Electric Vehicles
Electric Vehicles
I love the idea of an all electric vehicle however the infastructure is not in Canada yet.
I recently purchased an electric car, and it has been great. I live in a big city and have a charger at home, which is very convenient. However, during a recent trip to my sister's cottage, I realized quickly that the infrastructure for charging EVs is not available as it should be in Canada!
I charged my Genesis to 100% for my drive to Tobermory. I arrived there with 120 km to spare. There were only two chargers along the way that I didn’t need because I had plenty of electricity in the tank.
It's kind of funny how you must speak like a combustion car owner. I have a full tank, I step on the gas, etc. There is no checking under the hood for me, no oil changes, and not many moving parts at all.
Once I got to the cottage, I still had 120 km left, so I used the receptacle charger that comes with the car. Hmm, it would take 60 hours to fill it up. One trip into town would be spent charging for us.
The community center in Tobermory had about six chargers. However, I am told they have not worked since installation. That's not a good sign. Others have said they don’t turn them on until the tourist season. I don’t understand that thinking. It's a paid service, meaning you need to pay as you go. Why not leave one or two on all year round?
We enjoyed our time there, taking in the sunsets and sunrises, reading on rainy and sunny days, and sitting in the sun.
Then came the drive home and returned to reality. I had accumulated a 80% charge. Plenty to make the the trip home. We needed to stop over at my brother’s in Guelph so we had a couple hour trip.
On my drive back, I enjoyed the car's features. Although there were faster chargers in Wiarton, I opted to continue despite leaving with only 80%.
There were many detours along the route as road maintenance season had begun. Driving a gas-powered car is not a concern as there are plenty of gas stations along the way, which we all take for granted. I was curious, although completely out of my comfort zone. This trip made me very nervous.
I spotted a sign on the side of the road that said choose Faith, not Fear. And I thought it was coincidental to see that as fear crept in. What’s the worst that could happen? I might be stuck on the road waiting to be flat bedded to a charger as it is unlikely that someone would carry a small tank of electricity. I have researched carrying a battery to fill the tank in an emergency. (they aren’t quite there yet). So, I started to tap into the faith and let the fear go.
I find myself challenging my trust a bit these days, saying, let’s see where this takes me. I will do my best and have faith that it will work.
So we stopped in Guelph and had the opportunity to charge there. However, I decided to have faith that I would make it back entirely based on mileage. About halfway back from my brothers, the car announced that I only had 10% battery left and pointed to a charger on Carlisle Road beside a Tim Hortons. Upon arrival there, we discovered it didn’t work. Uh oh. However, I tapped into my channel and was advised I would make it home. Have faith, I kept hearing.
I was so tense, but I decided not to panic and had faith that I would make it back. I had 20km to drive and 15km of electricity left. Yikes!
I was so close to running out of kilometers. Still, I didn’t panic; I had faith. Once in the city, I needed to slow down and brake occasionally. As I did this, the battery started to charge itself, and my kilometers left started to increase. I arrived home with kilometers to spare.