Innovator: EV’s Are The Future of Transportation

Intro:

As an early adopter, John was all in on EV’s from the get-go. This is his story.

User Profile

Who: John Kehagias

Where: Whitby, ON

How Many Years Driving an EV: 1

What Model: Tesla Model Y

 Home Charging Station: Yes

Charging at off-peak times: Always

John’s EV Journey

On Influence…

I believe that the way of the future is in electric vehicles in the realm of transportation. We always believed in the story of Tesla and their vision for the future. So we wanted to get on onboard early. We also believe that for environmental purposes it’s the best decision to make.

There’s a saying I heard that once you drive a Tesla it makes driving other vehicles feel stupid. Not sure if that’s the same with other EV’s. But in our case we put a deposit for the Tesla Cybertruck in 2019 and I was going to wait until that was ready before I got into the EV market, but I had a minor accident with my other vehicle so we decided to sell both our cars and go down to one vehicle and jump into the Tesla family now and when the truck comes in we will swap the vehicles

Any advice for potential EV drivers, John?

Honestly I would have them drive my vehicle and let them see the technology behind it. It’s an all-around win-win for everyone to get into an EV. Total cost of ownership is lower, the impact on saving the environment is greater and it’s super fun to drive. Not sure how the other EV’s are but you have less driver fatigue with the autopilot feature in the Tesla and we both get 1500 free km at a Tesla Supercharging station!!

 Visit a Tesla dealership before making any decisions regardless of the price range.

You should consider an EV because of the environmental consideration!

We schedule our vehicle to begin charging at 1am as this time has the lowest impact on the grid.

And what about encouraging greater EV uptake?

 Just in the last few months I’ve seen more Tesla’s in Whitby and in Oshawa. I think that the tide is turning. Maybe the region can come up with something substantial that can offset the initial price for an EV. Free parking for all EV’s. Not just short term but permanently for all EV’s.

Take a look at what happened to the world when the planet went into lockdown in March of 2020. The air was cleaner. This is what we can all see as the greatest impact. The vehicles will need to become more affordable. I think it’s coming in the near future but overall costs will need to come down somehow.

On barriers to purchase….

The only downside would be if I would have to charge at a Tesla Supercharging station it might take 30mins to charge. But I wouldn’t consider that a ‘do not like’ factor. Oh, well maybe that there’s not a Tesla Supercharging station closer to where I live.

And price. I didn’t consider any other barriers.