#ConquerCoquihalla

In July of 2003, my wife and I went on a road trip to visit Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Ever since, we talk frequently of wanting to go back to Banff.  Now that we have kids and careers, a trip to Banff would provide for the perfect playground and vacation destination.

For one reason or another, Banff eluded our travel itineraries for the past decade.  Instead of returning to Banff, we road tripped all over North America, seeing some of the most spectacular land that Mother Nature has created. And for a decade now, we inevitably compare our vacations to that Banff trip when we were in our mid-20s.

When we bought our first electric vehicle in 2012, the road trips and out-of-town adventures stopped. For most of the first year of EV ownership, we were in a transition. We didn't want to drive our gas-guzzler SUV to the store, let alone on cross-country excursions, but we were not quite ready to have the EV take over road trip duties. So, we primarily zipped around town to not push the range game too much.

The biggest reason, though, for not driving our gasser was that the EV was just such a joy to drive. I do not consider myself an environmentalist, but now that I drive an EV, everything else pales in comparison to its zero-emissions blissful driving. All the better is the quirky pioneering spirit that seemingly every EV owner embraces.

In 2013, our family went all-in. We traded in that mothballed SUV for a second EV.  My wife and I have not regretted for a moment our decision to own two Nissan LEAFs.  Our LEAFs are the only cars that we have now.  Meeting the transportation expectations of a young couple and two kids with two vehicles that have a 75 mile range may be a deal breaker for some. For us, it's exactly what we signed up for!

Most of 2013 was spent learning how to travel beyond the range limits our LEAFs. After a few successful trips, though, between Seattle and Portland on the West Coast Green Highway, our preconceived misunderstandings of the car were all but gone. And after traveling more than 3500 miles over 17 days in our 2013 Nissan LEAF from Canada to Mexico, and back, we realized that if there are any limits to driving a LEAF, or any EV for that matter, it's not the car's range that was limiting. EVs are only limited by electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE or "charger") availability.

That takes us back to Banff.  The chatter between my wife and I started up again a few months ago: "Do you think we can make it to Banff?," became a regular topic. After some initial research, the trip appeared to be a bust. There seemingly was no way a Nissan LEAF could successfully traverse British Columbia's Coquihalla Pass without a more robust EVSE infrastructure.

Ask a Canadian about driving across the Coq (pronounced like the soda drink, "Coke") in the winter, and the responses you'll get will paint a picture of a legendary mountain pass; personified as a treacherous beast, determined to catch the unprepared traveler with unpredictable snow storms and blustery wind.

Ask a Canadian about driving across the Coq at any time in a Nissan LEAF, and the responses you'll get will range from "are you nuts?" to nervous laughter. Not to be deterred, I decided to try and conquer the Coq as a pre-run for the eventual road trip with my family to Banff.

There was quite a bit of planning that went into figuring out how to successfully get a LEAF from Hope, BC, across Coquihalla Pass, and into Merritt, BC.  The bottom line was that I knew I'd have to drive super slow, and without heat. In a 2013 Nissan LEAF, the vehicle's heater consumes much less power than most other EVs on the market. With this being a first-ever trip, though, I decided to conserve every watt of power for getting the car up the mountain pass.

Late into the trip planning, BC Hydro announced that they had recently commissioned a CHAdeMO quick charger (the particular quick charging port used in a Nissan LEAF) in Kamloops, BC. Kamloops is at the end of the Coquihalla Phase 2 (or simply "Phase2" to locals), north of Coquihalla Pass. I couldn't resist the idea of making it over the Coq, and then continuing north across another mountain pass to charge at a brand new quick charger before doing it all over again, in reverse, to get home.

Everything was coming together for a departure sometime in late December/early January. It was all up to the weather.  Christmas passed, but as New Year's approached, the weather forecast called for a balmy +1 degree Celsius and no snow.  I was set.

So on January 1, 2014, I said my goodbye's to my wife and got into the car in the early morning, pre-dawn hours.

Unbelievably, I forgot to plug in and charge the car over night!  Oh, misery.  After spending most of the day on New Year's Eve making final preparations, I forgot to plug in the bloody car.

After having a cup of coffee and trying to relax for an hour and a half, I set out on the adventure with enough charge to make it to the CHAdeMO quick chargers in Burlington, WA.  The wonderful thing about Washington's (and Oregon, for that matter) network of quick chargers, is that, for the most part, an EV driver can plug in for less than 30 minutes and still have enough battery charge to travel the speed limit with the heater blasting, and arrive at the next quick charging station to do it all over again. Road tripping, the EV way.

After Burlington, the next stop was in Bellingham--the last stop before crossing into Canada. After quick charging for about 30 minutes, I plugged the car into a "Level 2" EVSE to complete the battery charge to 100%. While doing so, I was approached by a gentleman interested in finding out more about the car.

