from OTTAWA Rapport d’Ottawa

by/par Carol Hughes Federal member of Parliament Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing

It's summer, and for many people, that meansatripontheopenroadtovisitfriends,family, orjustspendingsometimeatthecottage.Formany of us, the distance travelling across this part of the countryhasbecomeafeatureofthenorth,and,aside from the constantly fluctuating cost of gas, it's a fairly simple way to take in the beauty of our own back yard. However, some electric vehicle drivers have found themselves struggling to find active charging stations, highlighting the problems some CanadiansmayhaveconvertingtoEVs.Thisinturn alsoaddstochallengeswearefacinginourabilityto transitionawayfromfossilfuels.

In recent weeks and months, a number of Combined Charging System (CCS) and CHAdeMO (abbreviated from Charge de Move) EVchargingstationsintownslikeMarathon,White River and Wawa have been inoperable. Tesla charging stations were still operable, but those stations aren't compatible with non-Tesla EVs, leavingmanyEVdriverswithoutachargingstation between Terrace Bay and Sault Ste. Marie. This resulted in a high number of calls for assistance from tow truck drivers in the region and several strandedtravelers.

So what's happening that's causing these issuesacrossthisstretchofthenorth?Inthecaseof the Ivy charging station in White River, it was the resultofadamagedtransformer,butinthoseother instances,wedon'thavedetails.

Thisdoesn'tbodewellforthoselookingto reducetheircarbonfootprintbyswitchingtoEVs.A recent J.D. Power Canada Electric Vehicle Consideration (EVC) Study indicates that CanadiansarequitehesitanttomovetowardsEVs, with two-thirds surveyed saying they are either “veryunlikely”or“somewhatunlikely”toconsider an EV as their next vehicle. The reasoning echoes recent travel woes along that stretch of the TransCanada highway, with respondents indicating concern with the upfront purchase price of an EV, lack of charging station availability, and the perception of limited driving distance per charge listedaskeyconcernsfromrespondents.

However, it should be noted that not all partsofthecountryareequalwhenitcomestoEV adoption.InBritishColumbiaandQuebec,thereis a higher uptake of EV consumers, relative to population,thanotherprovinces.It'snosurprise,as Quebecand BC actuallyincentivizeEVpurchases byconsumers,whichinturncreatesahigherinstall base, and further increases the availability of chargingstations.

The government has stated that they hope to see EVs account for one-fifth of all new vehicles sold by 2026, 60 percent by 2030, and 100 percent by 2035.Ifthisistobeevenaremotelyrealisticgoal, there needs to be a significant growth in the infrastructure necessary to support it. This would require substantial upgrades to our power grid to deal with the significant increase in electricity consumption. That would further entail building