The first concern is easing as batteries gain capacity and efficiency. For the latest generation, range exceeds 200 kilometres and some claim more than 400.

Determining range is tricky enough, since it’s heavily impacted by driving style, load, terrain and temperature.

Cost calculations are even more complex. Common wisdom is that electric vehicles (EVs) are more expensive to buy than alternatives powered by internal combustion engines (ICEs), but cheaper to fuel and maintain. As a result, EV advocates argue, it’s only fair to calculate total costs over a vehicle’s lifetime.

But, as we shall see, that’s easier said than done.

Our aim here is to compare the total cost of ownership, or TCO, of Canada’s top-selling ICE vehicles with battery-powered alternatives of similar size, features and quality.

The category leaders are the Honda Civic sedan, Toyota RAV4 compact SUV, and, this country’s sales champion, Ford’s F-150 pickup truck.

To challenge the Civic, we chose the revamped Nissan Leaf S. Hyundai’s new Kona Electric takes on the RAV4. And, up against the F-150 is … well, nothing. At least, not yet. A few manufacturers are developing battery-powered pickups, but none will go on sale before the end of 2020 and their performance specifications remain sketchy.
TCO comparisons assume EVs have higher purchase or lease costs, including price, taxes and interest. Their fuel should be cheaper, in part because battery power is more efficient than internal combustion. With fewer lubricants and moving parts, and less wear on brakes, they ought to cost less to maintain – although experts disagree on how much less.

“Maintenance costs are largely unknown,” says Steve McCauley, senior director, policy, at environmental research and advocacy group Pollution Probe. “We’re still dealing with the first generation of EVs on the road.”

“It’s difficult to assign maintenance values because every person’s maintenance cycle is different based on frequency of use, road conditions in their area, weather conditions in their area, and so on,” says Brian Miller, communications co-ordinator at Plug’n Drive, a Toronto-based non-profit committed to accelerating the adoption of EVs.

But the deeper we dig, the more complex comparisons become.

Purchase price seems simple, except that while comparisons are usually based on suggested retail price, most manufacturers offer a wide range of discounts, which can even be influenced by a buyer’s bargaining skills. Interest rates vary from bank to bank and dealer to dealer, and with a buyer’s credit rating. Financing costs depend on those rates, as well as on how much the buyer borrows rather than pays in cash.

The cost of batteries – the main reason for EVs’ higher price – keeps falling. When the first Leaf hit the streets, it was about $1,000 per kilowatt-hour of capacity. It’s now around $200, and further drops will change the cost equation.

Fuel costs are, literally, all over the map. Gasoline prices vary from province to province, and can rise and fall dramatically. Electricity rates tend to be more stable but differ widely from place to place. In addition, most jurisdictions offer time-of-use rates, which generally mean you pay less if you consume electricity during off-peak times. One result is that per kilometre driven, electricity is occasionally more expensive than gasoline.

With all this in mind, we’ll plug some numbers into a TCO analysis worksheet – the most useful we found – developed by Tom Lombardo, a retired professor of engineering technology and now president of Tohoca, a communications company in Rockford, Illinois.

Here are our assumptions:

• We use each vehicle’s suggested retail price, for models that are usually a step up from basic. HST or its equivalent is set at 12%. We did not include delivery charges or other dealer fees or, for EVs, the cost of a battery charger.
• Calculations are based on manufacturers’ claims for range and Natural Resources Canada’s Fuel Consumption Guide.
• Each vehicle is driven 20,000 kilometres per year, the “rule of thumb” cited by Statistics Canada.
• The gasoline price is $1.20 per litre, roughly the current average in Canada’s largest markets. The electricity cost is 8.7 cents per kWh, the off-peak price in Ontario, based on the assumption that EV owners recharge their vehicles at home overnight.
• Based on data from Pollution Probe and Edmunds.com, a leading industry analyst, the lifetime maintenance and repair cost for an EV is about 75% that of an internal-combustion vehicle. We used $100 per month as an average for the ICE, based on data from Canada Drives.
• Repair and insurance costs are about equal.
• The ICE buyer pays all cash. The EV buyer pays the same amount in cash and borrows the cost difference at 4.5% interest, with a 72-month term – the length most Canadian buyers now use, according to various sources.
• Each vehicle is kept for 10 years, so depreciation is 100%.
• We do not include EV subsidies, now available only in Quebec, up to $8,000, and British Columbia, up to $5,000.

