Automakers Look to Warm Up Canadians to BEVs

OTTAWA – Canada’s automakers are faced with overcoming resistance to buying battery-electric vehicles because of reduced range and recharging challenges in the country’s frigid winters. 

There is plenty of evidence that battery ranges decline in cold winters, when charging takes longer, eats up more power and is more expensive. 

Brian Kingston, president and CEO, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Assn., says the problem is especially intense in Canada: “It's not unusual to have minus 10 C (14 F) or minus 30 C (minus 22 F) in the winter. There are unique Canadian conditions that require a different approach to electrification.” 

While Canadian auto manufacturers are spending resources on cold-weather testing and improving battery functionality, Kingston says the federal government needs to spend more on funding public charging, given the additional time needed to charge vehicles in winter will require more charging capacity. 

That is especially the case in rural and more remote areas, where 20% of the Canadian population lives, using the 1.1 million km (683,000 miles) of two-lane public roads linking communities in the world’s second-largest country. 

“We’re going to need extra infrastructure and fast chargers in areas where you don't see a great deal of throughput,” says Kingston, with such facilities not being commercially viable and requiring public subsidies to operate. 

That ties in with a Canadian government report, released July 3, that concluded an additional 40,000 public ports are needed each year between 2025 and 2040, on top of the nearly 30,000 public ports currently available or planned in Canada, to meet the target of ensuring all new vehicles sold from 2035 being zero emission models. https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-efficiency/transportation-alternative-fuels/resource-library/electric-vehicle-charging-infrastructure-for-canada/25756#a25 

“The government’s ambition has started to run up against reality,” says Kingston, who also calls for a more flexible approach in the 2035 mandate to allow more sales of plug-in hybrids. If not, “government EV regulation may well have a disproportionately negative effect on northern rural Canada,” he warns. 

Government crucial to building out Canadian BEV infrastructure, industry says.

According to a U.S. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) paper released in April 2023, in Canada BEV ranges decrease by 1.1 km (0.68 miles) with each 1 C reduction, with vehicle ranges decreasing 20% for minus 7 C (19.4 F) compared to 20 C (68 F). Moreover, the paper says the Nissan Leaf has a range of 161 km (100 miles) at 25 C (77 F) and delivers a range of only 49 km (30 miles) at minus 25 C (minus 13 F); while the Mitsubishi i-MiEV’s range is 42 km (26 miles) at minus 25 C, and from 128 km (79.5 miles) at 21 C (70 F). https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10105947 

Québec City-based charging network company Flo says a study of 2,230 public charging stations in Montréal showed recharging took 25 minutes longer on days dropping to minus 5 C (23 F) or lower compared to milder days above 10 C (50 F). Energy consumption also increased 2.7 kWh, up 17%, emphasizing the impact of winter on both charging duration and energy transfer.

In a June paper within the journal “Enviromental Research – Climate,” University of Toronto-funded academics said: “BEVs led to an additional increase in peak electricity demand of 3.2%–4.7% on January’s coldest day, and 0.3%–0.9% on July’s hottest day” in Toronto and nearby Hamilton. That is important, “given that range anxiety is a well-known barrier to widespread BEV adoption.”

A February study in the “Environmental Research – Infrastructure and Sustainability” journal found that cold weather increases the “number of charge-ups,” so planners should consider “regional differences in cold-weather patterns when planning charging infrastructure deployment. Also, motorists living in apartment blocks with limited private recharging points “may face additional costs” for winter public charging, said the paper. Solutions could include smart power distribution and more rapid charging facilities, to reduce recharging time and ease concerns about BEV purchasing.

Another concern is motorists sourcing private charging systems, ensuring they work in extreme cold snaps. Flo warns that “not all charging stations are certified to minus 40 C (minus 40 F),” so “having robust cold-weather-ready infrastructure can make all the difference.” 

David Adams, president and CEO, Global Automakers of Canada, agrees that “recharging takes longer in cold weather,” noting that is a challenge given “Canada is trying to electrify everything.” 

His organization has been actively engaging with the federal government on private and public infrastructure, Adams says: “While 80% of charging is done at home, that does not work if you do not have garage or live in a condo that has no ability to accommodate retrofitted charging stations.” 

Adams says that while “battery technology is improving to mitigate...cold weather...there will still be some reduction in performance,” so “Canada needs a robust infrastructure plan to give people confidence that no matter what time of year, they know where to conveniently go to charge their vehicle.”  

He tells WardsAuto, “Right now the industry believes that this is not the case, and that the government is seriously underestimating the number of pieces of public charging infrastructure.”