An update on electric vehicles as the market revs up
The World is on the verge of the electric vehicle age. You’ve likely heard this refrain before, but is it true? And if so, when will it actually happen?
Consider the 2022 GMC Hummer: This year, the SUV that previously defined the term “gas guzzler” cast off its internal combustion engine for an all-electric power-train. The Hummer is part of a wave of next-gen electric vehicles (EVs) that is upending the notion that eco-friendly automobiles are small, slow and boring.
“The newer vehicles coming out just get better and better,” says Andrew Bell, a director of the Electric Vehicle Association of Alberta. While EVs still make up a tiny portion of all new cars, their numbers grew by nearly 40 percent from 2020 to 2021, according to Statistics Canada.
Electric vehicle evangelists say that’s largely because manufacturers are starting to electrify the types of vehicles Canadians crave most: trucks, SUVs and crossovers. Makers from GMC, Ford and Chevrolet to BMW, Volvo and Tesla have all released or plan to release high-riding electric vehicles.
Many of those models will get upwards of 500 km per charge, a number that should go a long way towards easing range anxiety—especially in Western Canada.