A new Angus Reid poll shows only 13 per cent of Saskatchewan residents would consider purchasing an electric vehicle. That’s the lowest percentage across the country.
But when Matthew Pointer wants to go for a drive, he just needs to unplug his electric car and he’s off.
"The cost of ownership is very low compared to a gasoline car,” said Pointer. “The cost for me to charge my car is about $10 to drive 500 kilometers. There are no oil changes, there's really not a lot of regular routine maintenance. The other thing too having a lower carbon footprint is nice."
Pointer's Tesla is mostly powered by the solar panels on his roof. He recently took his car on a road trip from Regina to Kelowna and was impressed with the cost of electricity compared to gas.
"The car preformed great all throughout the mountains, there was no problems,” said Pointer. “It actually cost somewhere around $40 dollars to drive all the way to Kelowna.”
Experts are not surprised by the results, and think it could have something to do with a lack of government incentive.
"We don’t have a provincial rebate program and we don’t have an electric vehicle standard,” Professor of Economics, Brett Dolter, said. “Other provinces that have those (programs) B.C, Quebec, you see a lot of sales there because there are those encouraging policies."
SaskPower bought three electric vehicles in March and said one vehicle costs about $4.20s every two weeks. In that time the vehicle travelled about 220 kilometers.
"We want to see how they operate what the benefits are,” said Joel Cherry, SaskPower spokesperson. “Obviously there is the benefit of reduced emissions but we also want to know what the challenges are, what infrastructure adjustments needs to be made to accommodate this small but growing aspect of the market."
