Sun Country Announces Plans for an Additional 1000 Charging Stations

E-mazing Race Celebration in Vancouver, B.C., and my LEAF trickle charging at a lamp post!

My wife is a small business owner, making outfits for toddlers and themed handbags. So when November 1st hits every year, I know that she will be starting her major holiday production to prepare for upcoming bazaars and the inevitable blitz of special orders. With a momma's boy three-year-old son who is latched onto my wife's legs every waking hour and six-year-old daughter that takes devilish joy in driving our son to madness, I typically take the role of "get the kids out of the house!" to help out at this time of year.

With a weather forecast for occasional showers and intermittent sun breaks, I wanted to take advantage of the quintessential Pacific Northwest autumn day. So I packed up our two children for a day trip to Vancouver, B.C. to join the festivities that Sun Country Highway organized to celebrate the completion of the 2014 E-mazing trans-continental electric vehicle race. With birth certificates in hand, we set out for the border!

The 85 mile, two-hour drive to the U.S.-Canada border was uneventful, and we only needed to DC quick charge once, in Bellingham, to make the border run. The wait to get into Canada was terribly long, though, as thousands of folks had British Columbia on their travel itinerary too. We sat in the car, inching our way to the border-crossing booth for more than an hour without a worry in the world.

Actually, there is really only one concern for a solo parent when waiting at an international border crossing with two young children in the back seat: a desperate call to use the potty.  Thankfully, the heavens answered my prayers and the kids didn't need to use the...ahem. Instead, they happily entertained themselves, allowing for me to tinker with my LEAF. 

Four cameras positioned around the Nissan LEAF comprise the vehicle's Around View Monitor.

You see, a proper, modern vehicle really ought to appease our 21st century attention-deficits. Fortunately, for me, the Nissan LEAF does that wonderfully! There are so many displays and hidden menus in a LEAF, that touchscreen pushing and eyes-off-the-road driving have become my midlife crisis sport of choice. For this particular bore of a wait, I settled on the joy of driving--by looking at the Around View Monitor and exploring hidden dashboard menus. And the hidden menu option that just made me smitten was the one that permitted a change of the LEAF's dashboard display from miles-per-hour to kilometers-per-hour. How fitting for an excursion in Canada!

Shortly after crossing into Canada, my daughter yelled, "Dad, you're going a hundred and ten!!!" I totally enjoyed the observation, and took the teachable moment to share with my kids the differences between measuring speed with kilometers-per-hour and miles-per-hour. And, truthfully, I didn't really know exactly how fast we were driving, nor did I bother to take the moment to figure out the conversion. 

As we neared our Vancouver destination, a charging stop at BCIT that showcases an impressive 800+ panel solar array and multiple DC quick charging stations, I was surprised at how close to downtown the expansive campus was. Moments later, as we turned onto Pacific Boulevard and the False Creek Marina came into view, I realized that I had made a huge mistake while button-pushing back at the border. We were at the E-mazing Race event, not the expected charging stop at BCIT. 

For the non-EV driver, navigating directly to the journey's-end destination is a preference, not a potential issue. For us, though, it meant pulling in with a 5% remaining charge. Compounding the mishap was the fact that I did not have access to my cell phone's data plan while we were in Canada. And an EV driver without a working smartphone is as good as dead; it is that important of a tool in determining charging station locations and using various apps to sort out driving range.

We pulled into the EVent and plugged in at a 120v outlet located at the base of a pedestal lamp post there in the parking lot. While I was in the midst of a charging crisis, the timing of our arrival was fortuitous. The speeches and celebrations were already underway for the E-mazing Race, and Sun Country Highway's president, Ken Rathwell, had just announced the acquisition of 1000 high amperage Level 2 charging stations. Rathwell shared that these charging stations would be installed to backfill the gaps in the already-existing EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) Level 2 infrastructure stretching from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. This was awesome news! For our family, the additional charging stations would allow for us to finally drive our Nissan LEAF on a family vacation to Banff National Park. 

Dealer-Blocked EVSE at Downtown Nissan, Vancouver, B.C.

Within 20 minutes, the pomp and circumstance ended. Trickle charging would not get us far, so I started talking with folks about nearby EVSE locations. A director for the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association (VEVA) took quite an interest in getting us successfully to a Level 2 station, with an eventual leapfrog to a nearby DC quick charging station. Initially, I drew comfort from his direction. Soon, however, I started becoming uncertain of his recommendation to charge at a nearby Nissan dealership.

One would think think that a LEAF owner could safely consider a Nissan dealership as a haven for the charged-impaired EV driver. Apparently not in Vancouver. First, the VEVA director gave me the card of a particular Downtown Nissan employee that he recommended I contact immediately upon arrival. Then, the guy gave me his personal business card and suggested that I call his cell phone if I was given a hard time by the Nissan folks.

When we pulled into the parking lot at Downtown Nissan, the Level 2 EVSE was, sure enough, blocked. To add insult to blasphemy, the dealership parked a BMW in such a way as to strategically prevent access to the charging station. Downtown Nissan didn't realize that they would not stop team Crazy Daddy, though! I parked our LEAF in front of the bimmer, consequently blocking access to their service bay. After plugging in, I stood as bird-chested as possible outside of our car, daring anybody to cause a fuss. About a half dozen dealership employees came out in a huff during our 30 minutes of charging, and fortunately, not a single one of them said, "peep."

