Road trip to Prince Edward County
There is something different about a road trip with an electric car. There’s the obvious: no fuel. Plus you have to stop at charging stations en route if your destination is further than your range.
What I didn’t expect was these charging stops end up as little social stops too. I have noticed, especially at stations with multiple chargers and along the 401 corridor, I inevitability end up talking to other drivers. Most are EV drivers as you swap stories about respective cars and mileages (or to help each other figure out which chargers are working). There are still relatively few EVs on the road in Ontario (about 7.2% of new vehicles registered in Q3 2022 in Ontario were EVs). But I have also been approached by non-EV drivers who are curious about electric cars. I had someone once ask me “How much is it to charge your car?” My response was, “I don’t have a precise amount but I can tell you it’s cheaper than gas.”
This type of chit-chat was no different on my recent trip to Prince Edward County with my husband. We stopped at an ONroute around Trenton and my husband immediately struck up a conversation with the other driver: another Bolt EV owner. He bought his EV only 2 weeks ago, and was surprised we had ours for almost 6 years.
After our car was recharged, our first stop was Belleville to visit my aunt and uncle. We had a lovely lunch and visit, and then I dove into some family “archives” with my uncle while my husband took a nice long walk with my aunt. After we were recharged, we said goodbye and headed over the Bay Bridge that connects Belleville to Prince Edward County. You get the sense you’re leaving the “mainland” as you cross this long bridge.
There are few public EV charging stations in the County. We checked ahead with our hotel, so it was no problem to charge up at the Level 2 charger in their parking lot. As for good places to eat, there is certainly no shortage. Even though we were travelling on a Sunday and Monday in off season, we found plenty of establishments open. We enjoyed some delicious and varied meals: from a fine dinner overlooking Lake Ontario to Mexican tacos with fresh corn tortillas to Argentinian empanadas and wonton nachos. Most of this was in the town of Wellington where we stayed. The empanadas and nachos were at Parson’s Brewery outside of Picton (see the photos below with the thick wooden beams). The owners bring their unique culinary backgrounds to flavour the intriguing menu options. The wife is Argentinian and the husband spent 15 years cooking in Japan.
Besides the fantastic food, one feature we admired as we drove around the County were “barn quilts” adorning the sides of barns and other buildings. These square geometric patterns add a pop of colour to the rural landscape. Our server one night told us there is “barn quilt trail” you can follow. In the town of Wellington we easily spotted several of these colourful markers on shops, churches and a park gazebo.
The ground was snowy but we still managed to take in the natural sights: a short walk along the boardwalk at Wellington beach and a quick look at the viewpoint at Lake of the Mountains. I have been told it gets very busy in the summer and it’s easy to see why. An idyllic landscape. Lots of shoreline for water activities. Plenty of wineries and breweries to explore.
As with any good road trip, we came back with souvenirs! For my husband, a six pack of his favourite beer from the flight we tasted: a juicy, rather than hoppy, beer called “11” DIPA. And for me, I brought back some precious and “tattered” family memorabilia from my uncle in Belleville.
All and all a great getaway. On the EV front, I will be better prepared to answer the question about charging costs next time I am asked. If you like lots of numbers you can find those specs in the endnotes. Otherwise, simply enjoy the view over Wellington Bay!
Endnote: The following are the EV charging costs for our 580 km round trip.
ONroute Trenton South Ivy high speed charger (50 kW DC, this charges the battery to 80% at fast rate, about 150 km in 30 minutes, then slower to top up the remaining): 49 minutes, free (I don’t know why it was free, but generally these chargers are $20/hour, so a better estimate is $16)
Canadian Tire Pickering Flo high speed charger (50 kW DC): 23 minutes, $7.67
Drake Devonshire Level 2 charger (this is like the one we have at home, it connects to a 240-volt and provides a charge of 30 km per hour, you need 4-6 hours for a full charge): free for hotel/motel guests
I have 3 apps on my phone to help locate chargers along the route: Ivy (for ONRoute stations), Chargepoint and Flo (these 2 apps are similar in that they locate chargers operated by various service providers)
As noted, we have had the Bolt EV for almost six years. Mileage is 82,015 km (as of March 15, 2023) so we have avoided consuming about 8,200 litres of gasoline (using the assumption of 1 litre of gas/10km). Assuming $1.25/litre as the average price for gasoline over the last 6 years that’s a total savings of $10,250. You could add more savings for oil changes that are no longer necessary. (Any electricity costs to charge the EV is negligible given we generate solar energy, see next note.)
Extra Endnote: While I am at it, here is a quick update on another year of solar energy. For the year 2021, I estimated savings of $1,300 on our hydro bills. For 2022, the estimate is essentially the same. Our monthly hydro bills have gone down from an average of $141/month (2020) to $32/month (2022) for a monthly savings of $109 or annually $1,312.
