Cross-country EV road trip! Calgary to Toronto w/ XC40 Recharge

A blue haired dork voluntarily spends 5 days driving a fully electric Volvo 4000 kilometers across Canada. Music features many songs from Said The Sky from their Sentiment album which I've been listening to practically on repeat for the past while!
In Canada (especially if local to the GTA) - You can learn more about Plug'n Drive at www.plugndrive.ca/
More about the Volvo XC40 Recharge:
www.volvocars.... (USA)
www.volvocars.... (Canada)
Filmed entirely on Pixel 3. There are no intentional promotions in this video and I'm making no money off of it, this video was made purely for fun and informative value!

[@Ashquacks]

Just a clarification update regarding the Shell Recharge rating at 8:00 - The ABB chargers that are rated "up to 180kW" get that number as a product of the 200A maximum CCS current they can deliver, at the maximum voltage of 920V. The only current EV that actually reaches that high of voltage and could theoretically max out the station is the Lucid Air. For ~400V vehicles such as the XC40, the maximum one could get would be ~80kW.

[@paulmoore6175]

Just finished watching your VLOG, well done Ash Nguyen 👏. Very informative, well narrated, good photography & excellent music between charges!

[@MrEcodriver]

Can you drive an EV across Canada? Yes, you can, easily. And like all road trippers, it is about the places you visit, that makes the journey worthwhile. I hope one day Ash repeats his trip, charging at beautiful EV charging plazas with all the amenities an EV roadtripper needs. Thx Ash, for blazing the trail!

[@icefoxx93]

Really awesome put together video! Hopefully you'll one day make this trip again and it was awesome meeting with you 😊

[@bikerdog2b]

Well put together video 👍

[@aalberto4961]

Very good video. I’m planning to drive to Calgary from Toronto and back in an EV but hesitant because of the charging infrastructure in Canada. I don’t want to drive through the US, so I’ll delay that trip for a couple of years. Hopefully there will be more chargers available by then.

[@Ashquacks]

The car was initially driven out to Calgary for us via the northern route over the lakes. It is definitely possible to do the trip without going through the US, I just chose that route because I wanted to.

[@markbader4942]

@@Ashquacks Funny, though, the route planning apps like ABRP more or less insist you go through the states as the (most efficient?) route. If you want to use that app for a cross Canada trek you have to add a bunch of waypoints, places like Sault Ste Marie, Thunder Bay, Lake of the Woods, etc to keep the route north of the border.

[@retroboomer]

Why you don't mention how long it took you to charge at each station? I find this very suspect.

[@Ashquacks]

Because I don't stop to charge, I charge when I'm stopped. There was no need to keep track of charging times because I do other things I would do on a road trip anyways, I'm not sitting around idle waiting for the charge. By the time I eat, grab a drink, piss, or record a video segment, the charging stop is already done.

[@retroboomer]

@@Ashquacks That's the number one question people ask about EV is how long does it take to charge. If your video is meant to be informative about road trips, I would think this information is helpful to say the least. Anyone driving from Calgary to Toronto must have to stop to charge at some point, not just charging when they're stopped.

[@diydrivenGA]

If they were DC fast chargers I can share my experience...I took my XC40 from 40-80% in 25 mins. That's good for about 80 -100 miles for 24 min. The only issue I have with taking an EV on long trips is the unknown: are the chargers working? Are they accessible or on private property? If good on both of the two previous questions, then how is the handle of the charger? Some dont "clip" and that prevents the handshake. In some cases you can manipulate the handle until it locks up, but I can't imagine that being good over time for the port on the car, nor will it work. For example, my job has a few lv2 chargers from GE and Bosch. The Bosch ones are terrible and don't really work for my XC40. They work find for teslas that use adapter. Maybe there is a J1 adapter on both ends to get around this and let you put pressure on the adapter, not the car port.

[@sajadzarei5887]

How many times u charge your car at this trip?

[@Ashquacks]

I didn't keep track, because there was only one time in the whole trip I was actually waiting for a charge. Every other occasion, by the time I did what I needed to (eat, film a video segment, help someone else start a charge, etc) the car was already done before I was. Don't stop to charge, charge while you are stopped.