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Alberta Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean called the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s story a ‘parody’ and former Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer also expressed skepticism.
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(LifeSiteNews) — Alberta’s Minister of Energy criticized the federally funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for publishing a report stating that electric cars are better able to handle cold weather than gas-powered ones, all at the same time an extreme cold snap gripped much of Western Canada, and nearly caused Alberta’s power grid to collapse.
Despite the bitterly cold weather, the CBC ran a report, with the headline ‘”Electric cars ‘the best vehicle’ in frigid temperatures, Sask. advocates say.” The report highlighted how owners of EVs such as Tesla’s, in the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, claim their cars better handle the extreme cold.
“It heats up faster than any gas car I’ve ever had. It’s more reliable,” claimed Telsa Model 3 owner Tyler Krause, who also sits on the board for the Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle Association and founded the Tesla Owners Club of Saskatchewan.
Alberta Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean was having none of what he called a CBC “parody.”
“Another home run from CBC. Is this parody?” Jean posted on X (formerly Twitter) in reply to the CBC report and to Conservative Party of Canada MP and former party leader Andrew Scheer, who blasted the report as well.
Scheer posted on X (formerly Twitter), “While the Alberta govt asks people not to charge their electric cars due to the extreme cold straining the grid, CBC publishes this article. Brilliant. $1.3 billion of your tax dollars ladies and gentlemen.”
The cold snap over the weekend saw temperatures in some regions drop to nearly minus-50 degrees Celsius (minus-58 degrees Fahrenheit).
The cold weather was so intense that the province’s Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) declared a grid alert, stating that power flow was near collapse due to inadequate production from renewable sources such as solar and wind. All the province’s natural gas generators were working overtime, with no contribution from wind or solar.
When it comes to EVs, the main downside, besides long charging times, is reduced range in extreme cold weather. An example of this is a Tesla Model 3, which according to Krause could go maybe 500 kilometres on one charge in warm weather but only 300 kilometres in the cold.