DC Quick Charging Station at BCIT

No self-respecting EV enthusiast would pass up the opportunity to charge their car at BCIT's Energy Oasis at the Burnaby Campus. Located in Lot 7, with more than 800 photovoltaic solar panels overhead, there are two CHAdeMO (particular quick charging protocol that Nissan, and others, use) stations that provide a solar powered 85% complete charge in about 30 minutes...rain or shine, day or night.

Lot 7 has 20 of these Panasonic racks for a total of 500kWh of storage!

The BCIT Energy Oasis site is an amazing technological testbed for just about everything imaginable related to the future of energy harvesting, storage, and usage. While our LEAF charged, we were lucky to get a personal tour of the Lot 7 facilities by Kelly Carmichael, research analyst on the Smart Microgrid applied research team. Yes, those 814 Sanyo PV panels were jaw-dropping spectacular. However, just as impressive was the system's energy storage trailer, where Panasonic racks provided 500 kWh of storage. With the system, Panasonic incorporated the same 18650 form factor battery cells used by Tesla in Model S sedans. The 18650s at BCIT do have a different chemistry as compared to their automotive applications, though.

Before leaving BCIT, and Canada, I really needed to do two things. One, my kids (and me!) needed food. Two, I wanted to pick Carmichael's brain on EVSE infrastructure deployment. The shopping mecca, Metropolis at Metrotown, was a short drive away, and Kelly agreed to join us for a late lunch.

Things fell apart, though, once we arrived at the mall. After ordering chili cheese dogs, as requested by my daughter, my debit card was denied at the register. Not only completely embarrassing, the inability to buy food meant that my grand plan to chat it up with Kelly was out. AND, we were still starving to boot.

I had a hunch that the transaction denial was due to us being in Canada. Just two weeks ago, our credit union's fraud-detection contractor correctly identified a fraudulent charge to our checking account. My hypothesis was that due to the known, recent fraudulent activity, the credit union's system just couldn't square that we were actually in a foreign country trying to buy hot dogs. So we hastily parted ways with Kelly, and left the land of mounties and ice hockey for some good 'ol American fast food...in America.

Once we crossed the border, I wanted to do a controlled trial to test my hypothesis and avoid risking another denial with food under our noses. We found a credit union in Blaine, Washington, and I did a "fast cash" withdrawal for $40. The machine spit out two twenties, and I triumphantly waved them at the kids in the car--and right in front of two police officers parked in the institution's lot. At the moment, though, I could only think, "EASY MONEY," a lame tribute to a quote by Edward Furlong's character in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

A tradition with my kids on these EVentures is to splurge with a feast a McDonald's. Arriving in Burlington, we did just that. Man alive, we ate so much food: McNuggets, fries, shakes, drinks, triple cheeseburgers, McChicken sandwiches, and apple slices. Go figure. Oh, it was beautiful!

After the quick dinner, we just needed a quick charge for the car, followed by a drive of less than a 40 miles to make it home. That drive on Interstate 5, from Burlington to Lake Stevens, is not a thrill. But on this particular night, thrills were to bound to happen.

Just past the Smokey Point exit off of I-5, I saw, in slow motion, a Ford Focus directly in front of us go airborne! As the car was on two wheels at a 20 degree angle, I saw the largest bag of concrete of my life. That's what I thought it was--an industrial-sized bag of concrete. And when, our LEAF was peppered with *rock* fragments and a plume of *cement*, I simultaneously swerved into an adjacent lane to avoid disaster.

A moment down the road, I called 9-1-1 from inside the car. The 9-1-1 dispatcher quickly connected me to a Washington State Patrol dispatcher, who, once hearing of the location of the "road debris," asked me if it was the deer carcass. Deer carcass? My mind replayed the incident in a flash, and all of the concrete bag assumptions made more sense being a deer. Another deer incident for us! The best that I could muster was, "yes, sir."

The phone conversations with the emergency dispatchers were aired for the kids to hear on my LEAF's Bluetooth audio. When I hung up, Sabrina shouted, "The deer died?!? I thought that it was a pumpkin!!!" At that moment, I determined that it was best to not announce to my wife that we had yet another encounter with a stag on a LEAF adventure.

Just minutes later, we were home. My wife heard our arrival with the garage door opening, and walked out to the garage just as we pulled in. With my second slo-mo moment in less than 20 minutes, I watched her joyous smile turn to mouth the words, "What the..," as her gaze went from the three of us in the car to whatever nightmare was present on the front end of my car. Our daughter hopped out and said, "another deer died!" I slithered out, and went to the front of the LEAF and was aghast to see that my pearl white car had a very hairy, red nose now. Yuck!

My LEAF is a chick deer magnet!

With another fun EVenture in the bag, I can't stop thinking about all of these deer encounters. Maybe, just maybe, I will now invest $1.75 in a pair of automotive deer whistles. After all, I've yet to hear of somebody actually hitting a deer with the ultrasonic doodads mounted on their car!