Electric vehicles take center stage at the S.E.N.S. car show

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He said, contrary to many beliefs, his car can be used to do much of the same functions as a regular gas-powered SUV or truck.

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“This one we use for cargo hauling, firewood, cinder blocks, we tow with it,” he said.

Olivia Nowek purchased her 2019 Tesla Model 3 six weeks ago.

She said the appeal of purchasing an electric vehicle was not only to help the environment, but to dispel the many myths that exist surrounding electric cars.

Olivia Nowek bought an electric car 6 weeks ago and says their are many myths that people have around electric vehicles. Here she is explaining some of the myths #VernonBC pic.twitter.com/YELrlgEmVz

— Tiffany Goodwein (@CityNewsTiffany) May 24, 2019

A big myth is the inconvenience of charging an electric car, particularly during long trips.

“For me on my trip back from Vancouver, I had to stop for about 40 minutes in Hope and recharge at a supercharger, but it really wasn’t an inconvenience, I happened to want to stop for breakfast anyway, so if you tie it in to the regular stops that you are making anyway, I haven’t found it an inconvenience at all,” she said.

Nowek also said the price of charging an electric vehicle at home, is much cheaper than paying for gas.

“The research that I did has told me that it is about 20 cents a litre, the electrical costs of charging at home, and that’s from BC Hydro which just did a big study on it, so 20 cents a litre compared to $1.45 is a pretty big savings,” she said.

Many of the spectators eying the electric vehicles were also in the market for one themselves.

“We intend for our next vehicle to be an electric vehicle, it won’t be in the immediate future, but when we do get another vehicle it will probably will be electric,” said attendee Claire Petrucci.

The event even showcased a form of transportation that requires water instead of roadways to travel.

“My wife and I wanted to buy an electric boat but we couldn’t find one that was big enough or did what we wanted it to do, but we wanted a boat that we could use year-round that had no maintenance, that didn’t need to be winterized, that was big enough for the kids and grandkids,” said Mark Fry.

He started his own electric boat manufacturing business a few years ago, called Templar Marine, and he thinks electric boats are here to stay.

“It’s just like electric cars, there will be more manufacturers as this moves forward, the technology is getting better all the time,” he said.

The boat takes eight hours to reach its full charge.

The only drawback, according to Fry, is that many electric boats on the market today are not made for speed.

“The marine technology for electric batteries is not sufficiently strong enough yet to run volts of 30 to 40 knots, so there are a few boats that do that, that are electric but they only last 20 minutes and then you have to recharge them,” explained Fry.

The car show is organized by the Sustainable Environment Network Society, which strives to promote environmental awareness in the North Okanagan.

Director Terry Dyke said that it is important for everyone to take a stand against climate change, which includes driving a vehicle that does not emit fossil fuels.

“We’ve got a lot of forest fires happening in High River Alberta, there’s 400 or some odd fires that have already started in Alberta already.”

“Climate change is happening. This is a good thing that people can do to mitigate climate change,” he added.