Some say “they’re all right for mainlanders but won’t work here”. But here are some reasons this is one of the most suitable Canadian provinces
Newfoundland should be a great place to “go EV”
As I prepare to take calls from across Newfoundland and Labrador this morning, I thought it would be useful to consider some of the reasons the island could actually be one of the better places in Canada for those looking at their next car purchase to consider getting an EV (by which I mean a “BEV” — a car without a gas engine).
Edit: You can now listen to the full episode online.
Only a zealot would suggest an electric vehicle would be the best choice for everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador to get around. For a start, I would like to see more people here have the choice to cut their car use because it’s easy for them to cycle or walk where they need to go, or to use public transit for longer journeys. But it might surprise some that Newfoundland could be one of the best places in Canada to buy an EV. Here are some of the reasons.
I talk deliberately about Newfoundlanders here because in Labrador the distances travelled, low population and lack of chargers make EVs a challenge
- The more you drive the more you save. Because the higher up-front cost of an EV is offset by much lower costs for “fuel” and maintenance (because they have fewer moving parts than a gas car), the longer distances Newfoundlanders travel (on average 18,000km a year) make them an even more attractive choice than for drivers elsewhere in Canada. See cost calculations I made earlier.
2. While our winters are long, they are not *that* cold by Canadian standards, (and getting warmer thanks to climate change, unfortunately). If the Scandinavians with much colder winters are among the biggest EV purchasers there’s no reason why we couldn’t be.
3. Being able to keep your car’s “tank” full at home with your own charger — especially if you can do so in a garage in winter — can be very helpful (though not essential — I charge my car using an ordinary 120V extension cord most of the time). There are fewer apartment dwellers here and less reliance on on-street parking at night than in other provinces.
4. We will have a huge surplus of electricity when Muskrat Falls finally comes online. For the foreseeable future it is in our collective interest to use as much as possible of it here — we have collectively “bought” it, and the price we will get for it by exporting it is much lower. So the province has a selfish interest in furthering electrification by supporting EV use (and even if electricity prices were to increase sharply, electric vehicles will remain cheaper to run than their gas equivalents — see here for some calculations). It will also be important, of course, to help NL reach its climate change targets, since transportation is one of the province’s largest sources of CO2 emissions.
5. We have lots of second (and even third) vehicles in households. In that situation, families can “dip a toe in the water” purchasing an EV and learning how they work, while having a backup gas-powered car for trips they fear would take them too far from a fast charge.
6. The small number of EV users in the province has its advantages — in the two years I have driven an EV I have only once had to wait behind another user to charge my car. And there is a tight-knit bunch of EV users here who hang out on Facebook in Drive Electric NL helping each other and new potential owners.
