Can you do a long-distance commute in an EV?
The experience of this driver, who travels for work, suggests any reservations are misplaced
“There’s never a long enough drive in a Tesla,” Stephanie Lake likes to tell people who ask about her cherry red Model 3 all-electric sedan.
Lake is referring to her car’s future-friendly, fun-to-drive character — although cynics might interpret her statement another way, suggesting that you can’t drive a Tesla too far before the battery runs down like a dollar-store flashlight.
“I used to go to the Ontario Tesla Owners Facebook page to post questions about my car and got lots of good advice,” Lake says. “But these days, there’s more trolls there just to say something negative.”
She senses there’s a palpable backlash to EV ownership, which she attributes to fear of anything new and different.
When a bone-chilling polar vortex hit parts of Canada and the U.S. in January, the deep cold affected EV drivers particularly hard, especially those new to the technology. Media headlines focused on the carnage of dead Teslas and other EVs frozen in the streets.
The negative publicity only reinforced the perception that EV technology is not ready for prime time. And the notion is gaining traction. A recent survey found growing reluctance by Canadians to make their next automobile purchase all electric, citing concerns about cold weather driving, battery life and the lack of charging stations. According to AutoTrader, 68 per cent of Canadians were interested in buying an EV in 2022, but that figure declined to 56 per cent in 2023, and fell to 46 per cent this year.
Lake says her 150-kilometre drive from Buckhorn, north of Peterborough, to Toronto is proof positive that an electric vehicle can be a reliable and cost-effective way of commuting from the hinterland, where many ex-Torontonians live affordably, to the big city.
Lake, a professional photographer, drives to her freelance jobs a couple times a week from her allseason cottage, where she spends a lot of her time. (She also lives in Scarborough.) Lake can make the round trip on a single charge, which costs about $10.
“Sometimes I would top up the battery in Peterborough using Tesla’s Supercharger, which is a Level 3 charger that takes 15 minutes,” Lake says. The extra boost ensures she has plenty of range if the assignment takes her west of Toronto in heavy traffic.
Lake and her husband Mike were among the first to take delivery of their 3 at the inaugural Canadian “mass delivery” site at the International Centre, where hundreds of new Tesla owners received their cars in May 2018.
“It was so smooth and quiet coming home, I surprised myself doing 140 km/h on the highway while passing a truck,” Lake smiles.
The first 3s were all equipped with a long-range 80.5 kWh (kilowatthour) battery and a 221-horsepower electric motor powering the rear wheels. Zero to 97 km/h (conversion from miles per hour) comes up in 5.1 seconds — quicker than a VW GTI or a Subaru WRX.
If rear-wheel drive sounds treacherous, Lake brushes it off. She says all-wheel drive isn’t necessary in winter if the car has four snow tires. The low-mounted battery, its nearperfect 48/52 weight distribution and the direct-drive powertrain (with no transmission) help the Tesla stay planted on slick roads.
Her car’s battery pack is susceptible to cold weather, though, which is why the Lakes invested in a charger at the cottage. Battery efficiency degrades as the ambient temperature drops, typically by 20 per cent or more. So the 3’s 520-km range on a full charge may be 400 km or less, depending on how much the cabin heater, seat warmers and other accessories are used.
Not to mention that the battery relies on chemical reactions that slow down battery charging in very cold temperatures — an immutable law governing electrons. To address that, Lake says a home charger is a necessity, given that a battery pack can lose power overnight in cold weather, which has caught a lot of owners unaware.
“Our friends bought a Ford Mustang EV, but they don’t have a home charger. They decided to go up north in -20 C weather and were completely gobsmacked when they discovered their range was depleted,” recounts Lake.
But it would be a mistake to think electric vehicles don’t work well in cold climates; Northern nations Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland had the highest share of electric vehicle new-car registrations in 2022, according to the European Environment Agency.
In addition to having chargers at home and the cottage, the Lakes follow the recommended 80-20 rule: charge the car’s battery to 80 per cent capacity and don’t let it fall below 20 per cent before recharging. The practice optimizes battery life, though it doesn’t hurt to fully charge the battery occasionally.
George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association, says it doesn’t help that many EV manufacturers have exaggerated their vehicles’ range numbers, and the U.S.based EPA estimates haven’t been precise, either.
“Certain companies have inflated their range numbers,” says Iny. “The combined city/highway figure is not helpful, as highway range is all that buyers care about. We recommend automakers publish a cold-weather range estimate for each model, too.”
Plenty of factors can affect an EV’s range beyond temperature: wet or snowy roads, a strong headwind and deflated tires (typically set at 45 psi in an EV). And just like in a gas-powered car, excessive speed can degrade the range significantly.
When EV buyers do their homework, their ownership satisfaction often tops that of regular car buyers. Lake says electric cars are in their element as long-distance commuter vehicles.
“EVs sell well in the 905 suburbs of Toronto, where homes are easy to retrofit with a charger, families have multiple vehicles, and residents are accustomed to driving everywhere,” says Iny.
Sometimes I would top up the battery in Peterborough using Tesla’s Supercharger, which is a Level 3 charger that takes 15 minutes.
STEPHANIE LAKE
COMMUTER