Day 4 - Manitoba to Alberta

Relatively good morning! But by 6:50am we only had 76% (slow charger at the Super 8, at least when you arrive as late as we did). Only minus 4 in Winterpeg (which was -40 the other day), lucky us! Battery was 6 degrees so conditioned it as we were headed to a 200kW charger. Beware of photo radar today.

After much searching, we discovered that the Petro Canada charger listed in google in Portage la Prairie had been removed four months previous L. There was a 50kW at a GM dealership that we started at, and then found a 100kW Flo at the Coop across the street. We charged to 65% (20 minutes, $14.84). Note that searching a town first in PlugShare and then zooming in to see what chargers are there seems to be most efficient way to find working chargers. Once we’ve found a convenient charger, we double check on the company’s app to ensure it’s operational (and maybe call if we’re unsure, particularly if it’s the only charger in town).

Sometimes the car and ABRP don’t have a charger listed that we’ve found on PlugShare – if that charger is faster than the ones the car/ABRP are recommending, we’ll go to it.

On to Brandon, MB – estimated 9% charge on arrival – we drove 120km/h and arrived with 9%! Charged at a Smitty’s Restaurant (Shell ReCharge) to 90% (32 minutes $38.12). The car gets better mileage after the first DC charge as the battery is warmer. We got into next stop, Whitewood, with 9%. Lunched there and almost couldn’t make it into the truck stop for the ice in the parking lot (luckily the roads weren’t bad). Charged to 87% ($17.98).

Headed to Regina – estimated SOC on arrival 12%. It rained much of this leg. We had 9% on arrival but we were driving faster. We’ve discovered it’s important to make sure that the charging cable is properly seated when you start charging – it would be easy to think it wasn’t working when it really just isn’t properly engaged. Also finding that they often deliver fewer KWs than advertised (the Regina Co-op one was supposed to be 350, but think most we got was 137). Alfie got his favorite treat - pupachino!

In Moose Jaw, we’d noticed chargers (big ones) at Canada Golden Foods. We searched these out – and would have been great but didn’t work for us. It’s now about 4pm. We instead went to the Flo and got about 88kW/h. Wind on this leg was really significant – we drove about 100km/h and were getting 36.6kwh/100.

We’d had a very long and somewhat frustrating day, so it was very important for us to go to Miso House (fantastic Japanese) for amazing takeout in Swift Current! This little detour meant that we rolled into the Swift Current charger with 4%!! Too close for comfort! The 350kWh Petro Canada charger near the restaurant was only delivering 40kW so we charged to 16% and headed to the Co-op Flo which delivered about 88kW/h. A 30 minute charge to 90% and we were off to Maple Creek (7:48pm local time). We arrived with 16% and charged at the Flo to 64%. Estimated SOC for Medicine Hat 11%.

We arrived at the Hampton Inn (we highly recommend it) about 10:30pm. The one J1772 plug was not working, but the Tesla NACS was and luckily we had the dongle to charge!

All in all, about 1100 kms covered since we headed out this morning. Good night!