Will crossing Canada in 5 days destroy our battery?

J

justfortheride

New Member
Hi All!

I've crossed Canada from the maritimes to BC in the past in an ICE vehicle. It took 4 days of nearly nonstop driving (only short sleep over night). We're returning to the Maritimes at the end of the month, and we're debating shipping the vehicle vs. driving it out. There are pros and cons both personal and practical to both of these options, but that is not up for debate here. Rather:

Would non-stop cross Canada driving, in mid-summer heat, fast charging from near empty to near full 2-3 times a day for 6 days straight utterly destroy our battery? This vehicle was a huge investment for us, and we hope to keep it for a very long time.

Again - focusing solely on the effects on the battery - would fast charging our way across Canada in as fast a trip as possible significantly degrade (or worse) the battery? All other things being equal - would you do it with your Kona?
 
I don’t believe what you propose would have any significant effect on the battery. If DC charging is in any way harmful, 18 sessions over six days is no different from the same spread out over a year. And that's a big if. The manual gives vague advice about not using DC unnecessarily, but evidence suggests it doesn't make much difference when the battery is properly managed.
 
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That's a definite no, on a bad effect on the battery.

I don't know if you have heard of the company Tesloop (I believe that's the name).

They've been driving Teslas commercially, nonstop between LA and Las Vegas for years. Pretty much constantly using exclusively DC quick charging.

Their degradation was more than an average driver, yes, but still their cars held up (are holding up) VERY good.

So I wouldn't even debate a bad effect on the battery for your plans, since we're talking about a few days vs. years and years of "abuse" if you want to call it that.

You're more likely to get into an accident than your drive having a bad (or even noticable) effect on your battery.
 
Without a doubt it will hurt the pocket book more than the pack, try and avoid Electrify Canada and use Petro Canada if possible.
Looking forward to a full report, enjoy the trip:)
 
justfortheride said:
Hi All!

Would non-stop cross Canada driving, in mid-summer heat, fast charging from near empty to near full 2-3 times a day for 6 days straight utterly destroy our battery? This vehicle was a huge investment for us, and we hope to keep it for a very long time.

Again - focusing solely on the effects on the battery - would fast charging our way across Canada in as fast a trip as possible significantly degrade (or worse) the battery? All other things being equal - would you do it with your Kona?
Click to expand...

Have you looked at A Better Route Planner (ABRP)? ABRP can be a big help in finding the most efficient route and charging sequence.
The warm weather should make for quicker charging.
The only tip, if you need to charge to 100%, try to avoid doing it at the end of the travelling day. If you can arrange things so that it's just hitting 100% as you are ready to depart, that's optimal.
I get that sometimes there's no choice, just suggesting that it will help to preserve your battery capacity over the long term.
 
The other aspect of your question is whether the distance alone, around 6000 km, is going to count significantly toward range degradation. Certainly less than 1%.
 
Are there now enough chargers to comfortably make the trip?

I looked some months ago, and there were gaps near Winnipeg and Regina that made such a trip problematic.
 
The Longest road trip I have done is 2200 miles (3540 km) I did about 800 miles (1290 Km) the first day out and the same on the last day home. I fast charged up to 4 times a day on the trip. That was almost a year ago and I have seen no affect on the battery, my range, or the efficiency of the Kona. The trip was done in the summer with temperature as high as 108 f (42 c) with the AC running most of the time.
 
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ericy said:
Are there now enough chargers to comfortably make the trip?

I looked some months ago, and there were gaps near Winnipeg and Regina that made such a trip problematic.
Click to expand...
I just ran ABRP for a run from Quebec to Vancouver. Only one charge to 90% and one to 82% everything else was 80% or less.
Most were Petro-Canada 200kW chargers. 53hrs of driving (4950km) and 13hrs 40min charging (26 stops).
I didn't look for motels with charging but that would remove a chunk of charging time you have to sit around for.
 
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