Vancouver, BC

[mysoulev]

SoulEV
Has anyone driven from Vancouver to Whistler?

i know my SoulEV is capable of 200km in summer time city driving,
Whistler is only 140km from Vancouver but it is all hwy speed and hilly.

don't want to be the first SoulEV to get towed on the sea-to-sky hwy

 

[fanbanlo]

I wouldn't do that.

My estimate range is only ~156km with AC on.

You may want to charge somewhere along the way if you must. Check plugshare

 

[fanbanlo]

FYI http://www.autoreviewsonline.com/featured-articles/2015-kia-soul-ev-a-family-vacation-test-drive/

 

[mysoulev]

@fanbanlo

great info, thanks for the link.

 

[inphoenix]

When I saw your post, my knee jerk response was "NO, don't do that". But looking at plugshare there are plenty of options for you to charge and complete this trip with no issues. Yes, a little planning may be required.

 

[Jon]

Yeah, there's a fast charger in Squamish you could stop at, and another at the Whistler conference centre. Plan on a couple of half-hour stops and you should be fine!

 

[mysoulev]

thanks inPhoenix and Jon for your advice.

i hope i don't have to waste anytime at Squamish and wonder if i could go all the way to Whistler with 27kWh, so i did a test driving from Vancouver to Capilano Cleveland Dam:

distance - 23km
veritcal climb - 80m
(projects to 135km - 470m, darn, not quite 600m)
energy consumption - 16.5kWh/100km (27kWh will go 163km)

not sure how much more energy it will take for an extra 130m climb over 135km, so still can not take the chance base on this test.

 

[tcseza]

I just did it couple of weeks ago. Kia Soul EV 2016. I left Vancouver with 100% charge - 180Kms, did stop for a quick 10 minutes charge in Squamish and have had around 30kms left when I reached Whistler. On my way back - roughly 90% charge from Whistler and without stopping for a quick charge in Squamish, I made it to dtw. vancouver with about 40Kms left in the car. It was a great trip with 4 adults in the car

 

[mysoulev]

I just did it couple of weeks ago. Kia Soul EV 2016. I left Vancouver with 100% charge - 180Kms, did stop for a quick 10 minutes charge in Squamish and have had around 30kms left when I reached Whistler. On my way back - roughly 90% charge from Whistler and without stopping for a quick charge in Squamish, I made it to dtw. vancouver with about 40Kms left in the car. It was a great trip with 4 adults in the car

great info, thanks!!! just wondering how fast were you driving?

i drove to Lions Bay from Vancouver last Saturday, i reset the energy meter before the trip, the 2 cars in front of me were doing around 75km and i just followed behind them, i had A/C on the whole trip and i was surprise to see the trip returned 13.5 Kwh/100km. so i figured if i drive no faster than 80km, i'm sure i can get to Whistler without stopping for charging, but i may not want to drive that slow for the entire trip.

also, where did you park and charge before returning? i saw on Plugshare's comment people were having problem with the ports in Day Lot 1.

 

[Jon]

For the edification of other Vancouver-area Soul EV owners, I'll relate briefly the pertinent details of my trip to the Seattle area this past weekend. Before we left, I bought a monthly subscription to Aerovironment for US$19.99. Sadly, I did so too late to get the key fob (additional US$15 one-time fee), so I had to phone the toll-free number each time I needed to charge (roaming fees :x )

We left East Van with 100% charge on Saturday morning. When we reached Bellingham, we charged up at Sehome Village, where there is an Aerovironment ChaDeMo charger. We were at about 30% charge when we got there, having driven fairly fast on Hwy. 99 and the I-5. There was nobody else charging there. The charge took us to 83% in about 20-some minutes, which was perfect to get a snack. Our next stretch was longer, stopping at Performance Kia in Everett. Now, the Plugshare app indicated that they charge "$5/session for non-Soul EV drivers". I had emailed the dealership previously, and had been assured that the fact that I had bought my car at a different dealership (in a different country, even) would not be a problem, but when I went in and asked about charging up, the first thing I was asked was whether I had bought the car there. When I said no, but told them about my email exchange, the salesman looked puzzled and had to check with his manager that it was okay to let us charge. They did, though, which was a good thing, because our battery was below 20% and the car was nagging us to get it some relief. We had lunch at a nearby Panera (the kids loved it!) while the car got its much-needed power. Then it was on to my brother-in-law's place in Sammamish. There, we plugged into a wall outlet overnight, ensuring that we could leave the next day with 100% power and a nice cool interior.

On the way back, I decided to avoid Performance Kia because of their attitude, and also because we weren't going to be having a meal and I didn't think the area was particularly pleasant to be hanging around in. So, we took a more scenic route out of Sammamish along SR 203, with a small (10 km) detour east along Hwy 2 to Sultan. There, the information centre had an Aerovironment ChaDeMo charger. We still had plenty of charge at that point, but we needed top off to make our next stop, so spent a pleasant few minutes in the small town of Sultan. When we got to 83% again, we headed west on Hwy 2 to the I-5 and then north to Burlington. We got lunch and another Aerovironment charge at the outlet mall there. It was the only place we had to wait for the charger, as a pleasant young fellow with a Nissan Leaf was not quite finished when we got there. After getting up to 83% on the ChaDeMo, we moved the car over to a Chargepoint free Level 2 machine, and got it up to 100% (and cooled down) while the kids bought some fudge and we got the daughter some clothes. The trip home from Burlington to East Van took us down to 13% charge, so it's a good thing we got the Level 2 boost.

