Sparking interest. SaskEV brought out a few vehicles to the Peavey Mart parking lot Saturday afternoon (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Electrifying transportation

Electric vehicle owners make stop in P.A.

Sep 21, 2019 | 3:52 PM

The Peavey Mart parking lot in Prince Albert hosted a different kind of car show Saturday afternoon.

SaskEV, a province wide electric vehicle group, brought out some electric cars to show the public. There were also vehicle owners on hand to answer any questions people had.

Jason Cruickshank, the lead organizer for SaskEV said it is important for the general public to be made aware about electric vehicles.

“As we’re looking to tackle climate change and reduce emissions, electric vehicles have a big role to play, just even with the electrification of transportation and so, I think people have a lot of questions,” he said.

The stop in P.A. is part of National Drive Electric Week. It has seen SaskEV make stops in Regina, Davidson and North Battleford before dropping in on the Gateway to the North.

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Cruickshank said according to Electric Mobility Canada, in the second quarter of this year, Saskatchewan was the third fastest growing market in Canada for electric vehicles. Currently there are just over 200 of them now on the road in the province.

Cruickshank said along with answering questions, putting on these public events provides the chance to dispel some popular myths, one being that electric vehicles don’t work in cold weather. Cruickshank said while colder temperatures can reduce their range, the vehicles will still run.

“We’ve driven our electric vehicle at minus 40 temperatures without any issues,” he said.

The lead organizer said there are also more chargers coming online which is now making it possible to travel on longer road trips. Speaking about P.A. specifically, Cruickshank said there are charging stations located around the city, including at Peavey Mart. He explained another station is set to come to Canadian Tire, which will be a fast charging station. The expansion of charging stations is key,according to Cruickshank.

“As the infrastructure becomes more available and that’s really what you need to drive electric, just anywhere,” he said.

One of the electric vehicles makes use of the charging station at the Peavey Mart (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

There were a few vehicles on hand which included a pair of Chevrolet Volts along with a Nissan Leaf. Corey Hamilton brought his 2018 Tesla Model 3 out. He said he wanted to drive an electric vehicle because of the overall performance along with the fact he can charge it in his own garage.

Hamilton said he gets many questions about how an electric car will perform in the winter, and explained while it does loose some of its range, it still gets you to where you need to go.

“Day to day driving it works perfectly fine,” he said.

One the vehicles on display was a Tesla Model 3.(Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn