An older gentleman sits in the driver's seat of his Kona EV. He looks pretty pleased with himself.

Photo Credit: Debra Lynn

Ripping Around NorthIsle in an EV

"It's a real hot rod"

Port Alice resident went electric and won’t look back

Bob Leask bought himself an electric vehicle, and you know what? He’s pretty stoked about it.

“I have no regrets at all. It’s a great car,” he told the North Island Gazette.

Filling up a gas tank these days can cost $80 to $100, or more if you drive a big tank. But charging an EV costs $5-6. And the car doesn’t cost a lot to maintain.

“No such thing as an oil change with an EV, they’re almost no maintenance, there’s no spark plug, no oil.”

When it comes to EVs, some folks worry about how far you can go without a “refill.”

But so far, Leask has never “run out of gas.” His Kona can go 400 kilometres on a single charge.

But he came close once. He tried to fill up at a free charger at Buckley Bay, but it was out of order. The next one was all the way out at Qualicum Beach.

“I just barely made it. I’m lucky I didn’t run out.”

He admits that an electric car would be trickier if you travel a lot. He says that he needs to budget an extra hour to drive to Victoria to charge up halfway there.

But it will get easier as more charging stations get installed around VanIsle.

And while Leask loves saving money on gas, he says his favourite part about owning his car is its performance.

“I mean, it’s a very tame sort of car, it looks like your suburban grocery-getter,” he said.

“It doesn’t look like a sports car at all, but it goes. It really jumps!”

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