In the summer of 2019, Sara and Fred traveled from Vancouver to Tofino for their honeymoon. Sara drives an electric car regularly, but mostly for city commuting. For this trip they had the opportunity to borrow a friend’s Tesla Model X and go for their first multi-day camping trip in an electric vehicle.
Before they left Vancouver, they were a little nervous about charging on the go, and had some range anxiety. This trip changed their perceptions of EV charging, proved how easy it is to use public charging stations, and gave them a chance to plug in at campgrounds while touring around our beautiful province. Sara was especially impressed by “being able to ‘fuel up’ overnight at campgrounds. It’s a great electric car perk!”
After packing the car full of gear on Friday night, they got up early on Saturday and headed to Horseshoe Bay for the ferry trip to Nanaimo. They didn’t leave with a full charge, so they stopped at the Telsa Supercharger in Nanaimo to top up.
“Being able to ‘fuel up’ overnight at campgrounds is a great electric car perk!”
SARA | EV Owner
The next stop was Cathedral grove to check out the old growth forest, then past Port Alberni to the Taylor River Rest Area. They still didn’t need to charge, but wanted to check out the charging infrastructure along the way. They arrived at their final stop – Green Point Campground on Long Beach, Tofino – in the late afternoon with more than enough daylight left to setup camp and cook dinner.
They plugged the vehicle in at the campsite’s 120v outlet and let it charge overnight. It charged approximately 50 km: more than enough to drive to the rainforest loop trailhead for a day hike and then the Kwisitis Visitor center before returning back to camp for dinner and another overnight charge.
After another full day of adventuring, visiting hot springs cove, and seeing a grey whale up close, they headed to the Tofino Marina and Resort to fill up at a Tesla destination charger. That charge would give the them enough range for the rest of the trip. After a quick meal at the Hatch they headed back to camp for one more night. The vehicle didn’t need to charge overnight this time, and they even had enough range to stop in Ucluelet for fish and chips before heading home.