Electric Vehicles, The Future of Personal Transportation
According to a 2021 study conducted by KPMG, 68% of Canadians who plan to purchase a new vehicle within the next five years are looking to purchase an electric vehicle (EV). Research conducted by Ernst & Young (EY) in 2019 suggests that Canada could see EV car ownership rise to 30% of all privately owned vehicles (13.2 million) as early as 2030. These statistics beg the question, does Canada have the infrastructure to handle the surge in EVs. As EY’s 2019 study shows, rapid adoption of EVs could lead to an 11% spike in Canadian electricity demands. In response to the increase in demand, utility providers will have to invest significant resources to upgrade existing grid infrastructures.
In 2019 Tanya Fish, a BC Hydro spokeswoman told The Globe and Mail that “a dozen EVs using [240-volt] level 2 charging is similar to customers running a dozen ovens at the same time”. The upgrades to the infrastructure “could be as simple as a routine transformer swap-out”, according to Toronto Hydro spokeswoman Tori Gass. A single transformer in a residential area typically handles up to 15 homes and the cost to replace them, as stated by Gass in 2019 “starts at around $10,000”.
Assuming that utility providers are able to make the upgrades necessary to power a country full of electric vehicles, another point of concern is the environmental impact of EVs. According to the head of the University of Toronto’s Electric Vehicle Research Centre Olivier Trescases, “manufacturing one electric vehicle battery is equivalent to about one year of emissions from a fossil fuel powered car”. In addition to the staggering production costs, drivers of EV cars can expect to see a reduction of their vehicle battery’s capacity of up to 20% after only 150,000 km or 8 to 12 years. With such a limited lifespan, consumers might wonder what happens to their spent EV batteries. The answer to that question is recycling.
Spent EV batteries can find themselves ending up in a variety of situations. A CBC news radio interview spoke to Salt Spring Island resident David Elderton who has adapted his home to be powered, in part, by a solar charged battery from a wrecked Tesla Model S. Nissan is using spent Nissan Leaf (Nissan’s EV) batteries to power streetlights in Japan through a project called “The Light Reborn”. In addition to repurposing EVs, battery recycling startups are popping up across the country. Companies like Montreal based Lithion Recycling are developing processes that allow them to mine valuable materials from depleted batteries and ship the raw battery-grade material back to the producers. Li-Cycle, another startup, claims their process can recover 80 to 100 per cent of materials from the used batteries.
“Not all batteries will end up powering streetlights or being recycled into new batteries, so how is the government regulating EV producers? The solution is extended producer responsibility (EPR).”
Not all batteries will end up powering streetlights or being recycled into new batteries, so how is the government regulating EV producers? The solution is extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR ensures the costs associated with safe disposal lands on the backs of producers and not on consumers or municipalities. A study supported by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, among others suggests that Quebec could position itself as a North American leader in EV battery EPR. The 2020 study found that current legislation across Canada would not prove to be an obstacle in implementing EPR as a tool to regulate the recycling of EV batteries. Provinces will likely need to create legislation specifically targeting the recycling of EV batteries as an increasing number of electric and hybrid vehicles enter the market. If you are one of the 68% of Canadians thinking of making your next vehicle an electric one, you can rest assured that your battery won’t end up in a landfill.
