Natural Resources Canada (NRC) said it is too soon to tell if electric vehicles are reliable in Canadian winters, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “It is too early to fully evaluate the intermediate and ultimate outcomes,” said NRC in a report. Six years and $76.1 million worth of studies were inconclusive, but analysts warned of potential negative unintended outcomes from cabinet’s EV mandate. NRC funded research into running winter charging stations in Yukon, electric buses in Brampton, ON, and other projects. “Although zero emission vehicle technologies and solutions are commercially available, there are technical and non-technical barriers and gaps — e.g. cold weather-related charging efficiency,” it said. “This program fills a unique niche by addressing specific Canadian requirements such as demonstrating technologies and solutions tailored for cold climates.”Research was inconclusive to date. It said the program does not have complete results. Its auto testers determined temperatures as mild as -8C drain EV batteries and cut performance by up to 50%. It acknowledged short trips in the cold with frequent stops and the need to reheat cabins saps 50% of the range. NRC warned the EV mandate carried risks. Cabinet banned sales of new gas and diesel vehicles by 2035 except police cruisers, ambulances and fire trucks. “Several unintended outcomes are often associated with zero emission vehicles and electric vehicle charging,” it said. “Although there is a potential for negative unintended outcomes because of the transition to electric vehicles, there are concrete efforts by the Government of Canada to mitigate many of these.”If EVs are used more often, it said uncontrolled charging could disrupt electrical grids. It warned about social and environmental concerns such as pollution impacting nearby indigenous communities from mining for battery components and carbon emissions from EV production. Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) said in a report in 2019 it considered zero emission vehicles unreliable in Canadian winters. “The issue of reduced battery capacity at low temperatures is well known,” said DRDC. “To make this problem worse, unlike lead-acid, lithium-ion batteries have problems charging below zero degrees Celsius.”The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) showed in a report in November the subsidies provided for EVs will cost as much as $50 billion and are increasing, taking into account the expenses related to debt financing.READ MORE: Trudeau gov’t spent $50 billion on electric vehicle subsidies, so farThis number is three times greater than the total annual production value of the entire Canadian automobile industry.“Assuming that support for electric vehicle battery manufacturing is deficit-financed, we estimate that public debt charges for federal and provincial governments would further increase the total cost,” said the PBO.
