A broken EV charger can make for an interesting Friday

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Gather ’round kiddos, it’s story time with Uncle Justin.

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This is a story about some Disney Pyjamas, a road trip I probably should have rescheduled, and the importance of having a backup plan.

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A broken EV charger can make for an interesting Friday Back to video

It starts at 7:00 am, just after a Facebook discussion in which several friends wished me good luck on an impending Friday-morning trip from Sudbury to Toronto and back home once again, about 900 kilometres round-trip. I make this trip 4-5 times per month, and have done for the past 16 years. Since the pandemic restrictions have lifted, I’ve noted a rampant increase in bad driving on the 401, and found recent road trips to be more stressful than ever as a result.

Fridays seem to have a way of making all of that worse, and having already logged 4,200 kilometres on highways 400 and 401 between early and mid-August, today’s further driving involves a big red HEMI Durango, an electric Volkswagen, and a visit to the Disney store in Vaughan Mills Mall to exchange some infant clothes for my best friend Chris’s enormous son, Ben.

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Chris was along for the ride, and our goal was to achieve all of the above on a tight timer– to try to evade Friday cottage-country traffic heading north, while driving home in an electric Volkswagen ID.4 that would require a quick charging stop of about 20 minutes to make the trip.

Some hours into the day, my tester Durango was returned, and one electric VW ID.4 had been picked up.

I pull into the Vaughan Mills Mall, just outside of Toronto, and about 400 kilometres from home. The plan was to spend an hour here, while charging the ID.4. In an hour on a Level 2 Charger in the mall parking lot, I’d add 40 kilometres to the ID.4’s battery, which would help reduce your writer’s range anxiety further north as charging infrastructure thins out.

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The charger at the mall is busted. Though my app unlocks and activates the only available Chargepoint charger, its handle release mechanism is broken, and unusable. I park the ID.4 without charging it, spend an hour in the mall, and hit the road once again — northbound toward a DC fast charger near Parry Sound.

The battery would be fairly empty once we arrived there, about 200 kilometres further north. No problem — the Esso DC fast chargers in this location can add 10 kilometres per minute to the battery, and I only needed 200 kilometres more to make it home from there. That’s a 20 minute charge during a washroom and bagel break, and we’d be clear for the home-stretch back to Sudbury.

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As I pull somewhat nervously into the Esso fast-charge stop just south of Parry Sound, with the ID.4’s battery on fumes, I notice a blue Mustang Mach-E exiting the parking lot. While admiring the paint colour, I catch a flash of a face I swear looks like Sami Haj-Assaad , but it couldn’t possibly be him, up here in Northern Ontario, on a Friday afternoon. My friend Chris, who had met Sami on a previous automotive adventure or two, asked if that was him. “Couldn’t be,” I said.

A moment later, I pull up to the DC Fast Chargers, and I’m greeted with an ‘OUT OF ORDER’ sign fixed to each. The ID.4 has 24 kilometres of charge remaining, and it’s almost 200 to home. Non-Tesla fast charge stations have, for years, been non-existent in this part of Ontario, and these are the only two I know of.After 30 minutes of searching several websites and apps, each of which shows some (but not all) nearby chargers, we track down a new fast-charge station we can reach, just up the road. It’s a slower charger, so we’ll have to stop for 90 minutes, not 20, but it’s all we’ve got.We arrive. This IVY charger is also non-functional, but fifteen minutes with IVY’s (excellent) tech support gets it working.Chris and I go grab a sandwich nearby while the ID.4 charges.While enjoying some Subway melts back at the ID.4, the Mach-E from earlier rolls up. Turns out, it was Sami Haj-Assaad — a friend, colleague and co-worker, and fellow Driving.ca contributor I’d never expect to see in Parry Sound.

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He was also looking for a working fast charger for the electric Mustang he was reviewing.

In the midst of this stressful situation, it was fantastic to see a familiar face and chat a little. We laughed, caught up, and enjoyed, I figure, the increasingly rare pleasure of seeing a familiar face in person. It was a much-needed personal reminder to slow down, enjoy your connections, and take the time to enjoy them when you get the chance.

As charging infrastructure continues to improve in more Northern parts of the province, fluke EV travel hiccups like this will become less and less likely. This is the first time I’ve run into a broken charger in a few years, let alone 3 in a single day. Remember: most Canadians drive fewer than 50 kilometres per day, and on a (functional) DC fast charger, the ID.4’s battery can be replenished at lightning speed. It’s amazing to watch.

Still, road-tripping EV drivers visiting this part of Ontario should allow for the possibility of broken or damaged infrastructure, to avoid unpleasant surprises. For reference, the broken Esso DC Fast Chargers were still non-functional on my return trip with the ID.4, some 11 days later. Expecting this, I planned the trip accordingly and only required a single 15-minute recharge, which occurred during an on-the-go breakfast.

Oh — and when all was said and done, Ben was delighted with his new, properly-fitting PJ’s from the Disney Store.