Electric-car hurdles mere bumps in road

It’s inevitable that most of the vehicles on Ontario roads will be electric within a few decades. Government policy and mandate are driving that direction, but more importantly, there are signals from the marketplace that electric cars are becoming more acceptable.

That’s not to say petroleum-based vehicles will be eliminated in the future, but there appears to be less reason for most Ontarians to ignore the possibility of owning an electric car. Their purchase might not happen this year, but it could within a few years.

Much of the push is coming from manufacturers. They’re making it easier for electric car ownership. They have slowly expanded the driving range, and the cost has declined. As well, they’re working to make electric car operation more convenient. The concept of electric vehicle use has been pushed as an environmental ideal by governments for years, but the manufacturers will make it happen. There is not a single car company in the world that is not building a hybrid car or working toward a fully electric vehicle.

Yet part of the reason why the electric car revolution has never taken off, at least not in Ontario, is because of the overwhelming reliability and convenience of gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles. The province has been offering generous subsidies to electric car owners, but there have been few buyers. In Canada, there were just 14,910 purely electric vehicles on the road as of Dec. 31, 2016. There were many more hybrid-electric — 193,437 as of a year ago — but they represent just a fraction of vehicle ownership.

A big part of the problem is infrastructure. Those who own a full electric vehicle are committed to having their own at-home charging station. But that’s becoming a challenge for those who don’t own their own home or who live in a condo. Some condo boards will not allow the charging stations. The problem is compounded for those compelled to park on the street.

These challenges will eventually be solved. When the first gasoline-driven vehicles were being sold, there were few paved roads in Ontario, there were no traffic lights, and few road regulations. Early cars were banned from some Ontario cities. The government demanded these same cars be licensed, if only to keep track of an amusing trend that soon became a transportation phenomenon.

It’s no different now. As electric cars become more affordable and acceptable, there will be a greater demand for the same infrastructure that’s in place for gasoline vehicles. And as with the gasoline vehicle phenomenon of 100 years ago, government will be compelled to find greater accommodation.