Driving Electric in Canada

January 29, 2025

So my family has been fully electric for just about a year now. My wife primarily drive a second-generation Nissan Leaf and I got a first-generation Chevrolet Bolt last March. By coincidence both vehicles are 2018 models.

I would prefer not to drive at all, but I live roughly 30 km from the school I teach at and so driving is unfortunately required (I am envious of all you tech guys who get to work from home!). Faced with the necessity of driving, I like driving electric. I love charging at home, I love being free of the oil change countdown, I love how much quieter an EV is. I can actually enjoy music while I drive!

This post is split into two sections. I'm going to talk a bit about my anecdotal experience of driving an EV in southern Canada, and then more specifically about breaking down the pros and cons of each car (tldr; I find them to be roughly equivalent).

Being Electric in the Greater Toronto Area

If you have a driveway or otherwise own a parking space (for example, in a condo tower), home charging isn't a big deal. I can only slow charge on a typical 115V outlet because I'm waiting on a larger home renovation project to upgrade my electrical service, but even that is enough. Despite doing a 60km round trip at mostly highway speeds every weekday I need to do a 17-hour charge every three days during warmer weather or every day during colder weather. Even in the dead of winter such as the recent polar vortex that had Toronto in the -15 zone I was fine. This approach does expend more energy than I can recoup in the time available, and so especially in the winter I need to leave my car plugged in most of the weekend to be ready for the following week. I'm hoping that this summer I can get my electrical service upgraded and have a 240V 50 amp circuit installed, which I think will make these scheduling issues disappear.

Public charging, however, is a different story. Some companies keep their charging stations in a good state of repair while others can't or won't bother with the upkeep. In Canada I find that the Flo stations are always up and running, while the Ivy stations in my neighbourhood are always out of order. I've only used Chargepoint once so I can't really comment there.

The bigger problem with public charging though besides the silliness of needing to sign up for each company's app instead of just "paying at the pump" with a credit card is that there just aren't enough of them. For example, we took a family vacation up to Bobcaygeon in the summer, and up there is all of one level three charger in and around the town. If you need to quick charge you might find yourself out of luck. There may be a charger in Lindsay but I think it's at a car dealership and not available for public useage. I don't often need to charge up when I'm out and about, but when I do I usually end up having to wait for a free plug.

Leaf vs. Bolt

Both of these cars have some quirks, but I have enjoyed driving both vehicles. I prefer cycling, but Ontario currently has some of the stupidest bike lane laws in the world thanks to our idiot premier.

The App

Cars have apps now! The Nissan app is pretty bad overall. It can only connect over 3G instead of wifi or bluetooth, so once the phone companies inevitably shut down 3G service Nissan Connect will cease to function (this exact scenario played out with first-generation Leafs that only had 2G). You can't do very much with it, but you can theoretically schedule the climate control to heat or cool your car prior to driving, and see the current state of charge.

This isn't much functionality, but it's better than the GM app with does absolutely nothing unless you subscribe to OnStar for thirty dollars per month, which I refuse to do. This is a big disappointment and had I known it was the case I might have looked for a second Leaf instead of the Bolt. One of the features I was most anticipating, coming from a 2011 Ford Fiesta, was being able to warm the cabin and defrost the windows remotely in the winter.

The Leaf is the clear winner here.

Climate Control

I have to give this category to the Leaf as well, because in addition to the app the Leaf computer will let you create a rudimentary heating or cooling schedule from the dashboard. The Bolt just doesn't do this at all. In the Bolt's favour I will say that I find the cabin heats up much faster in the wintertime.

Self-Driving

This may be a bit of a controversial category given the poor track record of the Tesla vapourware, but the Leaf has this and my early model Bolt just doesn't. The Leaf can use its cameras to detect highway lane markings and will do a decent job of keeping you within them, although I always need to make minor steering inputs. It will also use the camera to watch traffic ahead of you and slow down the car as needed. This feature only works when your hands are on the steering wheel. The original Bolt models just don't have this at all.

Size

This one is a toss-up. The Bolt is a smaller car. Sometimes this is useful. The Leaf has a bigger trunk. Sometimes this is useful.

Battery and Charging

The Bolt wins here due to having better technology. The ChaDeMo fast charging on the Leaf has lost the betamax wars and although there are still charging stations new ones aren't being built. The Bolt also has liquid heating and cooling of the battery cells, while the Leaf has nothing, which enables the Bolt to fast charge at a quicker rate.

The one downside to the Bolt's charging setup is that GM installed the charging plug by the driver's side door, so sometimes you have to maneuver the car to be able to reach the cable. The Leaf's charger is much better positioned dead centre at the front of the hood.

"Infotainment"

The word infotainment sounds kind of silly to me but I'm sure you know what I mean. Both cars have a touchscreen, and the Bolt's is noticeably larger. The Bolt's front and rear cameras are more poorly positioned and therefore less protected from the elements, affording less visibility during rain or snow. It's worth pointing out that although the Leaf's onboard navigation is kind of crappy, the Bolt doesn't have any navigation whatsoever, requiring you to use Carplay or Android Auto. This is usually not a problem, but the USB-A slots in my Bolt are malfunctioning (I think they're gunked up with car dirt) and so I can't currently use carplay. The Bolt also has two more USB-A charging ports in the rear of the vehicle, but once again the ports are out of commission until I get around to cleaning them.

Concluding Thoughts

Again, I wish I didn't have to drive at all. I like being a teacher but I sometimes long for the ability to work from home. Given the necessary evil of driving in my life I had wanted an EV for a long time. I think it was both the environmental aspect of reducing my greenhouse emissions and also the efficiency aspect of not needing gasoline that caught my attention, but it wasn't until 2021 that we were in a position to make it happen. It's on my list to get rooftop solar and be truly electric but I don't have a timeline on when that might occur.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I think these cars are roughly equivalent today. Long-term the Bolt is probably a better buy if you have to drive due to the Leaf's fast charging solution falling into obsolescence. Although not driving is always the best solution, if you must drive any EV is always a better option than a similar gas car.