Pain at the pumps is pushing more people to consider buying electric vehicles

At All-EV Canada’s Kempt Road location in Halifax, phones have been busy.

“We have seen a huge increase in interest for electric vehicles, especially over the past two weeks,” said Erica Huntley, General Sales Manager at All-EV Canada.

The dealership exclusively sells electric vehicles.

Chris Harto, senior policy analyst of transportation and energy with Consumer Reports, points out there are lots of pros to owning an electric vehicle (EV), but also a few cons.

“In the winter the range of the vehicle can drop by 20 per cent or more, so you need to factor that in when you’re doing longer trips during the winter,” Harto said.

He notes EVs are often more expensive up front than gasoline-fueled vehicles, but drivers save on fuel and maintenance costs.

Harto added that EVs have instant torque, can be charged at home, and are simpler machines. But they can’t travel as far without needing a charge, and cold weather makes it worse.

Jeremy Terry lives in Halifax and owns an EV. He said he hasn’t had any problems.

“The amount of charging systems that are going in are great. The flow chargers, I haven’t experienced any problems or wait times myself. I think I waited once for two minutes for someone to charge,” said Terry.

Kurt Sampson, with the Electric Vehicle Association of Atlantic Canada, has owned several EVs and believes buying one is a trend that’s only accelerating.

An app he uses to track his savings shows he saved hundreds of dollars this month.

“It cost me $69 in electricity and I’ve saved $421 in one month,” Sampson said.

A portion of Nova Scotia’s energy is still sourced from coal, so it’s possible a person powering up their electric car is relying on coal to do so.

But Sanjeev Pushkarna, senior program manager at Smart Grid Nova Scotia, said converting from a gas-powered vehicle to an EV reduces your emission by up to 50 per cent as Nova Scotia transitions to more renewables.

NS Power said by the end of 2022, nearly 60 per cent of the power grid will be non-energy emitting. And Less than 30 per cent of the grid will be coal generated energy, with just over 10 per cent from natural gas and oil.

As demand grows for EVs, Nova Scotia power is preparing its infrastructure.

“From generation to infrastructure the planning as begun including pilot projects like Smartgrid Nova Scotia,” Pushkarna said.

“We have intelligent charging systems that will help us influence us when charging takes place that will also help with the overall readiness of our system.”