[jonnobris]

I have just returned from a short trip to Canada and was a little surprised at the apparent lack of EV's and EV inferstructure I saw. Admittedly I was only there a few days but drove about 400 miles and failed to see any Leafs, no Chevy Volts but what I did see was about 3 or 4 Smart EV's.

As for charging, again I didn't find much in fact in all my time there this is all I found:


At least it wasn't ICE'd!

I know they are big business in the US but appears not so much in Ontario anyway!

 

[Paul]

Thought I'd replied to this.

I too would be surprised that EVs aren't taking off in Canada, they seem generally really quite progressive in many areas, and place you'd think would be nicely "attached to nature".

I'll ask my sister-in-law, she has just come back from a year living and working out there, if she noticed anything at all I'll share the results of my interrogation.

 

[Derekosb]

Electric Vehicle sales figures are pretty low for such a large country:

This is April 2014 sales figures (Available from here http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1091847_plug-in-electric-car-sales-in-canada-for-april-volt-record-sales

Derek

 

[Hilltop Dave]

Have just returned from a holiday in Australia, where I also saw very little infrastructure for EV's. Part of the reason is that petrol is cheaper (60p/litre) and that outside the cities the number of vehicles per hour on roads and the distances between destinations is such there is little economic case for installing the necessary rapid charger infrastructure.

I imagine similar conditions apply in Canada.

 

[MoonCat]

Yet down in America distances between cities are huge and petrol is crazy cheap.

Is it the cold winters in Canada? EVs don't seem to sell that well in northern US States. Or is it just the incentives in California that skew the figures? Aren't there more EVs sold in the US (per head of population) than in the UK? Why are they happier to adopt this new tech than in the UK where petrol is about 2 or 3 times more expensive and cities are closer together?

 

[leaf]

I go to Canada relatively frequently. Uptake of EVs outside urban cultural centres like Toronto is non-existent, and even in Toronto it's pretty low. The primary reason, as mentioned, is distance. It's typical for a middle class Canadian family that can afford an EV to have a family holiday destination such as a cabin or a cottage, and these are not conveniently within 40 miles of the main residence. I know of one family that drives 350 miles, twice, every weekend, to get to their cottage, and another that drives 1000 miles to get to theirs (once per year). When discussing the idea of EVs with Canadians, they're very open to it, but it's just not viable with the distances.

Secondly, winters are brutal. In some areas, car parks have electrical sockets for each bay for engine block heaters - that's how cold it gets. Whilst EVs with the right rubber won't struggle any more than an ICE car, it's really again about range.

Thirdly, people like to tow stuff. Boats, caravans, outdoor sports equipment etc. There's only 1 EV I can think of that is designed for towing. I've tried towing a friend's 3-series with my leaf, and it doesn't like it one bit.

The only EV users are likely to be affluent types going for a Tesla, or eco-warriors going for a Leaf for predictable, repeatable short journeys - and I guarantee it'll be a 2nd or 3rd car.