“If I’m not back next week, you’ll know that I didn’t find a charger in time, and am now living among the moose,” I (half)-joked to friends ahead of my five-day exploration of Canada’s Eastern Townships region, in a rental electric camper van.
As someone harboring the same “vantasy” that’s driven the #vanlife movement for so many in recent years, I couldn’t resist checking out one of North America’s first (and few) electric camper-van rental companies this summer. I was enticed: All of the freedom of hotel-on-wheels road-tripping—none of the gas-guzzling emissions (or noise or fumes, to boot)—in a region that may just be the best-kept secret in Québec.
I traveled with Bromont Campervan, a company headquartered in the Québec mountain town of Bromont, an hour southeast of Montreal. The company came onto the scene in 2021 with standard camper-van rentals and expanded its fleet to include electric vans last summer, just as the fledgling e-camper-van market emerged. What started with only two electric vans in 2023 has tripled to six this year, a fleet of automatic, custom-converted, two- to five-passenger Ford E-Transit cargo vans.
For a vacation inherently anchored on “slow travel”—and with the electric van’s limited range (125 miles max), there’s not much other choice—the unhurried pace of the pastoral Eastern Townships delivers a fitting, if unlikely, backdrop as a testing ground for this future of technology.
Writer Elissa Garay traveled with her family through Quebec’s Eastern Townships region.
Courtesy of John Garay
The journey
Canada’s Eastern Townships (known locally as Cantons-de-l’Est) is a little-known region outside of Canada, primarily attracting Québecois from neighboring cities like Montreal and Québec City, with only a trickle of visitors hailing from the USA. But the 4,820-square-mile area in the southern Québec province, bordering Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, is a bucolic playground for an outdoors- and agritourism-driven respite from urban life. It’s an ideal sampling: the rolling Québec countryside, forested mountains and lakes, patchworks of farms and vineyards, and the seemingly plucked-from-France villages.
Set within driving distance of many Northeast U.S. cities (two hours from Burlington, four from Boston, or seven from NYC), the Eastern Townships region claims European flair, akin to a French-flavored New England. Like the rest of Québec, the locals converse in French (though mostly everybody speaks at least some English); the road signs and odometers, meanwhile, read in kilometers.
I explored this part of Québec in a five-passenger model with double bunk beds (offering plenty of room for my husband and six year old); a snug, yet functional kitchenette (stocked with a tabletop induction stove, sink, mini-fridge, and decent range of kitchenware); loads of storage nooks; and an outdoor shower off the back door.
Over five days, our van hummed about, pausing for epicurean delights: a flight of rosé and amphora-aged pinot noir overlooking vineyards fronting Mont Sutton (Vignoble Domaine Girouard); award-winning organic cheeses served aside fields of grazing cows (Fromagerie La Station); pints of lemon-garnished blanche (a wheat beer) at a train station-turned-hip microbrewery (Siboire Dépôt); cider and blue cheese crafted by the hands of Benedictine monks (on break from their Gregorian chanting) at the lakefront Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac.
We started off with a generous dose of “range anxiety”—a fear common to EV drivers that your electric vehicle’s charge will run out before you find a charging station to plug into. And when you factor in navigating first-generation e-camper-van technology that gets just under 125 miles of travel on a full charge (in comparison, the median range for EV cars is now about 270 miles)—in a region best known for its vast stretches of farmland and nature reserves—that can bring worry on steroids.
But it quickly became clear that charging infrastructure would not be a problem—from ski resort to winery to water park, chargers here were the norm, not the exception. Plus, with a network of over 100 designated campsites, the Eastern Townships region immerses people in nature, without necessarily having to unplug. Each night, after rolling around for an average of 40 miles or so, our little-van-that-could—and my family alike—recharged at plug-in-ready sites like the amenities-packed Camping des Sommets Bromont and the rustic Mont-Orford National Park campground.
The regional temperatures proved to be refreshingly low, which is no small thing during this scorcher of a U.S. summer: While the heat sweltered well into the mid-90s back home in New York, our July week in the region lingered comfortably in the low 80s, welcoming the outdoor adventures that the region is so centered on. We canoed and hiked and swam our way through the Appalachian peaks and lakes of Mont-Orford National Park (one of the region’s four national parks). We explored the verdant slopes of the Mont Sutton ski resort where, even in the off-season, diversions like chairlift rides and giant ziplines beckon. At Bleu Lavande, one of Canada’s largest lavender farms, we traipsed through fragrant fields of purple flowers, butterflies and bees fluttering about. And at the Lake Boivin Nature Interpretation Center—just down the road from the region’s exceptional zoo-meets-fair-meets-water park Granby Zoo (“just like Disney’s Animal Kingdom!” my daughter rightfully observed)—we ambled about marsh- and woods-lined trails, feeding chickadees seeds from our palms.
After sunset one evening, we followed illuminated pathways into the nature-meets-mystical world of Foresta Lumina, crossing one of the continent’s longest suspended footbridges atop a 164-foot-deep gorge, and into an immersive multimedia realm of forest fairies and other fantastical creatures—a magical world that my six-year-old daughter’s imagination will dance through for years to come.
There are a few things to keep in mind before renting an electric camper van.
Courtesy of Bromont Campervan
Tips for exploring Canada’s Eastern Townships region with an electric camper van
Take advantage of Québec’s vast network of EV charging stations
While many establishments offered their own free chargers to customers, the Electric Circuit (Circuit Électrique), run by Canadian hydropower company Hydro-Québec, has stepped in elsewhere, with a vast network of more than 5,500 charging stations that proved easy to tap into via its downloadable app with navigation tools and English instructions. (Bonus: Reserved EV charging spots in most sites proved to be the equivalent of VIP parking.)
Make sure you have a smartphone app with navigation tools to help guide you to the nearest charging station, like PlugShare, FLO, or in Québec specifically, the Electric Circuit. And be sure to book a plug-in-ready campsite well in advance.
Look into themed trails according to your interests
There are no blockbuster, bucket-list attractions to race to here but rather a collection of less-assuming sights and scenes, stringing up to offer something altogether quite remarkable. Aptly, the Eastern Townships likes its offerings neatly tied together—through designated tourist trails like the 267-mile-long Townships Trail, focused on natural and cultural heritage, or the 22-winery La Route des Vins (with many serving the region’s signature sweet ice wines and ice ciders). There are also numerous dedicated bicycle routes catering to the region’s deeply embedded cycling culture (including the 2022-debuted, cycling-meets-gastronomy Véloroute Gourmande)—you’ll even find circuits for microbreweries and cheese.
As with any EV adventure, prepare
Plan your itinerary with range and charging in mind. With Bromont Campervan’s vehicles tapping out at 125 miles on a full charge, I had to factor that cap—as well as time to recharge—into my itinerary.
Simply know that no matter how carefully you plan, there’ll be some twists and turns with EV driving. Charging stations can be occupied; charges can deplete more quickly than anticipated (cold weather, speed, and hilly terrain all come into play). One night, in the middle of a national park, we opted not to plug in during a thunderstorm, thinking we’d have enough power for the night (we didn’t). Another evening, our plug didn’t fit the campsite’s outlet (luckily, the campground reception had an adapter). But, ultimately, we always plugged in and powered through.
During a trip to Québec’s Eastern Townships, you can visit small towns like Piopolis.
Photo by Daphné Caron
How to book a trip
Bromont Campervan, which is expanding to a second location in Québec City next year, offers vans with four-season insulation and climate control for year-round rentals (the fall foliage is particularly spectacular). Rates range from $102 to $174/day, with a four-day minimum in summer high season; bromontcampervan-com.