I've come to really enjoy this, being approached by curious folks and doing some EVangelizing. After talking about the capabilities of the car and sharing with my captive audience the enjoyment of driving a LEAF (aka: instant torque), I mentioned my plans to conquer Coquihalla Pass later in the day. Instantly, the gentleman's disposition changed from curious and awestruck to disbelieving and worried. After listening to his cautionary tales of driving over the Coq for a few minutes, I decided to redirect him by getting some Nissan LEAF swag that I had in the back for just such occasions.

After giving the fella a reusable Nissan LEAF shopping tote and a couple Nissan LEAF bracelets that were made out of recycled car tires and metal, he was again back with me. We exchanged smiles, and he told me with a slightly quivering voice, "good luck."

At the border crossing in Sumas, WA, one of the two border patrol officers at the booth asked me what my intended destination was. I decided to keep it simple: "Kamloops." The officer probed and asked, "for what intended purpose?" Well, I took the bait and spent the next minute sharing how I was going to be driving my Nissan LEAF across Coquihalla Pass later that day, and if successful, it would be the first for a LEAF.

The border patrol agents, paused looked at one another amusingly, and both asked me why I was doing such a thing. I sensed that their border patrol hat was temporarily off, and talked briefly about my adventures in the car. Mid-spiel, one of the officers cut me off.  "Are you carrying any weapons?" Whatever interest existed initially was now gone. I answered a few more questions, and was on my way.

Hope, BC

With no more quick charging available until Kamloops, I slowed down while driving to Chilliwack, BC. The drive from Sumas to Chilliwack, and from Chilliwack to my next charging spot in Hope, BC, is not beyond the normal range of a Nissan LEAF. I still did drive slow, though.

When driving an EV on a long excursion without the availability of quick charging stations, the driver is better off driving slow as to not use excessive battery charge. The recovery of that depleted charge at the next stop will just take that much longer.

Arriving in Hope, BC, I plugged the car in, and saw that I would have a couple of hours until the car reached its 100% charge. I had passed a Dairy Queen when driving into town, so I set out to get some food.

Back at the car an hour, or so, later, while taking a few pictures of the car, I was approached by some people. They asked about the car, and were very curious of the trip. After hearing of my intentions to drive across the Coq, they gave me a vote of confidence: "You'll make it!"

I then gave them each a tote bag and bracelet seemingly as a gesture of goodwill and EV advocacy. But in reality, I was so thankful that somebody from Canada believed I could get my car over the Coq, I wanted to just give stuff away as a sign of my appreciation.

Then something interesting happened. They wanted to know where I had gone to eat and shop. These folks totally understood something that most non-EV owners do not: I was all but stuck in their town for a couple of hours, and the likely result was that I would end up spending money while waiting for my car to charge.

After I told them about my burger at DQ, they suggested that I get some delicious coffee at the Blue Moose, a small cafe across the street. It was a great idea, and so I drank a wonderful mocha afterwards.

While drinking my coffee, I reflected on the discussion with the folks a few minutes beforehand. If there could be a way to get the message out about the financial benefit for towns to support EV infrastructure, we all would benefit.

EV owners, for the most part, have money to spend. When the Nissan LEAF was first out on the market back in 2011, the demographics of the people buying the EV were startling: the average household income of a LEAF buyer was $140,000/year. If I owned a coffee shop or burger joint, you better believe that there would be an electric vehicle charger in the parking lot!

Leaving the town of Hope with a full charge, I set out to conquer the Coquihalla. The plan was straight forward: drive 31mph (50kph) without heat.  Seeing that it was New Year's Day, there were not too many vehicles on the road. Even so, driving at less than half of the speed limit is painful, and potentially dangerous. Additionally, the minimum speed is actually 60kph (37mph), so in the eyes of the Law, I was driving too slow as well.

.Coquihalla Summit: 1,244 m or 4,081 ft

Along the way up to the summit, I pulled off at the chain-up areas to scout any potential plug-in opportunities. There were none to be found, but I made it to the top after consuming about half of the battery charge.

There is a restroom stop that has 120v outlets just north of the summit, located where the old toll booth stood years ago. I plugged in and trickle charged for a while. And after taking on 960Wh, I departed.

Old Toll Booth Area

There is another rest stop just a few kilometers north of the old toll booth area, and there, too, was access to 120v outlets. I didn't take the time to charge, though.

One may think that I was free to zoom right along into the town of Merritt. Having no reference point of somebody successfully driving a LEAF on the route, I was nervous about staying on the highway. Even going downhill, driving the speed limit of 110kph (~70mph) would use up battery charge at a high rate.

