A study is revealing some of the challenges that electric vehicles will pose to northern power grids — and it’ll likely be revised now that Canada has a plan for phasing out the sale of gas-powered cars and trucks. “At no point in our studies did we consider 100 per cent electric vehicle adoption,” said Michael Ross, a researcher at Yukon University who is leading the study. So far, it’s showing some of the ways residential power grids will be strained if people in those neighbourhoods add Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations to their homes, he said. Faster charging needs more powerJay Massie, the vice president of northern development and Indigenous relations for ATCO Electric, said ATCO already has a “good understanding” of what electrification will do to northern power grids. Ross said some transformers are “underrated,” meaning they weren’t designed to have a lot of electric vehicles integrated into them.
