If Canadians can't plug in, they won't buy in
The country needs to ramp up its generic electric vehicle infrastructure if it hopes we'll ditch diesel and gas
Would you buy a house that had no electrical sockets to plug in appliances?
Of course not!
So why are our governments pushing us to drastically increase the number of EVs we buy over the next few years, without providing the infrastructure to operate those vehicles?
A recent CBC story detailed a number of cases of drivers in Ontario and Eastern Canada that were unable to find a charging station — or a charging station that wasn’t out of commission! — as their battery power began to dwindle.
Those kind of stories don’t do much to increase the comfort level of most Candians about the reliability of switching to an EV for their next vehicle purchase.
I don’t yet drive an EV, but I can understand the angst.
I don’t see a lot of charging stations on our secondary highways and small towns, and those I do see are usually exclusively for Tesla models.
That’s a problem!
Many Canadians probably can’t afford a Tesla on their budgets, or they, like me, don’t want to buy anything to enhance the financial empire of a wingnut like Elon Musk.
The point is, our governments need to pick up their game and make EV infrastructure like charging stations more plentiful to assuage their skepticism.
It’s simple, really: of Canadians can’t plug in, they won’t buy in!