Second Road trip to Maritime Canada

Eric_C_Boston

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My second road trip was originally similar to the first, but I was going to use US Route 1 instead of I-95. I planned on attending a Car and Coffee event at the Seal Cover Auto Museum and stay for a couple of days at the Seawall Motel in Seawall, ME again. The plan changed when Canada opened the border the Monday before the museum event. I decided to take a long delayed trip to Halifax, NS with a brief stop in Saint John, NB. I planned to travel through the charger desert of Eastern Maine!

A few things did not go to plan at the start. I got a late start with a SOC of 98% instead of the planned 100%. There was a heatwave with the outside temperature showing 103 degrees as I was stuck in traffic on Route 1 in Peabody. There were other slowdowns in tourist places, like Oqunquit, ME. I missed a turn in Portsmouth, NH, but got back on route after a couple of miles. There were occasional signs luring me back to Interstate 95.

The temperature steadily dropped into the 80s as I headed northeast though the nice scenery. I stopped at the Hannaford Supermarket in Belfast, ME for a break. No sign of the fast chargers. In Ellsworth, Maine I turned south to Mt Desert Island. This leg of the trip was 265.5 miles and the SoC went from 98% to 31%.

The Cars and Coffee event was great. I met another Mach-E owner with a Select. I drove around Mount Desert Island after the event and charged at Northwest Harbor while visiting the town. Even through it was a dual EVSE, it seemed like it was setup for a single charging spot. The charger was offset to the right and the space to the left was a handicap space. There was a Chevy Bolt EV when I returned and the other EVSE cable did reach. I charged for 42 minutes and gained 5% SoC. I got to do more driving at slower than highway speeds, so I was seeing efficiency values of up to 5.4 miles/kW while on the island. It seems like you could get away with mainly overnight Level 1 charging for traveling around the island.

I charged using the Seawall Motel EVSE via the Accessory Mode trick, although it did fault early in the overnight charge session. I unplugged and the EVSE reset after about five minutes. I had a SoC of 100% by the next morning and continued on to Saint John. I followed US Route 1 to Calais, Maine. I was seeing efficiency values of 4.1 to 4.4 miles/kW. I stopped in Calais for lunch after 140.3 miles and the SoC dropped to 63%. There are Level 2 EVSEs along Route 1, but none along my typical Route 9 route.

I had no problems crossing the border at Ferry Point. I made sure I had all the required documents and registered using the ArriveCAN app. The time on my phone and car both instantly changed to Atlantic Time when I was midway across the river. Saint John was another 66.5 miles and the SoC dropped to 41%. The highway driving through hills dropped the efficiency to 3.5 miles/kW

I spent the next day in the Saint John area. Saint John only has one DC fast charger, a 25kW available at a Chevy dealer during business hours. I was hesitant to charge at a dealership. There were no Level 2 EVSEs where I traveled. I figured I would charge on the way to Halifax at Quispamsis, NB. I left for Halifax with a SoC of 35%.

The EVSEs in NB are mostly managed by FLO. Some were installed by NB Power and are 25kW or 50kW. I discovered upon reaching the one in Quispamsis, that it was not in the Ford Blue Oval Network. I found during my trip that only some FLO EVSEs are part of the Ford network. I hesitate joining EVSE networks as I do not want a wallet full of cards and my phone loaded with Apps. Since FLO was the major player in the area, and with future trips in mind, I joined FLO and downloaded the app. I ended up not charging because I could not get the phone app to activate the charger! No problem since I had range to get to the next one in Sussex, NB. I got there with a SoC of 17%.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Second Road trip to Maritime Canada SussexEVSE

The Sussex EVSE was behind a Shopper's Drug Mart, so I could do some shopping and browsing while charging. I charged for 26 minutes and continued on with a SoC of 40%. The traffic flow was fast, and with the hills the range was dropping faster than expected. I got to the CF Champlain Mall in Dieppe, NB with a SoC of 22% after 52 miles. I had to wait for a few minutes as the charger was in use, and charged while having lunch and browsing. After 52 mimutes of charging, I left with a SoC of 62%. This is now feeling like a real road trip.

I started to feel slightly nervous when I was not quite to Halifax and the SoC got closer to 10%. I should have charged for more time in NB, but thought I would make it with over 10%. I ended up in Halifax with a SoC of 9% after 156.7 miles with an efficiency of 3.3 miles/kW. This is the first time dealing with these lower efficiency values.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Second Road trip to Maritime Canada DealershipEVSE

I charged at a dealership for the first time, O'Regan Nissan in Halifax while having supper. After 51 minutes I left after the SoC went from 8% to 51%.

A couple of days later I did a loop trip from Halifax to Digby, and Yarmouth via the Fundy side, then back to Halifax via the South Shore. I charged to 80% the night before at Atlantic Superstore while getting supper. I started out with a SoC of 79%.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Second Road trip to Maritime Canada DigbyEVSE

The SoC was 31% when I stopped to charge at the Digby Sobey's. I walked down to the waterfront and explored for an hour and 27 minutes. I was surprised to see the SoC at 85% when I got back. I charged from 65% to 80% in Yarmnouth. I got back to Halifax with a SoC of 21%.

It was easier to do opportunity charging in Halifax. I stopped at the Atlantic Superstore to charge while visiting the area, but a Tesla was using it with a CHAdeMO adapter. I monitored my phone and returned to the car when the Tesla left. I started the charging session and continued walking along the Halifax waterfront. The SoC went from 13% to 27% in 34 minutes. A Chevy Bolt was parked waiting when I returned to the car. The driver was also monitoring the charger status as he walked over to his car as I was leaving the parking lot.

