BC to BC – Electrically

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Baja, California Norte, Mexico to British Columbia, Canada is 1,400 miles, a few days of hard driving in a good car, but one not attempted in a pure electric vehicle until this last June. Tony Williams, an unemployed airline pilot, lives in San Diego, California, and needed to attend a wedding in the northern BC. He could not afford air fare for himself and his young daughter, so he decided to drive his Nissan Leaf, testing the full length of the West Coast Electric Highway, just recently completed with charging stations every 50 miles or so along the I-5 highway that connects two countries and three states. His pre-departure checklist shows his pilot training and his knack for planning for the myriad difficulties that can confront an EV driver in strange places. Besides the necessary paperwork to cross borders and ward off suspicious traffic cops, Tony included 200 feet of extension cords, a “gazillion adaptors,” a 20-Amp breaker for different …