battery. I wound up stopping anyways as I got hungry, and Lakeland networks had a 30 kW charger available, perfect for me, as I would have had idle-fees at their faster charger as I enjoyed dinner.
Whichever EV you got, North Bay is well within range, especially if your EV has fast charging. No reason not to go enjoy the gateway city, if your visit happens to be on a Saturday or a Wednesday, the farmers market is a great experience.
Electric car adventures 