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The majority of the Canadian population lives in a small number of urban areas. The fact that the distance between towns in Alberta is massive is not relevant t

The majority of the Canadian population lives in a small number of urban areas. The fact that the distance between towns in Alberta is massive is not relevant to the "average" driving behaviour of Canadians because the modal drive is a commute between Guelph and Toronto or something of that sort. It doesn't matter if the 5% of the population keeps driving non-EV vehicles for many decades to come for performance reasons. Let them! Cumulative emissions are all that matter.

smnrchrds 6y ago
I am not sure if average is a good number to judge things by. I don't think many Calgarians could be convinced to buy a vehicle which makes a one-day distance to Vancouver into a two-day distance. I know this is counter to what any logistics expert would suggest, but people rarely buy based on average, they buy based on peak. So sure, if an average person in an average year makes 250 short trips (daily commute), 30 medium trips (weekends), and 10 long trips (visiting family in another province for Christmas and Thanksgiving, going on a vacation, long weekend trip, etc.), they will probably buy the vehicle that they can use for all of the above, not just the 250 short commutes. Case in point: sale of small cars and sedans in North America has been in decline compared with trucks and SUVs. People want an everything car, not a most-things car. Also, wile a large percentage of the population of Canada lives in Toronto and Montreal regions, where cities are closer together, this does not mean that is 95% of the population. Calgary alone has a population of more than 1.3 million people. It is very common to need to make a short trip to Edmonton [0], which is considered close by Canadian standards. But even then, it is a 600 km round-trip in a road that tends to be snowy quite often. Population distribution in Western Canada is much more spread out than the East. And the cumulative population is way more than 5%. [0] For example for concerts. Calgary and Edmonton are big enough to get good musical acts. But they are not big or far away enough for touring musicians to visit both cities. If You live in Calgary and your favourite musician is having their concert in Edmonton, that's a day trip you will most likely take.
- seszett 6y ago
  Many people around here in France, Belgium and the Netherlands also want about the same range (1000 km) to be able to go in to their yearly summer holidays in southern France in just one go. Even if their daily commute is less than 100 km.
- Mvandenbergh 6y ago
  Obviously the charger + vehicle ecosystem has to be able to handle the peak journey of the modal car buyer rather than the modal journey. That's the point of rapid charging though, you won't use it often but it ensures that for the rare long distance journey you are provided for. European drivers also tend to make several long driving trips a year for holidays in the summer and for skiing but I would expect that rapid charging (and some of the imminently coming generation are 350kW) will be required for that to work.
- bryanlarsen 6y ago
  We drove from Ottawa to Saskatoon and back in an electric car this summer. I estimate that it added about 20 minutes to the 30 hour drive. All other charging times were combined with bathroom or food or sleep breaks we had to do anyways.
  - smnrchrds 6y ago
    I am curious whether the same thing is possible in winter.
    - bryanlarsen 6y ago
      It should be, Tesla had about 3X as many charging stations as we needed for our LR Model Y. The thing that really kills the range in the winter is if your car sits outside unplugged for long enough to cool down completely. Which shouldn't happen on a long trip, as long as you book hotels with chargers or block heater outlets. The main reason I'd not want to do it in winter is the possibility of getting hit by a blizzard while crossing Northern Ontario which is basically unpopulated, and there are stretches without cell coverage. But that's a risk whether you have a gas or an electric car. One rule for winter driving is to never let your tank go below 50% so you have enough for heat if you get disabled. Heating the cabin in an electric car is really tough on batteries, but you should be able to survive just on seat heating in an emergency, so half a battery should last a long time. Tesla has enough chargers to let you stay above 50% on a cross-Canada trip, but you're going to be spending a lot of time charging. You'll be charging more often, and that last 20% is really slow. The normal advice is to take I95 instead of the Trans-Canada in the winter, but with borders closed because of Covid, that's not currently an option.

smnrchrds 6y ago

I am not sure if average is a good number to judge things by. I don't think many Calgarians could be convinced to buy a vehicle which makes a one-day distance to Vancouver into a two-day distance. I know this is counter to what any logistics expert would suggest, but people rarely buy based on average, they buy based on peak. So sure, if an average person in an average year makes 250 short trips (daily commute), 30 medium trips (weekends), and 10 long trips (visiting family in another province for Christmas and Thanksgiving, going on a vacation, long weekend trip, etc.), they will probably buy the vehicle that they can use for all of the above, not just the 250 short commutes. Case in point: sale of small cars and sedans in North America has been in decline compared with trucks and SUVs. People want an everything car, not a most-things car. Also, wile a large percentage of the population of Canada lives in Toronto and Montreal regions, where cities are closer together, this does not mean that is 95% of the population. Calgary alone has a population of more than 1.3 million people. It is very common to need to make a short trip to Edmonton [0], which is considered close by Canadian standards. But even then, it is a 600 km round-trip in a road that tends to be snowy quite often. Population distribution in Western Canada is much more spread out than the East. And the cumulative population is way more than 5%. [0] For example for concerts. Calgary and Edmonton are big enough to get good musical acts. But they are not big or far away enough for touring musicians to visit both cities. If You live in Calgary and your favourite musician is having their concert in Edmonton, that's a day trip you will most likely take.

seszett 6y ago
Many people around here in France, Belgium and the Netherlands also want about the same range (1000 km) to be able to go in to their yearly summer holidays in southern France in just one go. Even if their daily commute is less than 100 km.
Mvandenbergh 6y ago
Obviously the charger + vehicle ecosystem has to be able to handle the peak journey of the modal car buyer rather than the modal journey. That's the point of rapid charging though, you won't use it often but it ensures that for the rare long distance journey you are provided for. European drivers also tend to make several long driving trips a year for holidays in the summer and for skiing but I would expect that rapid charging (and some of the imminently coming generation are 350kW) will be required for that to work.
bryanlarsen 6y ago
We drove from Ottawa to Saskatoon and back in an electric car this summer. I estimate that it added about 20 minutes to the 30 hour drive. All other charging times were combined with bathroom or food or sleep breaks we had to do anyways.
- smnrchrds 6y ago
  I am curious whether the same thing is possible in winter.
  - bryanlarsen 6y ago
    It should be, Tesla had about 3X as many charging stations as we needed for our LR Model Y. The thing that really kills the range in the winter is if your car sits outside unplugged for long enough to cool down completely. Which shouldn't happen on a long trip, as long as you book hotels with chargers or block heater outlets. The main reason I'd not want to do it in winter is the possibility of getting hit by a blizzard while crossing Northern Ontario which is basically unpopulated, and there are stretches without cell coverage. But that's a risk whether you have a gas or an electric car. One rule for winter driving is to never let your tank go below 50% so you have enough for heat if you get disabled. Heating the cabin in an electric car is really tough on batteries, but you should be able to survive just on seat heating in an emergency, so half a battery should last a long time. Tesla has enough chargers to let you stay above 50% on a cross-Canada trip, but you're going to be spending a lot of time charging. You'll be charging more often, and that last 20% is really slow. The normal advice is to take I95 instead of the Trans-Canada in the winter, but with borders closed because of Covid, that's not currently an option.