We’re back in Supercharger Country! At least for a while. Yes, Canada can be crossed with an EV at this point, easily. Mostly thanks to the great work of Sun Country Highway! Just bring some time 😉 But, sorry to say, we did miss the Tesla Superchargers! Especially with the reduced range we have, 250km (at 60km/h with trailer) instead of 400km (at 110km/h without trailer), it is important for us to have fast charging options to top up our range in the middle of the day. It makes for more pleasurable travel. It gives us more freedom. We hope that the Ontario government keeps that in mind and

1. Provides mostly fast-chargers and
2. Provides the fast-chargers where people want to travel, and not where they live. After all, you can charge at home if driving short-distance, but if you want to truly travel, you have to rely on public (fast!) chargers.

Happily reunited with the Tesla Superchargers

We hope that the Ontario government, and any other government for that matter, will base their decisions on what electric cars WILL SOON be able to do, and not what they are able to do NOW. We so hope they won’t waste the tax payers’ money on charging locations and charger types that will soon be obsolete; Because the evolution of the electric car is going to accelerate more and more. Especially, if the government incentives are put into the RIGHT cars, the TRUE electric cars, not the ‘pseudo/ compliance-ones’ that can drive 20km in electric mode and then have to switch over to gas mode. Those should not be subsidized, that’s not the right direction for car manufacturers to go.

If anybody in the government is interested in our input, we would be more than happy to provide it!

Having truly missed the Superchargers, driving into the Barrie Supercharger parking lot so felt like coming home. In an instant, our ‘range concerns’ – I wouldn’t call it ‘range anxiety’ any more – were gone. For a little while now, we can actually drive 100km/h with the trailer, instead of mostly 70km/h or even one time 50km/h. Why not more car manufacturers make use of these amazing pieces of technology is beyond our understanding. Tesla offered to share the use of the Superchargers, for a price, of course. But, so far, no manufacturer has come forward to openly and truly admit that Tesla is doing the right thing. Not just with words, but through actions, by jumping on the Supercharger bandwagon, and thus accelerating the growth of the network even more. We’re still in ‘the next Tesla killer concept car’ and ‘why wait [for the Model 3]’ kind of phase. I hope it’ll be over soon; For the sake of the car drivers, and for the sake of future generations. “Not invented here” should not be the motto of today’s day and age. It’s too late for that. If we want to make a climate change effort, it has to happen now.

Barrie ON Supercharger on a Sunday afternoon

This week, we met some great people – again! There are some truly amazing people out there! There is Max, the 18-year old @Tesla_Addict on Instagram. It’s great to see especially young people getting so excited about something. And of course, we completely share his particular excitement. We very much enjoyed the time spent with his family, and the video interview he did with us the the next morning together with his friend Damien. Stay tuned for Max’s interview on his YouTube Channel! Rolf especially had a blast, I barely got a word in edgewise. 😉 Nor did Max, LOL. Instead, I had to duck my head most of the time, Rolf does like to talk with his hands… Thank you, Max and family! We had a great time! Can’t wait to watch your interview! And Max, say hi to your ‘gas-friends’ from us! 

One of Tesla’s biggest fans, Max, the ‘Tesla_Addict’ 😉 Thanks for the interview!

A huge thank you also goes to our dog Kye for that morning. He was so extremely patient with us. What a good dog!

At the Grimsby Supercharger, we met another great person to talk to, Jaff. We could have talked for hours. And then again Ian at Starbucks. Guess what, we could have talked for hours! Thanks, guys, for making us feel so welcome! Thank you, also, to the Southern Ontario Tesla Owners Club, TEVA, Plug’n’Drive, Toronto Hybrid & EV, EVs of Canada, EVOO, WEEVA, GHEVA, and LEVA for putting the word out about our Meet-Up in Mississauga; and especially to John, for organizing the location. What a great sight, all those EVs in the parking lot! And even a fellow Alto R1723 trailer, in yellow! We very much enjoyed meeting and talking to all of you! More photos here by EMileage Environmental Inc. Thank you!

Meet-up in Mississauga ON

Another thing I’d like to mention this week is our visit to Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls has been on my bucket list for a long time. I published a photo album on Facebook. While the scenery is stunning, I prefer nature that is inspiring and relaxing, not commercialized and over-crowded. In the end, I was more excited to pay homage to Nikola Tesla at his statue across from the Niagara Falls. What a genius! And I loved the ride along the Niagara Parkway. It’s so beautiful, so worth going there! We actually passed Jackson-Triggs who make the wine we often buy back in Victoria BC!

Visiting the Nikola Tesla statue across from the Niagara Falls

By chance, we drove by the homestead of Laura Secord, a Canadian heroine: During the war of 1812, Laura Secord overheard the plan of 300 Americans to surprise-attack some 50 British soldiers, and since her husband was injured, took it upon herself to walk 32km (20miles) out of American-occupied territory to inform British Lieutenant James FitzGibbon of the imminent attack. The Lieutenant could then muster Mohawk warriors to help defeat the Americans and thus prevent the strengthening of the Americans’ hold on the Niagara Peninsula. I told Rolf I only wanted to take some pictures, but a tour had just started and I decided to join it with no chance of telling Rolf. Half an hour later, I showed up again with some special chocolate bars: Unrelated to the heroine, there’s a ‘Laura Secord’ chocolate brand that was sold in the store. Luckily, Rolf accepted my peace offering. 😉

Laura Secord’s homestead

Friday afternoon we had a lot of fun with Trevor from the Model 3 Owners Club. We only wanted to do a quick interview, but guess what, we DID talk for hours 😉 Too bad we didn’t meet Ken as well and we also forgot to take a picture…arg! Too much fun talking I guess. Stay tuned for the interview on the Model 3 Owners Club Show on their YouTube Channel.

This 8^th week ended with a visit with friends in Brechin. If you’re an adventurer yourself, you might want to follow Sheryl and Paul on their Distant Shores TV Sailing adventures. Thank you, Sheryl and Paul, for a wonderful afternoon. We are glad that timing worked out so we could get together. Good luck with your upcoming, new challenge! I’m already curious where we will meet next 😉

Great time with Paul and Sheryl from DistantShores.ca!

This past week, we were also asked to talk a little bit more about our Model X and how it compares to the Model S. I will do that in a separate post right after this.

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