A couple is making a cross-country journey in an electric vehicle, attempting to prove that doing so is possible. (Photo: Jetcityimage | Dreamstime.com)

By Jayson Taylor

Crossing the country on nothing but electricity

Jun 6, 2023 | 12:51 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Doug Wright and his wife are crossing the country for a road trip. At first glance, one may not think anything of their vehicle, but upon a closer look, the Wrights have travelled thousands of kilometres across the country in a Ford F-150 Lightning, Ford’s electric pick-up truck.

The debate about the electrification of the vehicle market in Canada has been a contentious and heated one. Many people like to point out that it benefits the country in reducing emissions, is more cost-efficient in the long-run and is more efficient. Others will point out that cold weather heavily decreases the range on electric vehicles (EV), charge times are much longer than filling a gas/diesel vehicle, and due to Canada’s sparse population, the infrastructure is still not sufficient for road-trips.

However, the Wrights have proved that you can do a cross-country road trip in an EV. Having come started their journey just outside Huntsville, Ont., Wright said there are still some minor improvements needed to make road-tripping as easy as possible, such as making charging stations more reliable.

“The challenge has been charging reliability, we don’t get a lot of reliability in charging. This started off at 125 kW, 125,000 watts worth of energy going into the battery per hour. Now it’s down to 58 kW going in, so its charge per-minute the longer you’re going to charge, the more you’re going to pay,” Wright said on Monday while stopping in Medicine Hat.

Another challenge for electrification has been trying to convince rural regions to buy electric vehicles. The majority of rural communities don’t have the infrastructure capable of hosting charging stations, so the only choice for most people would be to charge at home. Sandy MacDonald at Big M Ford in Medicine Hat said that electric vehicle sales are around what they have expected at the moment.

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“The sales of electric vehicles are kind of going the way we thought they would,” said MacDonald. “It’s basically less than 10 per cent of our whole market, so it’s not a huge part of the market right now. Keeping that in mind, we are stocking electric vehicles and they are selling the way we thought they would.”

Wright had to wait two-and-a-half years for his Ford F-150 Lightning, and received it in October 2022. He said the largest drawback he’s seen since owning the truck is the large hit its driving range took over the winter. Still, Wright said he believes that electric vehicles are becoming better at a fast rate.

Time will tell how much better the performance of electric vehicles will get in the next couple of decades. There’s still a high demand for internal-combustion engine vehicles, and MacDonald believes that internal-combustion cars will still have a big demand in the next few decades.

Doug Wright says that he and his wife plan to do more cross-country road trips with their EV in the future.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now

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by Jayson Taylor

Crossing the country on nothing but electricity

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