Lessons from the trip:

1) Don't count on businesses giving a free and cheerful charge, even if they tell you they will. At the least, you'll have to be fairly persistent about it.
2) When possible, get the Level 2 charge after the ChaDeMo. Aerovironment has Level 2 chargers at all the same locations as their fast chargers, so once I have the key fob, it will be easy to top up to 100% without moving the car.
3) Keep a close eye on the GOM and the remaining distance on the Navigator, and how much faster the GOM goes down than the Navi, especially when driving at highway speeds and using the AC intermittently. Range anxiety is real!

 

[mysoulev]

Range anxiety is real!

Agree, and it doesn't matter how well you plan ahead.

 

[Hazeyone]

I just did a trip from Abbotsford where we live to PENTICTON. The DCFC infrastructure on route is great. I was very nervous though on the Hope to Manning Park leg as the elevation climb is substantial. Don't know if you have heard of the Greenrace site but it helps with planning distance and elevation for various EV's including the Soul. Web address below.
http://www.jurassictest.ch/GR/

Many wineries in the Similkameen especially Oliver have L2 charging. Was a fun trip.

 

[2016Electric]

I just did a trip from Abbotsford where we live to PENTICTON. The DCFC infrastructure on route is great. I was very nervous though on the Hope to Manning Park leg as the elevation climb is substantial. Don't know if you have heard of the Greenrace site but it helps with planning distance and elevation for various EV's including the Soul. Web address below.
http://www.jurassictest.ch/GR/

Many wineries in the Similkameen especially Oliver have L2 charging. Was a fun trip.

You guys out in BC are very fortunate. Ontario has what they are calling the EVCO program, with a promise to install around 250~ DCFC by this March, but so far only one station has actually been built (and that station is $15 per hour to use, possibly plus parking). We have a grand total of 4 other Chademo stations for the entire greater Toronto and Hamilton area (around 6.5 million people), so 5 stations in total, or about 1 charger per 1.3 million people lol...
Oh and on top of that, all the stations currently installed are clustered in a radius of around 50km, so pretty much useless for longer highway trips.

 

[mysoulev]

You guys out in BC are very fortunate.

Yeah, and in addition to that, we have much milder weather in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, and the efficiency of any EV must be better here than Ontario especially in winter time. I wonder what kind of Kwh/100km are you folks getting in bleak winter condition?

 

[2016Electric]

You guys out in BC are very fortunate.

Yeah, and in addition to that, we have much milder weather in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, and the efficiency of any EV must be better here than Ontario especially in winter time. I wonder what kind of Kwh/100km are you folks getting in bleak winter condition?

Hmm. I was getting anywhere from 18 to 20 average, but that includes using aggressive tread snow tires and driving highway speed a few times a week, sitting in horrible GTA traffic and stuff like that (sitting in traffic with the heat on is wasteful but necessary... I have a baby in the back seat!)

Yeah.. Between the weather, decades of bad government, horrible traffic, poor economy and now.. Bad charging infrastructure, living in Ontario is feeling a little masochistic. Lol.. At least the summer weather is nice

 

[mysoulev]

Hmm. I was getting anywhere from 18 to 20 average

that's much better than i expected, i got about 16 to 17 last winter, i guess wet weather forces the A/C on and makes the heater work twice as hard.

 

[mysoulev]

Many people say Garibaldi Lake is the most beautiful lake in BC, it wasn't raining last Saturday so drove the EV to Squamish, charged from 63% to 84%, drove another 35km to Rubble Creek Trailhead parking lot. After the hike, attempted to drive non-stop back to Vancouver (predicting to have couple of KM remaining on the GOM) but range anxiety changed my mind to stop for a 15 minute charge at Park Royal Mall (turned out to be not necessary because i had more range remaining than what i added from Park Royal.

Barrier Lake just after the 6KM mark.

 

[Jon]

After the hike, attempted to drive non-stop back to Vancouver (predicting to have couple of KM remaining on the GOM) but range anxiety changed my mind to stop for a 15 minute charge at Park Royal Mall (turned out to be not necessary because i had more range remaining than what i added from Park Royal.

Very nice! Where are the chargers at Park Royal? I've seen the mall marked on PlugShare, but I haven't found the chargers there yet. (To be fair, I haven't really looked, but my kids sometimes play soccer in that area, so it would be nice to know!)

 

[mysoulev]

Where are the chargers at Park Royal?

they are in the parkade, go up to 2nd level, turn left when you exit the ram, then you will see them on your right hand side.

 

[Jon]

Awesome thanks!