As Albertans deal with an unprecedented cold snap that resulted in the Alberta Emergency Management Agency issuing a province-wide Emergency Alert, Canada’s state broadcaster is touting electric vehicles as “the best vehicle” in frigid temperatures.
On Saturday, the Alberta Emergency Management Agency issued an alert, warning residents that the extreme cold has resulted in high power demand and placed the province’s grid at high risk of rotating power outages.
The Alberta Electric System Operator declared a Grid Alert due to extreme cold and several power facility outages at 8:00 am on Saturday.
The Emergency Alert, sent to Albertans’ mobile devices throughout the province, asked Albertans to limit their electricity use to essential needs only.
“Turn off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances. Minimize the use of space heaters. Delay use of major power appliances. Delay charging electrical vehicles and plugging in block heaters. Cook with microwave instead of stove,” said the alert.
Despite the warning, the CBC published an article on Saturday titled, Electric cars ‘the best vehicle’ in frigid temperatures, Sask. Advocates say.
EVs have a track record of unreliability in colder temperatures. Even CBC’s cited experts said that the range of EVs goes from 500km to 300km on cold winter days, a 40% decrease in range.
True North previously reported that temperatures below -6.7°C can cut an EV battery’s capacity by up to 41%.
Further, True North previously reported that electric vehicles have 79% more problems than gas vehicles, even in warm weather.
Alberta saw temperatures nearing -50°C over the past week.
CBC’s article touting EVs during the province’s near-failure of its electrical grid system led to disbelief from residents and users online.
Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer highlighted the odd timing of CBC’s article in a post to X.
“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, he said.
Alberta’s Minister of Energy, Brian Jean, also expressed his disbelief amid the crisis.
“Another home run from CBC. Is this parody?” he asked in a post to X.
Ezra Levant, founder of Rebel News, highlighted CBC’s inaccurate header in his own post to X.
“No-one believes this. No-one even says this. Not even the electric car companies themselves. Only the desperate Trudeau regime, and the government journalists at the CBC state broadcaster,” said Levant.
Ottawa announced in December that all vehicles sold by 2035 are required to be electric. Alberta’s Premier, Danielle Smith, called this mandate “destructive” and “unachievable.”
