Round trip Toronto to Blue Mountain possible?

[ichwoo]

hi, i have ordered a E-Golf, and hopefully the same time next year I will be driving this car to Blue Mountain with my friends. It is a 160km drive. It looks on paper that the car can make it on one charge if I drive efficiently. Am I too optimistic? What would your driving plan be like if you were going to drive from GTA to Blue Mountain for a day trip?

Moreover, I have just done a search and found only Tesla chargers in the Blue Mountain area. Have you done any charges in Blue Mountain area? Thanks.

 

[miimura]

Plugshare does show some chargers at the Westin Trillium House in the Blue Mountain Resort area. They have 4 Tesla Destination Chargers and two Sun Country J1772 (Clipper Creek). There is also a fast charger labeled "Coming Soon" at a Tim Hortons in Collingwood. It doesn't make sense to fast charge to full because the charge rate drops as the battery gets full, so if you return via Barrie, you can fast charge there and make it back to the GTA easily.

Plugshare - Westin Trillium House

Plugshare - Tim Hortons, Collingwood

 

[Kosta]

hi, i have ordered a E-Golf, and hopefully the same time next year I will be driving this car to Blue Mountain with my friends. It is a 160km drive. It looks on paper that the car can make it on one charge if I drive efficiently. Am I too optimistic? What would your driving plan be like if you were going to drive from GTA to Blue Mountain for a day trip?

Moreover, I have just done a search and found only Tesla chargers in the Blue Mountain area. Have you done any charges in Blue Mountain area? Thanks.

at the top of the 410 - free chargepoint DC at the Margaret Dunn Library , then your trip is shorter from full charge - and on return stop and fill up the battery - quite doable

 

[ichwoo]

Thank you both of you! I didn't know there is plugshare.com!

 

[Kosta]

hi, i have ordered a E-Golf, and hopefully the same time next year I will be driving this car to Blue Mountain with my friends. It is a 160km drive. It looks on paper that the car can make it on one charge if I drive efficiently. Am I too optimistic? What would your driving plan be like if you were going to drive from GTA to Blue Mountain for a day trip?

Moreover, I have just done a search and found only Tesla chargers in the Blue Mountain area. Have you done any charges in Blue Mountain area? Thanks.

at the top of the 410 - free chargepoint DC at the Margaret Dunn Library , then your trip is shorter from full charge - and on return stop and fill up the battery - quite doable

stopped at the Margaret Dunn Library DC fast charge - and Caledon is now charging $ for the service through Chargepoint - app and id rf card available if you need them online

 

[wakka88]

You won't make it without stopover to top up charging it.

I've done it a couple time in Jan, even when it's below -15C.

Regarding Westin Trillium House at Blue mountain resort, I believe that it's removed from Plugshare now! I guess the resort possibly reserve parking for their guests only even you want to pay $15 for parking!

When it was -15C, my dash only show 150km. (Actually max you can only drive 120km at -15C)
(Use your heat pump sparingly which will reduce your range and I tried only to use heated seat.)
I stopped over at Barrie VW and charge for 45-60min and wait in their service area.
It charges around 19 kWh. (Not FREE but it's fare price)
(Now you can try Georgian Cherovelt but it's used by their Bolt)
After charging up to 90-95%, I can manage to Blue Mountain and back to VW Barrie at night.

Then charge for another 40-45 mins and managed to drive back home!

Tips: One night driving back from Barrie with gusty SW wind, I couldn't make it since the amount power usage is much higher even though I'd following a truck! I must detour to IKea at Vaughan before heading home!

You need a lot of patience and EXTRA time!

NOTE: The manual recommend NOT charging with DC consecutively!
But I think it's due to heated battery when charging DC. I don't care much!
I just make sure I used a low voltage L2 to charge overnight!

 

[JoulesThief]

NOTE: The manual recommend NOT charging with DC consecutively!
But I think it's due to heated battery when charging DC. I don't care much!
I just make sure I used a low voltage L2 to charge overnight!

