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CAA Manitoba’s Liz Peters shows off the Leaf’s charging system.

If the auto industry is on the verge of an electric revolution, as some have suggested, then a small group of Manitoba drivers is in that revolution’s vanguard.
   
Several car manufacturers have recently launched electric vehicles, so named because they’re powered by batteries that run on electricity instead of engines that rely on gas. And, while the number of EVs on Manitoba roads remains small (Manitoba Public Insurance has just five registered with it, a mix of factory-produced models and DIY conversions), public interest in them is definitely growing, whether prompted by rising fuel prices, environmental concerns or the novelty of cutting-edge technology.
   
In response to that interest, CAA Manitoba, an organization perhaps best known for providing roadside assistance to its members, now has a Nissan Leaf and a Mitsubishi iMiEV in its possession. Its employees have been driving both cars around for the last several months.
   
"Because Manitoba has a different situation with our climate than a lot of other provinces do, we weren’t just going to take the information that’s coming from the major auto manufacturers in other jurisdictions," says Liz Peters, the organization’s public and government affairs representative. "We wanted to test them for ourselves."
   
CAA Manitoba has also launched Get Current (getcurrent.ca), an education campaign geared to people who may be considering purchasing an EV. The Leaf, iMiEV and a Chevrolet Volt were on display at Polo Park last week as part of that campaign.
   
The Leaf and the iMiEV are EVs in the true sense of the word; 100% electric, each comes equipped with a cord that plugs into a standard 120-volt outlet, although owners can also upgrade to a 220-volt "Level 2" plug for quicker charging. In contrast, the Volt has plug-in capabilities but also comes with a gas engine which kicks in once the car’s electric charge has depleted to a certain level and acts as a generator for the electric motor.
   
The Volt attracted the biggest crowds during the hour Uptown spent at the mall on Friday morning, while most passers-by expressed concerns about three issues: winter performance (the same as regular cars); range (depending on a number of factors, EVs can travel up to 160 kilometres on a single charge; the Volt’s gas engine component allows it to travel up to 500 km); and cost (Leafs start at $40,000, iMiEVs start at $33,000 and Volts start at $43,000).
   
Some provinces now offer substantial EV rebates — in Ontario, for example, they can be as much as $8,500. No such incentives exist in Manitoba, however, and there are no plans to introduce an EV rebate program at this time, according to a spokesperson from the provincial government.
   
Still, rebate or no rebate, every revolution needs someone to go first — and Winnipeggers Ariel Epstein and Ross Redman are more than happy to be EV trendsetters. This past November, Epstein became the first private citizen in Manitoba to own a Leaf. A month later, Redman became the first Canadian iMiEV owner.
   
Redman, a 57-year-old West Broadway resident, has wanted an electric vehicle since the ’60s when he first found out such things existed.
    

"My first motivation was the performance and the quiet drive," he says. "Now that I’m older and wiser, the environmental (aspect) is probably just as important, if not more important. I mean, we’re ruining our planet and we’ve got to stop doing that — and this is my little token effort in that area."
   
Redman didn’t bother installing an upgraded charging system, which costs around $1,000; he plugs into a basic outlet every night and says his car is full by morning. So far this winter, he’s been getting about 100 km out of one charge, although that dipped to 80 during the recent cold snap. In addition to emitting virtually no greenhouse gases, he’s now spending less than $10 a month to keep his iMiEV running.
   
"It’s a great car and it performs really well," he says. "It’s got more torque than my old gas car does and it’s about 200 kilograms lighter, so it’s really quick and nimble, and zips around the city like crazy."
   
Epstein, 41, says the environment was definitely on his mind when he decided to go electric.
   
"We’re running out of oil in the world and there are some uses for that oil that are much better than just burning it to do some grocery shopping," he says.
   
He uses a Level 2 charging system at his Charleswood home to power up his Leaf, though only to 80% capacity so as to prolong the life of its batteries. His car sends messages to his smartphone when it’s hit that target (yes, really); he says it usually takes less than two hours.
   
Epstein justifies the Leaf’s higher price tag by noting its lower maintenance costs (no oil changes, for example) and the fuel factor — a former SUV owner, he’s gone from spending $70 on gas every 10 days to $7 in electricity. Nor is he all that worried about battery life, another frequently voiced concern about EVs. While replacing the entire battery system right now would cost a minimum of $8,000 — a repair he says would be "highly unlikely" given that it’s divided into separate modules that can be replaced as needed for around $300 each — he’s also got an eight-year warranty on his car and says he fully expects battery costs to drop substantially during that time as technology improves and EVs become more popular.
   
Range anxiety he dismisses as ridiculous.
   
"My car has 160 km of range — in winter, that’s probably closer to 100 km — and my daily commute is about 30 km, so why should I worry?"              
   
EVs are not for everyone. People who do a lot of long-distance travelling may find the range too limited, and infrastructure is also a concern — though Manitoba has an abundance of regular outlets, Level 1 charging from flat can take upwards of 20 hours to complete and Level 2 stations are few and far between. (That, too, is slowly changing, however: CAA Manitoba recently installed a Level 2 station at its Dawson Road facility that’s open to the public.)
   
But for the average city commuter or as a secondary vehicle, an EV may be worth considering. Epstein certainly has no regrets: if anything, he likes his new car a little too much.
     
"It’s so much fun," he says. "You accelerate like crazy. I’m kind of concerned that I’m collecting some tickets, quite frankly."