Love For Local Team Has No ‘Range Anxiety’ Driving Thousands Of Kilometres In An EV
A Love for Local New Brunswick team that drove an electric car thousands of kilometres in three months has proved that “range anxiety” is not a legitimate concern for people reluctant to buy an EV.
Jason Gallant and Mylène Theriault, ambassadors in the Electric Summer Social Tour powered by Audi Moncton, crossed New Brunswick — from Grand Manan Island to the lighthouse of Miscou Island — without using a single tank of gas.
Brainworks, the Moncton-based marketing agency behind the initiative, hired Gallant and Theriault to visit 104 New Brunswick communities as part of the Love for Local New Brunswick initiative, a bid to showcase all that New Brunswick has to offer.
Gallant and Theriault’s sweeping road trip, which began June 23 and wrapped up early last month, was done behind the wheel of an Audi E-Tron generously sponsored by Audi Moncton.
“It was phenomenal, crazy – it was all the emotions. It was just great,” said Gallant.
Theriault agreed, describing the trip as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel the province, meet so many people, have fun eating, taking pictures and videos and having a blast with too many laughs.”
“I still can’t believe I did this. It’s like a movie,” Theriault said.
Gallant is a Moncton-based foodie, entrepreneur, event planner and promoter. Theriault is an interior designer and photographer based in her hometown of Caraquet with a knack for festival planning. The pair said the trip was the perfect fit for a team that is not afraid to sing the praises of their local scenes.
They had nothing but praise for the E-Tron and the amply available charging stations across New Brunswick.
“I absolutely loved our Audi E-Tron. The performance was out of this world. It was like pressing a button and having instant power,” Theriault said. “I wanted to keep that E-Tron.”
“It was fantastic, and with the infrastructure NB Power has throughout the province, if you have an electric car, you know what it looks like,” noted Gallant. “We’ve proven you can do the biggest road trip in New Brunswick without any issues.”
Podcast: On The Road With The N.B. Electric Summer Social Tour
Neither Gallant nor Theriault had any experience with an electric vehicle before their 104-day trek – but that proved no detriment to them on their busy itinerary.
“The infrastructure we have in New Brunswick for electric vehicles is crazy-good,” Gallant said, referring to the 69 charging stations across the province that make up the eCharge Network, NB
Power’s smart public charging program for electric vehicles. While it took some planning, Gallant noted almost every stop had a charging station within a few kilometres.
“There are a couple off the highway near Fredericton where you wouldn’t think they’d have a charging station. Some are a gas station on one side and an electric charging station on the other,” Gallant said.
Gallant and Theriault found charging stations along the way by consulting NB Power’s eCharge Network app, which shows the location of each charging station on a map.
“It was great. You kind of pick the station you want to go and there’s a review on how good each station is,” said Gallant. “You can even tell if someone is using it. It’s free, and you just follow the map to where it is and charge ‘er up.”
With an average of 63 kilometres between each station, Gallant and Theriault never had to worry about the vehicle running out of juice before getting to their next stop. And there were plenty of stops.
Gallant and Theriault visited a community every day, showcasing the local businesses and attractions.
We basically did the biggest road trip in an electric car without any worries. We had no problems, whatsoever and always found a charging station,” Gallant said.
“Every day, we’d hit a brand-new community. We wanted to show the towns we went to in any way we could, highlighting some of the things there are to do in those places,” he added.
The pair would scout out destinations, asking around for local attractions, starting with breakfast at a local business and averaging about 10 local businesses per community.
“We’d ask them where the great spots are, and we’d visit them—a lot of times they kind of went together with what we already had planned,” Gallant said.
A lot of the time, the stops they’d make to charge on the road would be part of the fun. Gallant recalled fond memories of the seaside idyll at one charging station in Caraquet.
“That’s probably the nicest view of the ocean – it’s just a super-nice one,” he said. “We have a ton of cool things in this province.”
Theriault gave honourable mention to the welcome they got in the Dalhousie-Tide Head region, the province’s markets, like Saint John Market and Green Pig County Market in Salisbury, the
Acadian Peninsula’s scenery, and the province’s islands and beaches.
Gallant noted he and Theriault sometimes lost track of how fast they were accelerating without the roar of an internal combustion engine as a point of reference in their E-Tron, making for a smooth ride to every attraction and memorable moment on the road.