Starting this Sunday, February 23rd, two drivers hope to make history by completing Canada’s first successful nonstop, coast-to-coast trip in an electric vehicle. The duo will be driving a Tesla Model 3 Performance and will be using Tesla’s new Trans-Canada Highway Supercharger network, which went live just before Christmas.
Dubbed the Fast EV Lightning Run, the road trip is the first of its kind that will begin from the water’s edge of the Tsawwassen reserve area in Delta, BC, all the way to the shores of the Atlantic in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, NS.
The drivers, Ian Pavelko from Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC and Trevor Page of Aurora, ON, plan to take turns driving Ian’s Tesla Model 3 day and night. The duo thinks that if all goes according to plan, they can do it in about 3 days:
“So many people think that EVs are limited to secondary roles as commuter cars here, and while that may have been true in the early days, the advances of the last few years have changed the segment dramatically,” says the team. “As Tesla owners and fans, as well as advocates for the entire EV movement, we’re excited to make this trip and show people in dramatic fashion how capable these cars and the charging networks that support them really are.”
Pavelko and Page will also receive help from their primary sponsor Fast EV, a division of Fast Wheels part of Fastco Canada.
While Ian and Trevor hope to be the first to complete the trip, they cannot claim to be the first to attempt it. That honour goes to Kevin Belanger and Don Goodeve from Victoria, BC, who set out on December 28th to complete the drive but unfortunately had to turn back due to some weather delays.