Lithium batteries need to be balance charged every other charge. It's not possible to do that using DC quick charging. Unbalanced charges on LiPo cells kills them rather quickly. Hence VW' recommendations to plug into an L2 and fully recharge after a Dc Quick charge, so you don't damage the batteries with repeated unbalanced charging methods. Convenience isn't a feature on the e-Golf when it comes to recharging. The car leaves you tethered like an iPhone at the airport or a Starbucks coffee shop. Just a fact of the beast, they are inconvenient, unless you can L2 recharge at home, overnight. Long range driving is not their forte, unless you have time to burn sitting around waiting to charge, being tethered, and unproductive.

 

[f1geek]

When a DCFC is performed on the e-Golf, the current (and charge rate) automatically tapers toward the end of the charge so that by the time the battery nears 100%, it takes 20 minutes for the last kWh to be delivered, just like it does for L2 charging.

Since you seem to be so well versed in the e-Golf BMS, I'd love to hear from an expert how the e-Golf balances the cells in the pack.

 

[JoulesThief]

When a DCFC is performed on the e-Golf, the current (and charge rate) automatically tapers toward the end of the charge so that by the time the battery nears 100%, it takes 20 minutes for the last kWh to be delivered, just like it does for L2 charging.

Since you seem to be so well versed in the e-Golf BMS, I'd love to hear from an expert how the e-Golf balances the cells in the pack.

Why don't you ask how Tesla does it, too. All electric cars balance recharge the cells their battery packs through the AC charger pack. Ask anyone that plays with Radio Controlled toys how its done.

 

[f1geek]

What is the proof that balancing only comes via AC charing? The charger on board the car converts AC to DC to charge the battery. The battery never sees AC current. When DC charging is performed, the on board charger is bypassed, but the battery still gets a DC charge. It gets a DC charge either way. So please tell me what's different between delivering DC via the onboard charger or the off board charger, especially when that DC current is delivered at the same rate?

 

[spare]

What is the proof that balancing only comes via AC charing? The charger on board the car converts AC to DC to charge the battery. The battery never sees AC current. When DC charging is performed, the on board charger is bypassed, but the battery still gets a DC charge. It gets a DC charge either way. So please tell me what's different between delivering DC via the onboard charger or the off board charger, especially when that DC current is delivered at the same rate?

The issue isn't AC vs DC, its actually higher voltage. High voltage charging is more complicated then lower voltage AC charging. The load and heat it places on the battery causes degradation of the cells. As well, DC fast charging is safer on larger battery arrays (like Tesla) that can absorb the higher voltage easier then the relatively smaller battery in the e-Golf.

Take a look Battery University, it goes pretty deep into this stuff.

 

[f1geek]

The voltage the battery pack sees is the same whether being AC charged or DC charged. As the pack SOC increases, the voltage delivered increases, regardless of the type of charging because the battery voltage needs to increase as the SOC goes up. I understand heat - that's due to high current, not high voltage. The issue that JoulesThief doesn't understand is the issue of "balancing the pack" via AC charging. Remote controlled airplanes and cars are two different beasts, as is a Tesla BMS vs the e-Golf BMS. That's why I'd like to hear some substantive evidence for what happens during "balancing" or it's just B.S. in my humble opinion.

 

[JoulesThief]

The voltage the battery pack sees is the same whether being AC charged or DC charged. As the pack SOC increases, the voltage delivered increases, regardless of the type of charging because the battery voltage needs to increase as the SOC goes up. I understand heat - that's due to high current, not high voltage. The issue that JoulesThief doesn't understand is the issue of "balancing the pack" via AC charging. Remote controlled airplanes and cars are two different beasts, as is a Tesla BMS vs the e-Golf BMS. That's why I'd like to hear some substantive evidence for what happens during "balancing" or it's just B.S. in my humble opinion.

Go figure it out yourself, and speak fact. There isn't a battery pack that's LiPo that doesn't individually charge each and every 4.2V battery cell separately, to balance charge all the cells. It's achieved by using the AC L1 or L2 circuitry provided from the charger pack onboard in the e-Golf, not using high speed DC quick charging that charges all the cells while wired in series, causing unequal recharging rates.
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