For those looking to learn more about electrification in Saskatchewan, the EV Expo was the place to be.
The Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle Association (SEVA) held its sixth annual event on April 15 at the Conexus Arts Centre.
Those attending were treated to a showcase of the wide variety of electric vehicles (EVs) the industry has to offer.
“Today is basically a celebration of electric technology, we’re talking about general electrification with everything. Whether its cars, bikes, renewables all those sorts of things are under one roof today,” Matthew Pointer, President, Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle Association, told CTV News.
“Our main mission is basically educate people and get the real facts out there about how this can benefit us in Saskatchewan.”
Pointer says events like the EV Expo try to debunk popular misconceptions the public has about increasing electrification.
“Winter time operation of an electric vehicle is actually better than a gas car in a lot of ways,” Pointer claimed.
“Because you don’t have to worry about freezing your butt off in -40 C at the gas station. The car starts every single time and you still have great driving range.”
As for the electricity used by EVs, Pointer said that its common practice for owners to charge in the middle of the night to ensure there isn’t a disruption to the grid during the day.
Even with that precaution, Pointer said that EVs are not as big of a drain on the grid as people think.
“Most of these cars take a lot less power than people know. So people can easily get by for the same amount of power such as an oven or an air conditioner,” he said.
All in all, the benefits of moving towards electric transportation is the right move for the environment and the economy, Pointer said.
“Electrification is not the boogey man it’s been made out to be,” he said.
“There’s huge benefits to the economy with electrification. We’ve got a ton of battery minerals here, we’ve got great solar and wind resources and we’ve got a great workforce to basically push us into the 21st century and build out all this infrastructure for the power grid to accommodate essentially electrification.”
Pointer added that SEVA is planning to hold the annual event for the “foreseeable future.”
According to SaskPower, of the 250,000 EVs across Canada, nearly 2,000 can be found in Saskatchewan.
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