Good morning. Many drivers suffer from range anxiety when they buy their first electric vehicle. Not everyone, though. Some Canadians are towing boats and Airstream trailers across the continent, pushing the limits of what an EV can do. But first:
Up first
Submarine report
The news: The Canadian government has picked Germany’s TKMS to build this country’s first significant submarine fleet, siding with NATO allies and Europe over Asian defence contractor Hanwha.
The reasoning: Why Canada chose Germany.
The economics: How expected job gains from Ottawa’s submarine decision are largely tied to the company’s prior agreements.
In other news
Energy: Alberta and Ontario are proposing a new 3,300-kilometre pipeline route to carry crude oil across the country in a bid to reduce Canada’s reliance on foreign markets.
Sports: Rogers has struck a deal to buy the remaining 25-per-cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, giving it full control over Toronto’s top sports teams.
One couple's Tesla Model Y towing an Airstream.Stephen Hill/Supplied
In focus
The long-haul EV owners
Hi, I’m David Berman, and I cover investing for The Globe and Mail.
I’ve been driving an electric vehicle for four-and-a-half years, and have always thought that its many benefits easily outweigh the few inconveniences.
But one part about EV ownership always struck me as a no-go zone: towing a trailer.
That’s partly because public charging stations tend to have limited access, with tight parking spaces. Mostly, though, it’s because towing anything with an EV will mess with the vehicle’s delicate aerodynamics – shrinking your range or the distance you can travel on a single charge.
I’m right on both points. But what I’ve discovered through writing a feature on this topic is that some EV owners are prevailing over these challenges, and having a blast doing it.
They are hauling giant Airstream RVs across the country and over the Rockies. And they are transporting massive boats to off-grid cottages in Northern Ontario.
Sure, sometimes they have to detach their trailers to charge. And yeah, their range can decline 40 to 50 per cent. But with careful route-planning around charging stations and breaks timed for frequent stops every 90 minutes or so, they see EVs and trailers as a great combination.
Would they prefer a vehicle with an internal combustion engine for the heavy-duty, long-distance stuff? No way.
Greg Harris of Canfield, Ont., whose family now owns three EVs, including the F-150 Lightning.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
I’ve frequently written about my experiences with an EV – a 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5. I love the car for the silence, the swift acceleration and the low, low cost of overnight charging at home. I would not want to return to a gas-burning vehicle.
Many EV owners say much the same thing. But there are holdouts. Some naysayers believe the vehicles won’t work in rural areas, where the distance between charging stations can be vast. Others say the typical range of an EV – mine is rated at 390 kilometres on a full charge, without a trailer – falls well short of desirable.
The EV drivers I profiled, though, offer a persuasive rebuttal to these complaints.
Andy Thomson in London, Ont., told me that the low centre of gravity in electric vehicles gives them terrific stability when hauling big loads.
And Greg Harris told me that, yeah, his EV’s range is reduced when hauling a double-axle trailer through Haldimand County, Ont. But his old gas-burning pickup truck would take a similar hit when he used to pull a horse trailer. With the pickup, he just burned more gas – and money.
Andy Thomson of the Can-Am RV Centre in London, Ont., decided to try EV towing after enough customers pulled it off.Nicole Osborne/The Globe and Mail
I also spoke with Wayne Caldwell, an EV owner in Goderich, Ont., and professor emeritus of rural planning and development at the University of Guelph, who says there are key advantages to living in the country with an EV.
If driving distances are longer – he’s putting about 20,000 km a year on the odometer – the gas savings are bigger. A higher proportion of people in rural settings are homeowners, which gives them the freedom to install a home charging unit.
Parking tends to be more spacious, with more room for charging. And as for a lack of public chargers, he’s not seeing that.
“For me, the range anxiety is gone. There really isn’t any,” Caldwell told me.
Are EVs perfect? Gosh, no.
Long-distance travel takes longer. Fiddling with various charging apps can be a pain. And you do have to map out where you intend to charge. But if you want to tow an Airstream across the country, you can do it.
Mapped
TKMS’s global agreements
Germany’s TKMS is now expected to deliver up to 12 diesel-electric submarines to Canada, beginning sometime before 2035. The Globe mapped out its existing partnerships.
Quoted
Arenas have made both of their careers. I think it’s probably a place where they both feel pretty comfortable.
— Celebrity wedding planner Michelle Rago
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Up next
More files we’re following
By the numbers: Statistics Canada releases May’s merchandise trade balance today. Economists expect export growth to slow to 0.6 per cent (down from April’s 1.6 per cent) as energy prices drop.
In Turkey: The NATO Summit in Ankara runs through Wednesday. Massive hikes to military budgets are expected to feature prominently as members remain under heavy U.S. pressure to spend more on defence.
Morning update
Global markets were mixed over concerns about the sustainability of the AI-driven rally despite strong results from Samsung.
Wall Street futures were also mixed with the Dow pointing higher, while TSX futures were in positive territory.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was little changed in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.41 per cent, Germany’s DAX declined 0.44 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.38 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 2.12 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.51 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 70.36 U.S. cents.