We Don’t Need No Frozen Sparky Bricks

A Liberal voter gets chill-pilled.

Maureen Huxter and her husband travelled from Ottawa to near Bowmanville, Ont. on Dec. 20. Huxter says it was the first time she had taken her new car on a long distance trip.

“What would typically be a 3-and-a-half hour, 4-hour trip, say with one stop, turned into five or six,” she says. 

Huxter says her first stop at the Napanee ONroute had a slow EV charger, which she was warned about, so after 30 minutes she decided to drive to the next station in Trenton, almost an hour away. 

There, she says all charge attempts failed. When she called customer service, Huxter says an agent explained that it had been that way for days. 

How do I know how she votes? We all know how she votes.

54 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Frozen Sparky Bricks”

  1. I wouldn’t be so quick to say that you know how this person votes. Maureen Huxter does not make a big hairy deal about pronouns or any intersectional identities or disabilities in the article. Huxter also uses the heteronormative and patriarchal term “husband” to refer to a partner. The photo in the article shows a rather nice looking neighborhood, and Liberal voters tend to prefer to live in dense urban squalor so they can celebrate the vibrancy of such a community. The photo also shows that the vehicle is a Hyundai – what hardcore virtue signalling Liberal would be caught dead in anything but a Tesla? Finally, Huxter is not wearing a mask.

    So I think that there’s at least a 10% chance that this person does not vote Liberal.

    1. Many Lib voters live in high-end suburbs Never heard the term “Rolls Royce socialists”?

      She votes leftward. If she does not vote Liberal, then NDP. Or even Green.

    2. Because Libtards are easy to spot. They are the ones admonishing you for not getting the umpteenth booster. They are the ones still wearing face diapers. They are the ones demanding more hard lockdowns. They are the ones praising their useless EVs. They are the ones complaining about how things are yet keep supporting those responsible for their misery.

      1. Yup. That perfectly describes my brother except for the misery part.. He doesn’t suffer at all, he’s very well off, lives in a high-end neighbourhood and is a staunch Liberal supporter, second choice NDP.

        And absolutely refuses to talk about politics because he can’t defend his views.

    3. Bowmanville Ontario is represented both federally and provincially by Conservatives.

    4. Ukraine flag in profile, goldendoodle, rah rah Canada day posts. Career civil servant. Didn’t know about charging problems before embarking on a highway trip = exclusvely a mainstream media consumer.

      Liberal voter.

    5. We are talking Canadian Liberal here, not American style “liberal” as in Progressive.

  2. Of course her focus and that of the article is that the problem is the charging network not the underlying unreliable tech.

    Nobody dares to question the utility of EVs in freezing weather.

    1. “Of course her focus and that of the article is that the problem is the charging network ….”

      As a likely Liberal voter, this really IS the point. This is a Liberal’s way to criticize Doug Ford for not providing enough “clean energy” charging stations for her car.

      I’m no Douglas fan but believe me, that is the issue for her and CTV. Never miss an opportunity to raise doubt in the minds of the voters.

    2. If the charge stations were working, is the charge “free”?

      If not, she would still kvetch to the media about her entitlement. Liberal defined.

  3. All those lovely installations were added to the electric bill of Ontarians, they weren’t built for free. I just wonder what the total cost of all this was and what the maintenance contract is worth? This is also only for the 401 corridor which leaves the rest of the Province unelectrified – when will that happen and how much will that cost? What happens if I want to drive down Highway 7 from Ottawa to Havelock, are there any fast chargers on that route? Any chargers at all? What happens when the next Ice Storm 98 hits and there is no power for 3 weeks. Last time people were stealing generators left at Cell towers, which was keeping emergency communications going, to heat and light their homes, will they steal them now so they can go get groceries? She was just lucky there weren’t any lineups to charge, once the temperatures drop charging times get longer since you have to preheat the batteries in order for them to accept a charge. One couple who rented a Tesla in Florida to drive to Minnesota found that charging times exceeded driving times as temps got below zero. They turned in the Tesla and rented an ICE vehicle for the trip home.

    1. there is a tesla charging station in ft. McLeod. 6 terminals doubt 6 teslas have used it total.

      also came across one in Batoche. 3 teslas and 2 other kind, the people there. fed civil servants said it had never been used. and obviously put in by the feds. I did not see one at Battleford. but suspect there would be one there

      1. While I don’t drive through Ft Macleod on a regular basis, I still pass through a coupla dozen times or more in a year. I’ve never seen a vehicle at any of the charging stations and, if you pass through in winter, there’s never any tracks in the snow.

    2. Commsguy

      The Libranos and Dippers don’t want you to drive.

      Provided your papers are in order, your social credit is ok, and your carbon score card permits, you’ll have to take a bus.

    3. Commsguy: Further to your point:
      “The stations are run by Ivy Charging Network, which is a company owned by Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation. ”

      Ontario Power Generation is 100% owned by the people of Ontario, who also own 47% of Hydro One.

      Read this laughable claim by Ivy Charging Network:

      “By increasing electricity usage in Ontario through the broader adoption of EVs, it is anticipated that electricity rates could go down by spreading the system’s fixed costs across more users.”

      And there is much more “investment”, paid for by all electricity customers, planned in these charging stations:

      “Ivy currently has 17 locations open with more opening all the time.”

      https://www.electricity.ca/programs/centre-of-excellence/ivy-charging-network/

      1. Sorry to inform you … but you’re statistically insignificant. Not even a rounding error.

  4. The complaint seems to be that changing stations aren’t working. Why would anyone who’s lived in Ontario for more than a week expect anything to work?

