How much electricity would it take to power only electric vehicles on BC roads?

Their finding? BC would need to more than double its electricity generation capacity to meet the total provincial forecast energy demand (including the major boost for transport). The move could prove surprisingly cost-effective, thanks to the falling price of solar and wind generation technologies.

As for the climate benefit? Electrifying the entire road fleet would drop cumulative emissions for the combined electricity and transportation sectors by 38 percent (or 260MtCO2) between 2015-2055 (as long as 93% of electricity continues to come from renewable sources).

Find out more by reading our media release just out today, and the journal article.  

Victor Keller, the lead author of the study, completed this work as part of his PhD research at the University of Victoria's Institute for Integrated Energy Systems (IESVic).