Hamilton to Toronto Trip In My Nissan Leaf

I wrote last week about my trial run to the half way mark in Oakville. This weekend I made the full trip to my mom's in Toronto about 78 KM away. The weather wasn't the greatest for this trip. On the way there the weather was ideal for driving the sun was out and I did not have to run the heat. The first half of the trip was getting to the Chargepoint charger in Oakville at the Tim Horton's. When I pulled up to the charger I noticed an ICE car parked in one of the two available charging spots. It kind of bothered me that if another fellow EV owner need a charge the spot would be blocked. The guy blocking the spot saw me pull in and did end up moving his car and asking some question about my Leaf's range. At this location I figured a little over half an hour would give me enough range to make it in to Toronto and be able to run the heat and deal with traffic. When I got to my moms house I plugged the car to a regular 110v wall outlet and left the car charging for about 8 hours.

When I left Toronto it was snowing and road conditions were not the greatest. I must say the Leaf handle the winter weather like any other car. I had charged the car at my moms house and was about a bar from a full charge. The charge was just about enough to get me to the Oakville Tim Horton's where I would be able to get the peace of mind charging the car for the rest of the trip home. The weather was much better in Oakville and getting to Hamilton was effortless with the clean roads. The only thing that kind of sucked was that it was below zero temperatures and I was avoiding running the heater. The seat warmer was a great friend on this drive. I was able to pick up enough extra KM in Oakville and it proved the best half way point for this trip. The next time I go down I will probably use the same strategy as it worked out well. There are those who think that an electric car is unable to be taken on long road trips or would be a bit of a hassle, but with a little planning it can be done. The trip only added an extra 90 minutes for charging and taking regular roads and staying off the highway. Not that bad when you consider the cost for gas on the same trip and I got a chance to read a book while I was waiting to charge.