The government is encouraging Canadians to switch to EVs and heat pumps to fight climate change. But many CBC News readers have asked: won’t electrifying everything break the grid and drive up energy costs? Here’s what electricity operators and those researching the transition say.
Yes, Most if not all power grids in Canada cannot handle adding mass adoption of EV charging on top of the grid.
The only solution to this is nuclear power plants, more coal power plants or more natural gas power plants.
And EVs are not the answer. Manufacturing a EV is worse for the planet then manufacturing a regular car and driving it for years. If you wish to be green, just buy any used gas car and you will be making a difference or get a bike.
If only they could be upgraded. Oh, wait! Easier than a leaky pipeline, you say? Cables don’t leak into ecosystems and kill entire species?
Until then, will have to consider encouraging charging during off-peak with lower rates. But, then again, that’s already being done.
And only the first one isn’t horrible. I wish we could get energy from the wind or the sun or wave action to bolster nuke power but … not invented yet I guess.
False, old info, false dilemma to boot. The ‘rotten EV’ Facebook meme was so soundly debunked by 2019 that it was even debunked by Forbes.
Producing an EV does create higher CO2 emissions though. Not even Tesla argues against that one. It’s estimated to be ~20,000 km, but can be more or less depending on your source of electricity. So between a year and two years depending on how much you drive, but could be less if you drive a lot.
Edit: Also, we have so much excess energy at night. We just need to set up and incentivize charging at night and the grid can take on a ton more.