Western Canadians set time record for driving cross-country in an EV

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Vancouver’s Harvey Soicher and Calgary’s Kent Rathwell have set the record for travelling coast-to-coast across Canada in an electric vehicle. 

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Far from a random collaboration, both men are figures of note in the EV community: Soicher for his previous cross-country EV journey , which he made in an Audi e-tron in 2019 as part of his grieving process over his late wife Mary Ann, and Rathwell for his leadership of Sun Country Highway Ltd., the company responsible for the nation’s first coast-to-coast charger network. 

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This time aiming for speed rather than completion, Soicher and his co-driver set out from St. John’s, Newfoundland, on Sept 13, driving the same blue Audi e-tron. 

The pair tracked their progress and raised funds for Mary Ann’s favourite cause on the Mary Ann’s Electric Drive 2.0 website as they went, ultimately taking just 4 days and 19 hours to travel the full 7,000 km from tip to tip, a feat not previously possible within legal speed limits due to lacking infrastructure in remote areas such as Newfoundland and Labrador.  

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“Transportation done by fossil fuels is a high percentage of carbon emissions,” Soicher told CBC News . “This summer, with all the fires, people are really realizing that we have to make some changes, quickly.”

Soicher also says the fast-charging infrastructure has improved tenfold, at least, in the last two years. 

The pair held a small party on Sunday in Vancouver to mark the achievement. Congrats, gents! Well done. And celebrate while you can, because with the “record” now set, it probably won’t stand long. 

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