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Published on Jul 20, 2021
Like many others, I too believed it was complicated to travel with an electric car until I experienced one during an outing in the Eastern Townships. Instead, I discovered it was a thousand times more pleasant. Here’s why.
By Simon Diotte
Often times what people worry about most when it comes to electric cars is their autonomy range. We’re unsure about how to manage long-distance road trips with such vehicles.
However, once we get behind the wheel of a car without an exhaust pipe, we quickly realize that this so-called short-range autonomy shouldn’t be seen as a problem, it’s actually more of an advantage! Perhaps it’s even a good sales pitch! The reason being that as we stop to recharge the car, we’re sort of “forced” to discover some of Quebec’s most beautiful areas from a whole different perspective; case in point, the Eastern Townships!
Some examples? My first outing to the Townships in an electric car; I drove a Nissan Leaf with a 240 km maximum autonomy level. Even though this was enough to get me to North Hatley, from Montreal. But just to be sure, I decided to stop in Magog for a recharge.
Thanks to The Electric Circuit digital application, I discovered the city had two fast recharge stations in the downtown area next door to the Microbrewery La Memphré, and they were free! No need to wait in the parking lot, I was able to top up my battery right away! While the car was recharging, I found myself just beside the Pointe-Merry Park, a strip of land located by Lake Memphremagog’s overflow channel. My clan followed me to enjoy a delightful picnic in this superb park. Afterwards, we went out to explore the neighbourhood. This is how, by chance, we came upon the Maison Merry, the area’s oldest home. This heritage site houses a museum where we learn about how, in the 19th century, the Outlet, the first name given to this municipality, was established. What a great discovery!
Without this 45-minute recharging pause, I would probably not have discovered this house nor would we have had such a fine picnic on the shores of Lake Memphremagog. I would probably not have taken the time to stroll down the rue Principale while enjoying an ice cream cone.
Two days later, my car needed another recharge. I found a station in the downtown sector of Ayer’s Cliff. I noticed that this station was located just beside the Tomifobia trail which I’ve been wanting to explore for a while already. Opportunity makes the thief as they say, so why not combine the moment with an exploration of this old railway track transformed into a multifunction trail? With my better half, we put on our jogging shoes and headed out for a 7 km run on this truly bucolic route! Another amazing opportunity created by our electric car.
Good to know: There are electric charging stations along our autoroutes, which is convenient for travellers in a hurry, but there are also charging stations in city centres and at many tourist sites, such as the Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook, the Parc National du Mont-Orford, the Marais de la Rivière-aux-Cerises, the area ski resorts, etc.! There are also plenty of hotel accommodations that have terminals on their sites, such as the Manoir Hovey and the Auberge West Brome.
We park our car, and we visit while our it’s recharging. There’s no waste of time, and no polluting! Plus, we’re saving a lot on the cost of energy, since electricity costs about a quarter of what we’d pay for fuel fill ups. And what a joy it is to drive such a quiet car, not to mention the kick we get from the phenomenal acceleration speed of a fuel-free car.
The Electric Circuit, the most important public network of charging stations for electric vehicles in Quebec, and counts nearly 200 terminals throughout the Townships. Over the next few weeks, a 50 kW fast-charging station and a 100 kW fast-charging station will be added in Sutton. You can also find a trial set up for an ultra-fast charging station in the Magog service area when you take exit 115 on Autoroute 10.
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