Given our inputs, we found the $23,770 Civic LX with automatic transmission would cost $66,020 over 10 years. The Leaf S sticker price $36,798, would cost $63,816 over that same period.

The 10-year TCO for the $33,690 RAV4 XLE with front-wheel drive would be $78,373. The $45,599 Kona Electric “Preferred” would cost $73,388.

So, the EVs win in these categories. But TCO comparisons are meaningful only with specific local numbers.

For example, electricity costs nearly 17 cents per kWh in Halifax, where the Leaf’s ownership cost rises to $65,555 and the Kona’s price climbs to $75,004. Since Halifax’s gasoline price is close to our assumption, the Civic and RAV4 retain almost the same costs.

In New York City, where electricity runs 31 cents (Canadian) per kWh while gasoline is just 84 cents per litre, EVs lose in the comparison. But in Norway, where electricity rates are in the same ballpark as Canada’s but gasoline costs twice as much, EVs win hands down.

No battery-powered pickup trucks are ready for comparison, and it’s uncertain which will make it to market. The list includes the Havelaar Bison, planned for Ontario, and two U.S. models, the Bollinger B2 and Rivian R1T. Tesla promises one, but with no firm timetable.

All claim impressive range, payload and towing capacity, but none has performed in the real world nor revealed how large loads and rugged conditions would impact their range – a crucial consideration for working trucks.

The Rivian R1T, backed by a recent US$700 million investment by Amazon.com, seems furthest ahead. With the biggest battery available, Rivian says its range will top 600 kilometres. But the price in the U.S. will start at about C$94,000, and that’s for a base version with only 370 kilometres of range, making it more than double the price of a similar F-150.

Our conclusion: It’s clear that EVs are more expensive to buy or lease, and whether they overcome that handicap with lower operating costs depends heavily on fuel and power prices where you live.

As battery costs fall, the price gap will shrink, making it more likely that EVs will win any cost comparison, just as they already beat ICEs on environmental impacts.

Peter Gorrie is a Victoria-based freelance writer and editor who has covered environmental issues for more than 30 years.

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Some cities are doing better than others, but, “I am amazed at their overall lack of preparedness to limit the potential for flooding and to not suffer unduly when floods do occur,” says Blair Feltmate, a professor in the Faculty of the Environment at the University of Waterloo, who led the research study funded by The Co-operators Group Ltd. insurance company.

The report, “Preparedness of Fifteen Canadian Cities to Limit Flood Damage,” is part of a project that, according to Feltmate, is intended “to motivate cites to be more proactive and to lower their risk profile from flooding so insurers can continue to offer affordable coverage.”

It’s a first look at the issue in Canada, he says. “Relatively little effort has gone into what are the key areas of vulnerability, and what we need to do to mitigate them. First we need to recognize the challenges; then, we need to address them.”

The researchers interviewed a total of 60 officials from 15 cities, selected because they are large, encompass Canada’s different geographic areas, and are instrumental in supporting regional, provincial or national economic continuity.

Every city was graded – from a low of E to a high of A for each of 16 issues related to their existing or planned preparedness for flooding events. Those 16 grades were then used to determine an overall grade. Ottawa came out on top, with a grade of A-, closely followed by Winnipeg, at B+. Halifax trailed the pack with a D grade.

Almost every Canadian city is prone to flooding: They are, after all, built in river valleys or beside lakes or oceans. But the risk is growing as climate change leads to more frequent intense rainfall events and, in a few places, increased and rapid snow melt. Calgary, Mississauga and Toronto all experienced severe flooding in 2013, and most of the 15 cities in the study have had major floods during this decade.

“What constitutes a one-in-100-year flood now is really only one in 20, due to changes in the intensity of storm events,” Feltmate says. “In close to all cases, cities do not possess flood-plain maps for the kind of storms we get today, let alone those we’ll experience 25 or 30 years from now.”

