We went to New York for the holidays.
Posted at 5:00 am
Before the holidays, after booking the hotel, my girlfriend asked me:
“Are we going by plane? »
I looked at her as if she had bought plastic straws.
” What ?
– What ? The planet, that’s what. We will go there by chariot. »
So we went to NYC with the tank, with the electric tank, because I’ve been turning green in the last few months. I do what I can for our mother earth.
I have to say it’s great, an electric tank. For the same monthly payment as my old gasoline model (I lease), I have almost the same vehicle, except I no longer pay $200 a month (I mostly drive around town) to Shell, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Esso or others Breasts of the oligopoly of which we are prisoners.
Great for my needs I say. If you have a girlfriend in Ottawa or a boyfriend in Quebec and you visit them every weekend, the story is different. When you work on the go, it’s just as different.
New York on a clear day, without stopping too much (and my friend isn’t a stopper, as she says in her Saguenic patois), is generally a six, six and a half hour drive in a petrol vehicle.
But I did the green curve, I remind you: let’s say we took a little longer. At Lacolle I had already gone from 100% to 60% autonomy. I knew we had to cross no man’s land in upstate New York, but Mr. Google pointed to a marker near Lake George…
We were at 20% autonomy when we arrived at the Sunoco station. As I said: the car has about 200 km of autonomy in winter. The Sunoco was a classic gas station: petrol pumps under a structure that protects against rain and snow. Pop your visa in the slot, pump the gas, igloo igloo, and four minutes later, boom, you’re gone again, unless you want chips, which are sold at the adjacent supermarket.
The three power outlets were at the end of the parking lot. Two cars were charged. You had to climb a snow bank to pay, as the area around the terminals was not cleared of snow. No anti-rain-snow structure.
Nothing to do for 10 minutes: The machine refused my credit card. Or she would tell me to start charging the vehicle…
And it didn’t charge.
I was beginning to get impatient (it’s my only fault, I’m impatient), balancing unsteadily on the bank of packed snow, when a lady loading her car advised me:
“You need the app!
– Ah okay, thanks…”
So I download the shell app, put $20 in it and try to pay my top up again…
It does not work.
In the end it worked… With my credit card!
All refills for the rest of the trip were accordingly: complicated. Sometimes my credit card was accepted but the electricity didn’t flow. Get back in the car, change terminals: the card is rejected. Put the stun gun back in the magazine, restart with the same credit card…
And there it mysteriously works!
In short, the word “random” comes to mind to describe the efficiency of the electric charging stations found in the states of New York and New Jersey.
Here’s an example…
I’m finishing installing the cannon on the side of the tank and we’re about to go eat at this high-end American gastronomy spot called Chipotle when I notice that the young man parked next to us is looking at his payment terminal with the terminal confused look of a schoolboy discovering the wonders of algebra.
He holds his credit card in a vacuum, holds it up to the terminal…
start again
And start again. And even.
I understood his frustration: the station refused to deliver his vehicle. I tried to help him to no avail. I said to the guy: listen, we’re going to eat, you take my terminal when I go, if you can’t make it…
When we came back 40 minutes later, the young man was still trying to start charging his Nissan: it still didn’t work. Poor chap, he no longer looked like he’d lost his battle with algebra, no: he looked like a kid who’d just seen his dog get hit by the milkman’s truck.
“OK, take my terminal, it will work…”
But it didn’t work anymore. The machine refused to accept payment with a credit card he had just used at the supermarket.
So I tried to pay him with my credit card that I had just used at the same terminal for my car and I said to myself: “Same terminal, same card, it will work for sure… »
Nope, didn’t work.
A guy came in a brand new electric pick-up, a Rivian, and tried to help us… To no avail: “The terminals are very picky,” said the Rivian owner and started charging his vehicle without any problems frustrated Nissan.
The owner of the Nissan left, his dog was dead, he hoped to have enough autonomy to go to another terminal a few kilometers away…
Results of the races: On a clear day with no bad weather, it took us 10 hours to get to New York and nine to return. Even without the quirks of the terminals, 30 or 40 minutes of charging time are still required every 200 kilometers, depending on the vehicle.
I’m telling you all this in case you were juggling the idea of going electric in those Tank Show days. Great, the electric tank, but not for everyone and not in all situations.
For long rides I find the electric tank is perfect for one thing…
Work on your patience.