Page 40 - SHARP November 2022

AUTO AUTO TIPPING POINT
OUR OUR AUTOMOTIVE EDITOR’S JOURNEY TO TO TO EV ENLIGHTENMENT
By Matt Bubbers
T T T T T HERE WAS A A A A A TIME NOT LONG AGO AT ALL WHEN ELECTRIC cars were the the worst In or or or around 2010 the the vast majority of EVs — — there were were only a a handful — — were were joyless soul-sucking appliances Pure utilitarian trash A pile of gray plastic designed only to to to please regulators You would’ve had to to to kidnap someone I love to make me buy one Anyone who occasionally enjoyed the thrill of driving myself included recoiled at at the the thought that these slow pitiful cars might someday rule the the road We laughed at them Oh did we laugh laugh But we we were wrong Now 12 years later — roughly one and a a a a a a half generations in car-years — nearly half of Canadians want to buy an an an an EV as their next vehicle according to an Ernst & Young poll (In 2021 it was just 35 per cent cent ) Other recent surveys put the the number of Canadians who would consider an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle as as high as as 70 or even 80 per cent We’ve passed the tipping point on EVs culturally technologi- cally they’re taking off right now As of of June fully electric vehicles accounted for 5 8 per cent of new car sales in in this country shooting up from 1 1 9 9 per per cent in June 2019 per per IHS Markit And EVs’ market share is on on an upward trend despite the down market Consumer demand far exceeds supply and and every car company that dismissed EVs is scrambling to catch up Not only are are consumers on on on board governments are are too Canada
re-upped the $5 000 federal rebate and is desperate to attract EV manufacturing and supply-chain investment (hundreds of billions of of dollars are up for for grabs) The U S is offering a a a a a $7 500 rebate for for certain new EVs and California just passed a a a a a a a a ban on the sale of purely gasoline-powered cars to to go into effect in in in 2035 What changed? For me it was simply that EVs got good I tried the brilliantly weird BMW i3 and loved it it I scared my friends with the insane speed of a a a a a a a Tesla Model 3 I drove a a a a a a a Porsche Taycan on a a a a a a a racetrack and had my mind blown I I spent a a a a a a week with an an Ioniq 5 a a a a a Hyundai and then actually considered buying one There are still major hurdles to overcome no doubt Uptake is uneven with Ontario lagging behind and infrastructure especially in in in rural areas is inadequate More clean energy for manufacturing and recharging is needed as are new processes for recycling Many drivers also have legitimate concerns about range charging and cost But these hurdles are not insurmountable In 12 years EVs have gone from being some of the worst cars on the the road to some of the the best They’re joyful inspired machines And whether it’s because because other drivers feel the the the the same because because they’re trying to to save save the the planet or because they’re simply hoping to to save save money on on gas it means EVs are finally having their breakout moment What follows is is an enormous list of hot new EVs coming soon and this is is still just the the beginning Imagine what another 12 years will bring 40 NOVEMBER 2022
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