The trip home was complicated by TS Henri, but I decided on a two day trip back home. Petro-Canada has installed 200kW and higher DC Fast Chargers along the Trans-Canada highway down to Halifax. I decided to sign up and download yet another app.

Unfortunately the 350kW charger in Halifax was partially broken. I charged the night before leaving while having supper.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Second Road trip to Maritime Canada Petro-CanadaEVSE
Ford Mustang Mach-E Second Road trip to Maritime Canada PowerCabinets

The charger only supplied 20kW and I got to a SoC of 52%. I started the trip home with a SoC of only 51%, but used the Petro-Canada 200kW charger at Stewiacke for 23 minutes to get the SoC to 80%. It is too bad that Petro-Canada is not part of the Ford Blue Oval Network. The Petro-Canada charger at Moncton was broken, so I charged at a FLO 50kW at Youngs Cove One Stop. The Soc went from 23% to 51% in 36 minutes.

The plan was to overnight at Iveys Motor Lodge in Houlton, Maine and charge to 100% using their Clippercreek Level 2 EVSE. As a backup I used the Petro-Canada 200kW charger in Meductic, NB to take the SoC from 19% to 80%. I got to Iveys with a SOC of 72% and was able to charge to 100%.
Ford Mustang Mach-E Second Road trip to Maritime Canada IveysEVSE

There are actually four EVSEs in the picture as two are mounted on the back of the posts.

A SoC of 100% was important, since the next fast charger near I-95 is in Augusta, Maine. I did simulations using ABRP later and I would need to charge to a SoC of at least 89% at Meductic to get to Augusta, Maine. I will be glad when they get the fast charger in Bangor installed. They should install another one between Bangor and Houlton on I-95 as well.

I decided to do the speed limit (75 MPH) leaving Houlton, ME and saw 2.6 miles/kW efficiency. The SoC was 56% when I reached Bangor. The efficiency increased to 3.0 miles/kW as the speed limit went down to mostly 70 MPH. The Ford Navigation decided to take me a bit off the highway to charge on a Chargepoint 50kW at Hannaford Supermarket in North Windham, ME. The SoC was at 14% and I thought a better choice was the EA Charger in Scarborough, ME. Still, there are a number of good restaurants around the area and I had lunch for an hour and five minutes while the SoC went to 80%.

I reached home before the rain from TD Henri with a SoC of 48%. I traveled 2026.5 miles with an efficiency of 3.9 miles/kW. It was a fun trip and I gained experience in road tripping with an EV. Since I now have a Petro-Canada Account, I will try and use their chargers when possible in Canada. I plan on joining Circuit Electrique for my future Quebec travels.
 
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Eric_C_Boston

Eric_C_Boston

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I was focused on Eastern Maine in the planning for this trip and not as much for the other portions.

I looked at the DC Fast chargers in the Ford network and there are only two in NB. The only one on my route was the one I used in Moncton.

I do not want to sign up for a lot of EVSE networks. Besides the Ford Network, I belonged to ChargePoint and EVgo before the trip. I found out that FLO and ChargePoint have a roaming agreement, but only through the mobile application. I only tried the ChargePoint NFC on my phone and it did not work. It turned out to be useful to get the FLO account and I will get the card as well.

Chargepoint has roaming agreements with EA America, EV Connect, FLO, and Greenlots. This would cover other non-FLO chargers in Canada. FLO has roaming agreements with BC Hydro EV, ChargePoint, eCharge Network, Electric Circuit (Circuit Electrique), and Greenlots. I can use a FLO card on BC Hydro EV, eCharge Network, and Circuit Electrique. Circuit Electrique roaming will be handy for my future travels in Quebec. One less EV network account to get.

The eCharge Network is not listed as a separate network in Plugshare. It is NB Power's charging network, and listed in Plugshare as FLO. I noticed the charger I used in Moncton is listed as FLO and not eCharge Network on the eCharge Network website. This would explain the lack of chargers in NB on the Ford Network and why ChargePoint was unlikely to work. The eCharge Network is not considered part of the FLO network for roaming using Ford or ChargePoint.

Petro-Canada is also useful as they installed higher rate DC Fast chargers across Canada, mainly along the Trans-Canada highway. It makes sense to sign up for an account.

It appears the two new accounts will cover much of Canada.
 
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Eric_C_Boston

Eric_C_Boston

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Eric
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Retired Software Engineer
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I had an interesting discussion today with a Tesla Model 3 owner who originally had a Chevy Bolt. We were discussing my trip to Halifax. He did a trip to Saint John, NB using the same NB Route 1.

He made a comment about the poor roads in New Brunswick causing problems with the Model 3, due to low ground clearance. I did not have any problems.

He looked at the Supercharger map and noticed there are only two Supercharger locations in Aulac and Enfield for the whole of Nova Scotia. There are no superchargers in PEI. I looked and noticed there is only one Supercharger on NB Route 1.

If I had a Tesla, then I would have to get the CHAdeMO adapter and use the same network I did when I drove the loop of Halifax - Yarmouth - Halifax. I would have to use it for a trip to Cape Breton as well. I could not take advantage of the higher power Petro-Canada chargers.

It surprised me that there is an area where the CCS infrastructure is better than Tesla.
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