An Electric Road Trip

By Tanner Watt
LAS Municipal Program Specialist

One of the highlights of my year are the road trips. Getting to meet face-to-face is much more enjoyable than a Teams meeting, and there’s nothing like some time exploring Ontario to appreciate the beauty and diversity of the province we call home. 

In the spring I visited 30 municipalities in South East Ontario, from Bracebridge and Huntsville in the West, Laurentian Hills in the North, Prince Edward County to the South, and Hawkesbury in the East. It was a great time to tour around a beautiful area, seeing the lakes and forests come to life after the winter. The meetings were great as well, I got to share the work LAS is doing and learn more about the unique challenges each community is facing. 

In the fall my travels shifted north. I flew to Timmins and Thunder Bay, driving from there to visit more municipalities in the area. I also drive directly from Toronto to visit Sudbury/Sault Ste. Marie and the surrounding area. I met with 52 municipalities on these trips, driving approximately 5,300km in three weeks. There is nowhere in the world quite like Northern Ontario – the massive forests, rocks, and in particular the shores of Lake Superior are breathtaking no matter how many times I visit. Common topics of conversation were Automated Speed Enforcement, Investments, and the Canoe Procurement Group. The main themes I heard from staff were working to make their communities safer, improving their local economies, and making their operations as efficient as possible.

A unique experience on the last trip was an all-electric rental vehicle (Tesla Model Y), allowing me to compare the conventional and hybrid options I used on the previous trips. Charging was seamless and I had no issues maintaining a ‘full tank’ with the Supercharger network. Costs weren’t drastically different – the non-hybrid rental car cost $0.13/km, the hybrid was $0.10/km, and the EV was $0.09. The Level 3 chargers were responsible for the high cost, charging about 8x as much for energy as what someone plugging in at their house overnight would pay. 

Interested in having LAS pay your municipality a visit? Let us know at las@las.on.ca.