Earlier this week, the province of Quebec announced they would ban the sale of gasoline powered passenger cars by 2035. Some people may think that’s a bit far fetched, but it does put them in line with much of Europe, who are looking to do the same thing.
For many of us, a lot of things would have to change to make this reality.
Pricing would be a big thing. Right now, electric cars will cost about $15,000 more than a similar gas powered vehicle. Granted, prices have been dropping, so it could get to the point where the two are competitive fairly quickly. If you’re old enough, you can probably remember when things like CD players and VCRs were going for nearly $1000 each. You would be hard to find either one of these things now, but before they followed the dinosaur into oblivion you could pick one of these machines up for $100. So a price drop is not out of the question.
Then there’s battery life. Yes, they are getting better. But they could stand to get better still before many of us around this area could take them seriously. Right now, a trip to Halifax and back could put many of us at the limit of battery range. So an appointment in the city would require a charging stop, most likely.
And then you get to charging infrastructure. In would certainly be convenient to be able to charge at home. Leaving your car on the other side of town to get juiced doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, and if you get hung up doing something, others would be blocked from charging in the space you are using. So home charging would be a good option, but can the power to your house handle it? And can the grid handle the overall drain?
Don’t get me wrong, I really like the idea of driving a zero emission vehicle. I really wish I could. But some days it seems like nothing short of a major lottery win could make it happen.
It probably will happen. If most of Europe starts banning internal combustion vehicles, and parts of North America follow, it will happen. We will have no choice but to follow.
