THUNDER BAY, ONT. — Now that the province has doled out more than $90 million for electric-vehicle charging stations, while cheering on a new $5-billion battery plant in Windsor, is it finally possible to get behind the wheel of your dream EV in northwestern Ontario?
The answer still seems to be a little bit yes, and a little bit no.
Anyone looking to purchase an electrified Ford F-150 pickup truck, for example, can certainly order one. But they likely won’t see it in their driveway until sometime next year.
“Like all new products, it’s going to take a while to get the production plants fully up to speed,” Pinewood Ford new car manager Mark Hyytiainen said Thursday.
Hyytiainen noted that the manufacture of a variety of industrial products — not just vehicles — has been slowed by an international shortage of microchips.
Still, he said, the steep rise in the price of gasoline in the past month has fuelled an increased interest in the availability of EVs.
In an auto review this week, the Globe and Mail gave high praise for Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 EV hatchback — with a caveat: “Good luck getting one.”
Thunder Bay’s Superior Hyundai sales manager Victor Chan said there’s no luck involved, but perhaps a little patience.
“A customer ordered one in December, and it’s being built as we speak,” Chan said.
Auto dealers planning to sell EVs are usually required to make hefty investments in battery chargers and EV service equipment before they can start taking orders.
In Nipigon, Brennen Ford general manager Joanne Waddington said she is in the process of doing just that, despite professing to be not a huge fan of EVs just yet.
Waddington said motoring in Northern Ontario is a different ball game.
“I know (EVs) are the way of the future, so we have to prepare for it,” Waddington said. “But what happens when you get stuck for six hours on the Trans-Canada Highway because of an accident, and your battery runs down?”
Thunder Bay’s Tom Cook says he can accept that prospect. The retired teacher, who is one of a dozen won-over Tesla owners in the city, said his EV sedan has never let him down in three years of ownership.
Cook said he once drove all the way to Toronto, charging up every two hours or so at the network of Tesla-brand charging stations dotted along the Trans-Canada. Petro-Canada also offers EV chargers along the route.
“I find the EV motor is really powerful,” said Cook, who reports he has no trouble climbing steep grades or passing transport trucks.
Thunder Bay’s cold climate hasn’t been an issue as long as his car is plugged in at night to keep the battery warm; however, Cook allowed, range is slightly diminished when driving when the mercury is down in the -20 C range.
When on the highway, “supercharger” stations are able to bring the battery up to full strength in about 20 minutes, he said.
Tesla, which doesn’t have a dealership in Thunder Bay, flies a technician into the Lakehead city when repairs are required, Cook said.
In 2017, California-based Tesla promoted a prototype EV transport truck that could travel fully loaded about 800 kilometres on a single charge.
Canadian grocery giant Loblaw said at the time it would be willing to purchase 25 of the trucks, but there hasn’t been any news about that project lately.