Much of the destruction these storms cause is from floodwater flowing overland, for which insurance coverage is not offered in Canada.

The Co-operators and the University of Waterloo embarked on the project to determine whether steps could be taken to reduce the impacts of this overland flooding so that the insurance industry might be more inclined to offer coverage for it.

In the first phase, senior executives from Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry identified 14 initiatives that could create such a situation.

In the second phase, an advisory roundtable known as Partners for Action – comprised of people from the insurance industry and government, flood risk experts, professional associations, business and law – set three “winning conditions” that must be established to help reduce flood risk. Using them as guidance, they whittled the 14 conditions from the first phase down to a priority list.

Determining the level of flood preparedness in major Canadian cities was identified as one of the priorities, which, in turn, led Co-operators to engage Feltmate to conduct the study, the first of many on de-risking cities. Ongoing collaboration of Partners For Action stakeholders will include calculating the economist costs and benefits of adaptation, determining the social and environmental co-benefits, and emphasizing the need for improved flood mapping across Canada.

Sewer backups rising

This first report doesn’t relate to insurance protection for overland flooding. But storms do lead to sewer backups into basements, which many policies do cover. And across the country, in nine of the past 11 years, claims for such damage have exceeded the premiums paid, Feltmate says.

Reducing backup damage is essential to keep the cost of this insurance under control, he says. “If cities become increasingly risky, premiums and deductibles will go up and the cap limits will get lower.”

Almost all 15 cities did well on what Feltmate calls a “big ticket” group of issues. This means they had:

• Up-to-date flood plain maps;
• Land-use plans that attempt to control or protect development in flood-prone areas;
• Consistent efforts to improve urban drainage, such as ensuring that culverts, sewer grates and storm sewer systems remain clear and promoting “green” solutions to reduce storm water run-off;
• Policies that support the installation in new construction of backflow valves, which prevent sewage backup into residential basements.

Scores varied for other measures, such as management of the water supply and raw sewage, and identification and funding of emergency responders.

But in what the report terms “areas of outstanding challenge,” most of the cities lag. These include encouraging the retrofit of backflow valves on existing homes, as well as a series of issues that many cities contend are not municipal responsibilities — e.g. measures to ensure that during floods, transportation and communication networks continue to operate, and electricity, petroleum, banking services and retail food remain available.

“Cities would say, ‘that’s important but it’s not our responsibility’,” Feltmate says. “But if something goes wrong, they’ll be blamed for not coordinating and managing the situation.”

Adding to the risk, some municipal politicians, under pressure from developers and the public, continue to approve construction in areas that officials recommend be restricted due to flood risk, Feltmate says. “There still is an element of the citizenry that says, ‘we want to live near water. We’ve been in the city 25 years and have never seen a flood.’ Often, the politicians will acquiesce,” particularly since new construction boosts property tax revenues.

But that attitude is changing, he says. On a scale of zero to 100, five years ago the politicians would have received a mediocre score of 50 for allowing development where it shouldn’t occur. “Today, it’s around 80.”

In addition to urging progress on “big ticket” items, the report advises municipal leaders to act on the areas they now say are outside their responsibility, like the provincially controlled 400-series expressways in Toronto, and Vancouver’s provincially operated electric system.

Mayors, for example, could bring together the service providers to produce flood preparation plans, Feltmate says. That’s especially true for Toronto, the country’s largest city. “The ramifications of it failing would be felt across Canada. Toronto has a heightened responsibility to be ahead of the curve, which they’re not answering.”

Cities must also step up education programs, including making homeowners aware of subsidies for backflow valves, the report states. It found that homeowners haven’t been taking advantage of the subsidies, because they don’t understand the function and importance of backwater valves, or haven’t realized subsidies were available.

“The Co-operators is committed to working with Canadians to ensure they understand the risk associated with flooding and have strategies for protecting themselves and their properties,” says Rob Wesseling, executive vice-president of The Co-operators’ property and casualty insurance products and chief operating officer of The Sovereign General Insurance Company.

