In July I traveled from Wisconsin to the Savant Lake area in western Ontario with several friends in a Cyber truck. When I told my wife that this year's trip would in my buddy’s Cyber truck, she was very much against me going in that vehicle, fearful of how the locals would react.
I have to say that reception we got was somewhat of a surprise to us. It started at Rydens store, the last place to stop before arriving at the Canadian border crossing at Pigeon River on Hwy 61 near the northwest corner of Lake Superior. A young lady approached us explaining she was Canadian and that she and her husband had resumed crossing the border from their home in Thunder Bay to gas-up, buy booze and smokes at Rydens, as many Canadians do, because of the huge price difference. Initially, after the tariff issue started they boycotted shopping in the US. She was the first Canadian to plainly state that they didn’t blame US citizens for the current situation between our countries. It was a pleasant conversation. Maybe it was the Wenonah Ii on the roof rack, who knows, but it was first of many pleasant encounters with every day Canadian citizens.
At almost every stop, and there were many, since we needed to recharge every 2-3 hours, we had similar experiences. The farther west we traveled on the Trans-Canadian highway we, or rather the truck, was photographed. Many people commented that they had never seen one in person. The age range of people we interacted with was a kid who probably was about 8 to seniors in their 70-80’s.
The kid asked me if the truck was bullet proof since it is clad in 1/16” stainless steel panels, an observation I should have pointed out to the missus, since that may have allayed some of her fears. We got many thumbs up from other drivers and never saw any one finger salutes. Several younger guys in large pickups did u-turns to come back and talk to us and checkout the truck.
Initially, all four of us on the trip were going to travel together in this truck. But two guys had range anxiety and so our backup vehicle was a Chrysler minivan, which was a good idea since we way over shot our turn off on Hwy 599 on the trip up to our entry point. The extra battery power expenditure put us in a potentially serious $$$ situation if we would have needed a tow back to Ignace ON to the nearest Tesla charger. Tesla charging stations were conveniently located as long as you stayed on well traveled routes. When we finally backed into the charger at Ignace we had 2% battery remaining, with the truck regularly warning us of our power deficit. Otherwise, the truck was comfortable, would have been very quiet if not for the canoe on the rack and performed well in auto driving mode (as long as the driver’s eyes continued to be facing forward). So, it was a good trip with no real concerns, other than our navigational error in missing our entry point. All the Tesla charging stations worked (but they were all brand new) and only several of them had other vehicles charging, so we only had to wait the length of time the charging took - 20-30 minutes. This point worked out well for us, 3 guys in their mid to upper 70’s, who needed the time walk around every few hours anyway.
If anyone is concerned about traveling to Canada in a Tesla don’t be. All our interactions with the locals were positive and interesting. Canadians continue to be a warm and friendly bunch who don’t blame us for the problems between Washington and Ottawa.
I have to say that reception we got was somewhat of a surprise to us. It started at Rydens store, the last place to stop before arriving at the Canadian border crossing at Pigeon River on Hwy 61 near the northwest corner of Lake Superior. A young lady approached us explaining she was Canadian and that she and her husband had resumed crossing the border from their home in Thunder Bay to gas-up, buy booze and smokes at Rydens, as many Canadians do, because of the huge price difference. Initially, after the tariff issue started they boycotted shopping in the US. She was the first Canadian to plainly state that they didn’t blame US citizens for the current situation between our countries. It was a pleasant conversation. Maybe it was the Wenonah Ii on the roof rack, who knows, but it was first of many pleasant encounters with every day Canadian citizens.
At almost every stop, and there were many, since we needed to recharge every 2-3 hours, we had similar experiences. The farther west we traveled on the Trans-Canadian highway we, or rather the truck, was photographed. Many people commented that they had never seen one in person. The age range of people we interacted with was a kid who probably was about 8 to seniors in their 70-80’s.
The kid asked me if the truck was bullet proof since it is clad in 1/16” stainless steel panels, an observation I should have pointed out to the missus, since that may have allayed some of her fears. We got many thumbs up from other drivers and never saw any one finger salutes. Several younger guys in large pickups did u-turns to come back and talk to us and checkout the truck.
Initially, all four of us on the trip were going to travel together in this truck. But two guys had range anxiety and so our backup vehicle was a Chrysler minivan, which was a good idea since we way over shot our turn off on Hwy 599 on the trip up to our entry point. The extra battery power expenditure put us in a potentially serious $$$ situation if we would have needed a tow back to Ignace ON to the nearest Tesla charger. Tesla charging stations were conveniently located as long as you stayed on well traveled routes. When we finally backed into the charger at Ignace we had 2% battery remaining, with the truck regularly warning us of our power deficit. Otherwise, the truck was comfortable, would have been very quiet if not for the canoe on the rack and performed well in auto driving mode (as long as the driver’s eyes continued to be facing forward). So, it was a good trip with no real concerns, other than our navigational error in missing our entry point. All the Tesla charging stations worked (but they were all brand new) and only several of them had other vehicles charging, so we only had to wait the length of time the charging took - 20-30 minutes. This point worked out well for us, 3 guys in their mid to upper 70’s, who needed the time walk around every few hours anyway.
If anyone is concerned about traveling to Canada in a Tesla don’t be. All our interactions with the locals were positive and interesting. Canadians continue to be a warm and friendly bunch who don’t blame us for the problems between Washington and Ottawa.
