BC Ferry and Charging Amnesia

[mwexler2]

Almost done with a British Columbia vacation from Port Angeles to Ucluelet on Vancouver Island to Port Hardy. Prince Rupert, Prince George, William’s Lake, Bella Coola (probably the first Rivian to visit) and Whistler.

The day after getting off the BC Ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert and after driving to Hotel and then in the morning to a hiking trail, the Nav system still didn’t know where it was. Had to reboot entertainment system.

Note, this wasn’t a one off. Also happened after the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria same thing happened but it reset itself after 15 or 20 minutes.

Note, when arriving at a new location on a ferry, for the first time, not an ideal time for nav to glitch or to reboot. Especially if it happens to be at 12:30 am after arriving for the ferry at 5:30 am.

The other annoyance was that the nav software doesn’t seem to know about BC Hydro or On The Run charging stations. For example, the 150 kw freewire system in William’s lake that is on Hwy 97 is ignored and instead a less convenient 100kw Flo is recommended.
Even worse when going from Bella Coola to Whistler, the nav ignores the BC Hydron in Anahim lake (basically making it seem impossible to get anywhere) and the ones in Lilloet, Clinton, 100 Mile House (BC & On The Run) and therefore recommends taking a giant detour through Ashcroft instead of taking the direct route on Hwy 99.

A couple of fun pics:

The “Bella Coola Tan” a sure sign you’ve d

The BC Hydro in Anahim Lake, without this getting to and from Bella Coola would be pretty close to impossible.

My favorite, the 50kw, free Flo Charger in the Hancevie rest stop (all rest stops should have there). Worth stopping for both the view and the free electrons.

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[Budman]

Thanks for the ferry ingo about the navigation glitch . Will be there next month.

Was planning on using PlugShare to find charging.

 

[PappaBolt]

Navigation continues to be a weak spot. I don’t think it’s self-learning based on your driving. But maybe someone with more insight can comment.

I can be in west Seattle and set my destination to Coleman Dock ferry terminal downtown. Instead of routing me the 8 miles direct path, it sends me all the way around Tacoma, and thru kitsap county, puts me on the ferry and takes me on a 2 1/2 trip that should take only 10 mins.

 

[Noplacelikeloam]

What charging is there in whistler? I’m thinking of biking up there soon and was a little concerned.

 

[jjswan33]

FWIW it's not that Rivian NAV ignored BC Hydro and On the Run, it just doesn't know they exist. Even when I ended up at an On The Run this winter in Castlegar I couldn't use it because I couldn't access the Canadian App Store to download the app.

A lot of smaller regional chargers are not on the NAV stateside as well.

 

[mwexler2]

Thanks for the ferry ingo about the navigation glitch . Will be there next month.

Was planning on using PlugShare to find charging.

PlugShare was good. There was only one station I used that wasn’t there. I added it.
https://www.plugshare.com/location/626773

What charging is there in whistler? I’m thinking of biking up there soon and was a little concerned.

Got here last night and the only charging I’ve used was the Nema plug at Blackcomb Spring Suites. The Rivian portable charger plugs right in. Perfect for an overnight catchup.

 

[cbrcanuck]

I take BC Ferries fairly often. Interestingly, the last time (last week), had the same Nav issue. Drive for an hour afterwards and then hotel. Was only fixed when I got back into the truck in the morning. Had never had it take more than a minute or so before (dozens of ferry trips). If I’m somewhere I don’t know, I generally have the phone nav as my primary use. Much more reliable.

My first ferry trip in the Rivian (April 2023) a ferry worker warned me not to do a software update on the ferry. Someone tried it and wound up spending the entire day (8+ hours) going back and forth waiting for it to finish as they don’t have the equipment to get the truck off.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Almost done with a British Columbia vacation from Port Angeles to Ucluelet on Vancouver Island to Port Hardy. Prince Rupert, Prince George, William’s Lake, Bella Coola (probably the first Rivian to visit) and Whistler.

The day after getting off the BC Ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert and after driving to Hotel and then in the morning to a hiking trail, the Nav system still didn’t know where it was. Had to reboot entertainment system.

Note, this wasn’t a one off. Also happened after the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria same thing happened but it reset itself after 15 or 20 minutes.

Note, when arriving at a new location on a ferry, for the first time, not an ideal time for nav to glitch or to reboot. Especially if it happens to be at 12:30 am after arriving for the ferry at 5:30 am.