“Professor Feltmate’s report and recommendations provide a great benchmark for municipalities as they work to protect their communities and citizens.”

On Monday, The Co-operators launched a new insurance coverage product that can protect homeowners in Alberta against damage caused by overland flooding, such as flooding caused by an overflow from a body of water, sewer/water backup and accumulation of surface water caused by heavy rain.

“Planning is currently underway to make the product available across the country,” the company said.

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Gardens cover the grounds and a roof of the hospital, which serves patients who need long-term rehabilitation or disease management. Inside, walls are painted in green or the blue of nearby Lake Ontario. Nature themes dominate artwork.

The design aims to connect patients to the surrounding community and park, says Celeste Alvaro, a specialist in experimental social psychology who heads a team researching green features and their impacts.

Data on health outcomes, such as how much sooner patients are ready to be discharged, are still being analyzed in a study that compares the year-old Bridgepoint with the building it replaced and another hospital with a similar mandate. The study is the first of its kind in Canada.

But one thing is already clear, Alvaro says. Patients and visitors use the gardens whenever possible; inside, they gravitate to the many windows. “Patients want to be outside, or positioned by a window to be exposed to what’s going on outside.”

Bridgepoint’s work is part of a trend toward acknowledging the health benefits of exposure to nature. It extends beyond hospital care: Corporations are being urged to adopt it to improve employees’ well-being and productivity. Experts view it as a general rule for everyone.

Decades of research consistently conclude that wilderness trips, time in a city park or even gazing at pictures of trees and water improves mental and physical health.

“Natural environments may have direct and positive impacts on well-being,” states a review of 25 studies, headed by Andrew Pullin of Bangor University in Wales.

“Humans are hard-wired genetically for an affiliation with the natural world,” says American author Richard Louv, who coined the term “nature deficit disorder” to describe the unhealthy consequences for the growing population deprived of it.

Nature builds strong minds and bodies three ways:

• Exposure to it directly improves health;

• People living near parks or other natural areas exercise more, which contributes to the prevention of more than 20 conditions including coronary heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, mental illness and obesity;

• Natural areas absorb pollution, reducing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

“A growing body of evidence suggests that human mental and physical health is closely associated with the health of our forest ecosystems,” says “A Healthy Dose of Green,” a recent report from Trees Ontario.

Green spaces provide exposure to the microbes, or “old friends,” that stimulate our immune system but are lacking in high-income countries, Graham Rook of University College London said in a study last year. It’s “a neglected ecosystem service that is essential for our well-being.”

Hospital patients are said to benefit from even minimal naturalization.

“Patients in rooms with plants and flowers had significantly shorter hospitalizations, fewer intakes of analgesics, lower ratings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue, and more positive feelings and higher satisfaction about their rooms when compared with patients in the control group,” states a 2009 study by researchers at Kansas State University.

That research echoed an earlier study of people who had gall bladder surgery at a Pennsylvania hospital. Those with trees outside their windows took fewer painkillers, appeared to nurses to have fewer negative effects and spent less time in hospital than those viewing only brick walls.

The addition of gardens, aquariums, plants and artwork (but not abstract) has become part of creating “healing environments,” along with more private rooms, less noise, natural lighting, better signage and social areas such as lounges.

Advocates of corporate social responsibility say businesses – even those creating natural areas on their properties, funding urban parks or protecting wilderness areas – aren’t yet engaged in the health impacts of these environmental activities, beyond attempting to improve employees’ job satisfaction and reduce workplace stress.

But they might consider a study of “visual search accuracy,” conducted two years ago at New Mexico State University that exposed undergraduates to natural or urban images, and then tested how well they could detect whether a target – an “O” – was embedded in pictures showing other letters.

The nature group did much better. Perhaps airport baggage-screening agents would perform more proficient searches if exposed to images of nature while on their shift, radiologists would benefit from a bit of foliage in the office or office workers would gain from a computer background cycling through nature images, the report suggests.

It seems, says American psychologist Eric Jaffe, that being in nature engages “involuntary” attention – “a rather effortless form of engagement with the world” – giving a breather to voluntary attention, which is crucial to problem-solving and demands energy and focus.

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