By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: June 16, 2012
Dave Heywood thought he was looking at the future when he saw the ad in a Kamloops paper.
It urged people to test drive an electric car at a local mall.
Heywood went for the ride, liked the car, and vowed to buy one.
The year was 1982, and the electrical car was being promoted as a car of the future.
For Heywood, that future came this April when he bought his first electric car, a Nissan Leaf.
“I have always thought of buying an electric car,” he says.
As he plugged the charger to his swanky new car, Heywood spoke excitedly about why he thinks the electric car might be the best commuter car out there.
“It costs me just $1.80 for a round trip to North Vancouver and back,” he said.
Compare that to what he spent every month driving his Subaru to North Vancouver: $600.
The brand new car cost him $33,000, but he says it’s worth every penny.
“I think if a family owns two vehicles, one of them should be an electric car,” he says.
It takes about four-and-a-half hour to charge the battery, and a fully charged one can be driven for 160 kms.
By the time he is back in Squamish from his job, Heywood still has charge left for 20 km.
Even though there are two recharging stations in North Vancouver, he doesn’t really need to recharge.
But if he goes over the Lions Gate Bridge, he has to stop at one of the 12 charging stations in downtown Vancouver.
There is no cost for charging, but he has to pay for the parking.
He concedes that it can be a hassle for some commuters.
That isn’t the only practical problem an owner might encounter.
Where you live might be another. Squamish is at the very edge of where it might be reasonable to buy an electric car.
If you live further up from Squamish, even a few kilometres up the Paradise Valley, you might find yourself staring anxiously at the dashboard when commuting.
Heywood hopes this handicap could be fixed by installing more charge stations across the region, and the province.
“I think that is one reason why they haven’t been as popular as they should be,” he said.
In November last year, B.C. government announced a $17 million incentive program to encourage people to buy clean-energy vehicles.
The government offered $5,000 off the sticker price of green vehicles, and Heywood used that offer.
Funding has also been announced for regional districts, municipalities, First Nations, businesses, public institutions and other organizations to purchase and install one or more charging stations in BC.
Heywood said the electric car has yet to gain full acceptability in public eyes, but rising gas prices might help open eyes.
His co-workers sometimes joke about his new electric vehicle. Someone said he should keep a generator in the trunk. Another said he should have some squirrels so he could use them to generate some charge if his battery ran out.
“I tell them I’m the one laughing all the way to the bank, and I’ll be the one having the last laugh,” he says.
Robynne says
…Hmmm, with rising costs of Hydro/electricity, how much more is it costing on your electric bill to keep charging up the vehicle? Savings on gas, but more costly elsewhere?
Michelle Pammenter Young says
Great Ride Dave! You’ll have to tell me how you enjoy it.
Michelle
Brad says
I’ve gotta say I’m intrigued by the idea. Certainly my business which operates entirely in Squamish could benefit. But I wonder about the cumulative effect of 1-2 million drivers jumping onto the electrical grid to ‘fuel’ their cars, and what that will do do hydro prices in general, and whether we can generate the extra power required and still avoid coal or nuclear generation. Anyone have any insights on this?
Anonymous says
When I purchased my Leaf I also purchased a Black and Decker Power Meter. The meter attaches to my house meter and gives me a minute to minute power usage. You would use more power cooking your Christmas turkey then I use charging my car every night. Also the Leaf has the ability to start and stop charging on a timer built in. When BC hydro starts charging us higher prices for power use during the day I can do all my charging in the middle of the night.
Don Patrick says
Good Luck Dave. If electrics go the way of the cel phone you will have a collectors item in a few years. I would not depend on re-charging being on the house for long and wonder about the life of the storage cells. I know my gas tank will still hold petroleum in ten years but how about a storage battery… and what do they cost to replace ? Would also be concerned about the cold weather, maybe you should have a special flag so I can pick you up on the Furry Creek hill on your return trip during the -15C weather… oh well my sources say that the sun bursts are such these days that the problem is not carbon with respect to increaing temperature… the ambient temperture is rising on Venus and Mars about the same relationship to earth according to the probes and telescopes utilized in the last few years.. so guess one should not worry too much about the future. Al Gore and the other Pied Pipers have generated a fair amount of revenue out of these conspiracy theories in the last few years so maybe the taxed income will put to good use. Hope your vehicle does you well. Cheers
The Squamish Caveman says
Hey Don, the surface temperature rising, tropospheric temperatures rising, permafrost melting, glaciers worldwide melting, CO2 concentrations increasing, borehole analysis showing warming, sea ice receding, proxy reconstructions showing warming, sea level rising, sea surface temperatures rising, energy imbalance, ice sheets melting, and stratospheric cooling aren’t enough to convince of you of global climate change? And “No scientific body of national or international standing has maintained a dissenting opinion; the last was the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, which in 2007 updated its 1999 statement rejecting the likelihood of human influence on recent climate with its current non-committal position.” Let me repeat it…no scientific body of national or international standing denies global climate change.
adam hulm says
Nice idea, however you could get a similar sized car for a lot less than 33k. Even after paying the higher fuel costs, would still be miles ahead. The technology is in it’s infancy and I would stick with a regular vehicle. Same goes for hybrids.