The other annoyance was that the nav software doesn’t seem to know about BC Hydro or On The Run charging stations. For example, the 150 kw freewire system in William’s lake that is on Hwy 97 is ignored and instead a less convenient 100kw Flo is recommended.
Even worse when going from Bella Coola to Whistler, the nav ignores the BC Hydron in Anahim lake (basically making it seem impossible to get anywhere) and the ones in Lilloet, Clinton, 100 Mile House (BC & On The Run) and therefore recommends taking a giant detour through Ashcroft instead of taking the direct route on Hwy 99.

A couple of fun pics:

The “Bella Coola Tan” a sure sign you’ve d

The BC Hydro in Anahim Lake, without this getting to and from Bella Coola would be pretty close to impossible.

My favorite, the 50kw, free Flo Charger in the Hancevie rest stop (all rest stops should have there). Worth stopping for both the view and the free electrons.

I grew up on Vancouver Island, and try to go back any chances I get. It is quite annoying that BCHydro and Journie (Chevron) chargers aren't in the nav, despite the BC Hydro ones being in there on some updates, but not others.

On the Nav system, most times once you get out from the ferry, it'll fairly quickly establish its location, but I had it once where for the life of it, it wouldn't pinpoint itself and had me "driving" over the mountains rather than being on the coast. I had to reboot the infotainment system to get it to clear.

 

[Gateman]

Charging in BC has improved greatly, if you know where to look.
chevron gas stations ( Journie app)
Petro canada
Shell gas
Electrify canada , not to be confused with EA site
Plug share is not bad to guide, but not complete

 

[mwexler2]

FWIW it's not that Rivian NAV ignored BC Hydro and On the Run, it just doesn't know they exist. Even when I ended up at an On The Run this winter in Castlegar I couldn't use it because I couldn't access the Canadian App Store to download the app.

A lot of smaller regional chargers are not on the NAV stateside as well.

The On the Run worked fine for me with Apple Pay. You are right it doesn’t know about them. But at least in the part of BC I’ve been in, these aren’t niche players, they are the primary ones available. It would be like trying to navigate in US without Electrify America and ChargePoint.

 

[RIV206]

Navigation continues to be a weak spot. I don’t think it’s self-learning based on your driving. But maybe someone with more insight can comment.

I can be in west Seattle and set my destination to Coleman Dock ferry terminal downtown. Instead of routing me the 8 miles direct path, it sends me all the way around Tacoma, and thru kitsap county, puts me on the ferry and takes me on a 2 1/2 trip that should take only 10 mins.

I have this same problem. I usually have to just drop a pin on Alaska Way and navigate to that.

 

[jjswan33]

The On the Run worked fine for me with Apple Pay. You are right it doesn’t know about them. But at least in the part of BC I’ve been in, these aren’t niche players, they are the primary ones available. It would be like trying to navigate in US without Electrify America and ChargePoint.

Well at the time I was there this winter they were 'free' but you needed to activate with the app. Three of us tried but none of us was able to download the app but there was a different FLO 100kW charger down the street and I was in my Ioniq 5 so no biggie.

To your point when I was in BC with my R1T in 2022 the On the Run chargers didn't even exist yet and even in remote eastern BC there were many 50kW class chargers available. Below was my ~ journey, with the blue dots places I charged ~ as I recall. The longest stretch was from Leavenworth, WA and the Canadian border, if they hadn't let me cross I would have needed a tow truck. I do recall using a BC Hydro in Radium Hot Springs and talked to someone in a Tesla who was mad they didn't have the right adapter, I also recall it being the only charger I couldn't use Chargepoint or EC apps so I had to download the Flo app as well.

I also fully appreciate that you would want them to be in the NAV being 150kW chargers, especially if you need to precondition but at least for On The Run they are pretty new (< 1 year).

 

[chrismc]

What charging is there in whistler? I’m thinking of biking up there soon and was a little concerned.

The situation is not great. There are two fast charger stalls in the convention center parking garage, but that’s it for DCFC and I’ve never found an available stall. The resort daylots have ChargePoint chargers that offer a measly 7kW shared between two cords. The best option is to grab one of those after pay hours (I think later than 6 pm?) and leave it overnight.

I usually try to fill up in Squamish and avoid charging in Whistler as much as possible, but the last time I was up there the previously reliable Electrify Canada charger at Garibaldi Village wouldn’t charge more than 3-5% at a time before erroring out and stopping. Rivian Service said this was a known software incompatibility with EC, but did not suggest who would be fixing it. There’s a massive Tesla Supercharger station in the shopping center, I’m looking forward to using my NACS adapter next time I’m up there!

 

[rhumbliner]

So funny you’d post this just now. We leave Sidney for Port Hardy tomorrow and then on to Prince Rupert. Have been researching chargers for the past month to assure myself we can make it.

 

[iansriv]

I grew up on Vancouver Island

I'm so jealous!

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