BAD EV DAY

Ostensibly a trip to Whistler shouldn’t be too difficult as an all-electric journey, especially while embracing the ideology of “the journey is as important as the destination”. Like slow food, slow travel is a way to embrace awareness of one’s surroundings and savour them. Besides, going all-electric with transportation is a commitment to this, and so with artist, film-maker and media man Jay Peachy, we journeyed on in our quest to enjoy and learn all about EV travel.

Hitting more snags than we imagined was definitely part of the learning curve. Not reaching the destination in a day, a mere 150 km, was a total surprise. Failing to charge at more than 50% of the chargers where we stopped was a concept that was not on our radar at the outset of the journey, but definitely it is something to plan for. I am so glad I have a VOLT with its own backup gasoline onboard charger so inconvenience didn’t become disaster.

Everywhere we stopped people were curious about both the vehicle and the charging stations. Their curiousity often overlooked the fact that we were soaked from rain and unsuccessful in our attempts to connect the vehicle. Ever the early adopter and educator, had I not felt cold, miserable and defeated, I would have welcomed each and every one of these interested humans, hoping to welcome them to what should be the no petro, low GHG wave of the future of transportation.

As it stands, this morning I am headed to the dealership to find out why the little onboard gas-powered generator is misbehaving. I probably should have posted about my good EV day first, the one where we successfully got to the Peace Arch border for the Protect Wild Salmon Rally and back without using anything but battery, and where we encountered not a single snag.