  5. That’s right Maureen, so what’s to be done? How do you propose to fix this? { – Sing along with me, everyone – you know the tune, you’ve heard it a million times – }

    “WHY DOESN’T THE GOVERNMENT…???!”

  6. Should have bought a Tesla. The network is well maintained and the networking software works flawlessly.

    That said, a long trip with EV, say >500km is ok if you have the extra time.

    Contrary to the sentiment of the commenters above, I love my Tesla, especially the charging at home. Once you pay the upfront $$, ongoing ownership costs are fraction of an ICE vehicle.

    1. I am not challenging your experience, but I would be interested in finding out what the range of your Tesla is in the following situation:
      > leaving home fully charged
      > cold, say below -10C
      > heater set to 20C

      Also, what is the charging time at a Tesla network fast-charging outlet assuming you are at 20% of battery capacity?

      1. – Heater is negligible
        – Range highly dependent on cold and speed
        – In Ontario we have rarely had a day below -5 yet
        – Estimate 20% reduction in range
        – Fast charging network I’ve used once and it got e 250km in about 25 minutes.

        1. “– Heater is negligible”

          ..said no one who understood anything about electricity and the laws of physics, ever.

          “– Fast charging network I’ve used once and it got e 250km in about 25 minutes.”

          Must be nice to have all the time in the world to get somewhere. I can get three times that range in 5 minutes.

    2. Unless your property is covered in solar panels (another whole Tesla cost in total $$$ … with a comparable depreciation rate) … you’re paying just about the same in electrical cost as I do in gasoline. Esp. if you live in CA with nearly the highest electric rates in N.America … and multi-tiered punishment scale with every extra Kw you use. The idea that your 50amp overnight recharge … day in and day out is virtually FREE … is utter nonsense. No … not nonsense … it’s a LIE.

    3. One problem I have with you owning a Tesla, I paid for a lot of it. Both the purchase price and the charging network, and even the actual electricity that goes into it. All government funded in whole or in part.

      I’m disinclined to pay for -your- car, sir.

      1. Very sensible Phantom. The real atrocity of EVs is regressive taxation: taxing the poor to pay for a benefit only the rich will enjoy.

    4. that Tesla costs Double what a comparable ICE vehicle would, don’t forget that in your “cost of ownership”.
      that Tesla has a maximum lifespan of 150km. Typical ICE vehicle is double that, another “cost of ownership” that gets mysteriously forgotten.
      if you really love it, then it can be resuscitated with a new $20K+ battery replacement. Engine rebuilds for ICE or crate engines, go for $5K.
      Range anxiety. Non-existent for ICE.
      “Fillup” time. 5 minutes for ICE. Sometimes hours for the Tesla, when the Supercharger station is full of freeloaders, ya gotta wait, and ya got no choice but to wait.
      Cold Weather dramatically affects EVs. I’ve seen the EV owners in their roller skates on cold days, windows down (to keep the windows from fogging), toque, gloves and heavy coats all on, because the heater is off, to preserve what little range is left.

      I’m not trying to be nasty, but EV owners seem to be completely oblivious to the obvious issues

    5. You might not have a number of small maintenance or repair bills over time but when you do have a failure the cost will be massive. It will destroy your perceived savings in one whack. Guaranteed.

  7. A local farm has parked their Ford Lightning, at least until the weather warms up. A trip of 30 km one way was resulting in the loss of cabin heat before arriving at the destination near Winnipeg.

    1. That’s a nice, expensive lawn ornament. Farmers are usually pretty smart and have common sense, but seems this is the exception.
      That or they are a dairy farmer, coddled by gov, protected from the real world.

  8. Honda makes a nice $2,500 inverter generator. Small suitcase size. Put that on the back of the EV on a bike rack and run it during your drive.

    1. For a lot less, you can have a Honda with nice seats and four wheels. Why pay $120,000 for an EV and an extra $2,500 for the generator?

  9. It used to be that I only saw an EV about twice a week, but now I see several on a daily basis.

    There is a whole lot of stupid out there!

    There is also enough evidence now, that minus cold temps will render an EV just about useless. I wonder if that will reduce the velocity of the collective dive down the rabbit hole….Somehow, I doubt it.

  10. EV roadtrips are only viable in a Tesla, and still have to budget extra time for changing, though SCs are way more reliable than non-Tesla charging stations.

  11. If you buy an electric vehicle because you want to save the planet, your political affiliation is (I)diot.

  12. We also know that both the owner and the reporter are Liberals because the first sentence in the report is about emotion.

  13. The cunned stunt really should have been embarrassed about her purchase.
    Instead, she proclaims her stupidity and wants it fixed.
    Somebody needs to tell her the truth: “Lady, we can’t fix stupid.”

    Definitely a Liberal voter.

  14. Saw an EV charging station in Watson Lake, YT yesterday.

    Replacing the existing Canadian private car and light truck fleet with an all electric vehicle fleet will require an estimated 1 to 1.5 million public chargers PLUS an estimated 12 to 14 million private/ home chargers. (Data gathered from Motor Mouth articles on driving.ca along with a few calculations).

    There are currently just less than 12 thousand retail gasoline stations in Canada. (Data directly from Canadian Fuels Association).

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