So with about 30km to Merritt, I got off BC-5 to continue into town via Coldwater Rd. Right away, I felt that I had made a grave mistake. It was dark, so all that I could see was the road directly in front of the car. This made things immensely disorientating, and I couldn't help but think of the media stories of drivers crossing mountain passes, and either getting lost or stuck in the snow, and ultimately dying in a frostbitten nightmare.

Adding to my growing hysteria was that I couldn't tell what I was driving on. Was it a lot of snow? Was it just tons and tons of sand and salt used to dissipate the snow? Regardless, I wasn't driving a blacktop. The nail in the coffin was when I drove over a couple of cattle barriers. It's kind of silly now thinking back to that--being scared that I was driving over cattle barriers--but I was getting pretty buggy.

Shortly after pulling into Merritt and posting a celebratory Tweet, I was joined for a bite to eat and coffee by Kelly Carmichael. Kelly is very influential with all things EV in British Columbia. Not only does he own an EV--a Nissan LEAF--but he is the point person for municipalities and private enterprise alike in helping to decide where to install electric vehicle infrastructure.

Kelly was clearly excited that I had conquered the Coq, and while drinking coffee, we discussed the next steps for electrifying Coquihalla Pass.

I believe that there needs to be a combination of EVSE, as just the utilization of CHAdeMO quick charging or J1772 Level 2 charging exclusively will not address the unique driving challenges Coquihalla Pass presents to EV drivers.

Zopkios Peak

Traveling 45 km north on BC-5 from Hope, there is a highway exit that is accessible to vehicles traveling both north and south on BC-5. There is already power running into the area, and restrooms are available on the southbound side of BC-5 (but still accessible to travelers exiting BC-5 northbound). I believe this exit is referred to as the Zopkios rest stop exit, as the beautiful Zopkios Peak provides for fantastic views.

Traveling at 105kph (65mph), a Nissan LEAF can easily reach this location from the town of Hope, even in freezing temperatures.  This is a perfect location for a CHAdeMO quick charging unit. I suggest some redundancy as well with the installation of a J1772 Level 2 unit at the Zopkios rest stop.

The other location that needs EVSE would be at the Britton Creek rest area.  Placing a J1772 Level 2 unit here would be perfect in complimenting the charging opportunities at Zopkios. This stop has power, restrooms, and is accessible from both sides of BC-5. Further, locating a J1772 charging unit here would allow for EV drivers to decide to take a more leisurely drive on Coldwater Rd., or to burn through the electrons while driving at 110kph on the Coq from Merritt.

With the investment of one CHAdeMO and two J1772 EVSE, Coquihalla Pass wouldn't need to be conquered by an EV. Rather, EV owners would simply drive to their destination in either Hope or Merritt. Easy!

After charging in Merritt, I continued north on Phase2 into the town of Kamloops. I really wanted to include Kamloops into the trip to show my support of BC Hydro installing a CHAdeMO quick charge unit in the city.  And after being in the town for about an hour, I turned around and went home.

After eating a great breakfast at the Blue Moose--of course we were happy!

The trip back home wasn't too bad. Knowing that it could be done was all the reassurance I needed to have a relaxing drive. Actually, it wasn't until the return trip that I was able to finally de-stress enough to get some shut-eye while charging.

To top off the experience, my friend Kelly Carmichael and I crossed paths again, this time in the town of Hope. Kelly and his wife crossed over the Coq in their Toyota Prius after me on the morning of January 2nd. They decided to see if I was charging in the town, and sure enough, I was! We ate a great breakfast together at the Blue Moose before once again departing ways.

***

My New Year's resolution goal is still to take my family to Banff on a vacation road trip. In electric vehicle time frames, 6 months is an eternity. Hopefully, the Coq will be electrified, and then I can focus on how to get a LEAF east of Revelstoke, and eventually, into Banff.

I suppose that's what we early adopters have to be...optimists!





There is a wealth of data that was collected on this trip. At least for Nissan LEAF drivers, this information can provide a reference point for their own adventures.

Here are the basics:

Click here to view the LEAF Spy data in a spreadsheet.  This is a condensed file; if you would like to view the full data spreadsheet, please send me an email: coramsc@gmail.com

Courtesy of Tyrel Haveman

The following two images are a follow-up to the original blog post.  Depicted are color representations of the LEAF state of charge along the trip.

The trip north (left) shows that the vehicle did not go to a very low state of charge in Canada, except for the arrivals into Merritt and Kamloops respectively.

The return trip home/southbound (below) shows that the state of charge more frequently went into the lower threshold of battery charge.

Perhaps most interesting is to consider why the state of charges differed so much along the trip. Looking at the northbound map (left), the high travel speeds in Washington State, afforded by bountiful quick charging, made the battery discharge quickly.  As apposed to the long, slow driving legs in Canada that were not fully supported by quick charging infrastructure.

With this perspective, blue/purple/pink are the result of the preferred driving style!

Courtesy of Tyrel Haveman