BY TREVOR BUSCH insight magazine


Electric car infrastructure making inroads


travel possible is still lacking in many areas. But all that is starting to change.Here in Taber, Jaqueline Smith is the proud owner of a 2018 Tesla Model 3, and while she details some of the features of the fully-electric vehicle, she admits more infrastructure needs to be created before it can be a long-distance driver in rural southern Alberta. “I like it. It doesn’t have an engine.And it’s got


E


a front (trunk).The person that bought it is not here,”said Smith,humorously referencing her husband, Brent.“Brent bought it.He was looking online.At the time when they were bringing out


lectric vehicles are becoming more and more common on the nation’s highways and in cities in recent years, but the infrastructure needed to make


the Model 3,he put down a $1,000 deposit just to reserve it if he wanted one. It has a long-range battery, dual motor, and it’s all wheel drive. And it has regenera- tive braking to recharge the battery.With full camera monitoring — it has seven cameras. I like the sentry mode. If I leave my car, I can put sentry mode on,so the two cameras on the side if I leave my car, it will watch. If you walk in front of the car, the lights will flash.” The Tesla Model 3 is a four-door sedan, and in


February 2019 it became the all-time best selling plug-in electric car in the U.S.Depending on


options, the vehicle retails in Canada for about $54,000. Smith’s version has a long- range battery which boosts the vehicle’s range. “About 500 kilometers (in


range).At home, if I get the battery down to about 20 per cent, it takes up to six hours (to charge). But if I go to a supercharger, it takes


about half an hour.” Charging the vehicle regularly doesn’t make a huge impact on the family’s power bill. “I think our bill goes up by $5 - $10.You’re only supposed to charge when you get the battery down to about 10 per cent. It’s like a cellphone. If


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