The first ever Great Electric Car Rally in Canada took place from September 18 to 24 in Eastern Canada.
The Quebec Road Safety Education Foundation (QRSEF) is behind the organization of the very first Great Electric Car Rally in Canada, all makes of electric vehicles included. “The Great Electric Car Rally 2022 fits perfectly our mission of promoting the fact that long-distance travel by electric vehicle is easy, accessible and, above all, very enjoyable,” said Stéphane Pascalon, QRSEF’s Project Director for transportation electrification.
The journey began in Halifax on September 19. The dozen of crews crossed five provinces in five days aboard their electric vehicle. The event, presented as a serious yet festive rally, covered a distance of 3,000 kilometres from Halifax to Ottawa. Among other things, the participants were challenged to travel approximately 600 km per day, with energy consumption and time on the clock.
Competitors made stops in the Charlottetown stopover cities, Miramichi, Quebec City, Oshawa, London and Barrie, and finished the rally in Ottawa on September 23. The awards ceremony took place the following Saturday at 10:00 a.m. during the Salon du Véhicule Électrique de l’Outaouais, at the Palais des congrès de Gatineau. The winning team is GCD Energy, composed of the following crews: GCD Energy, Porsche, and Lisa Calvi & Garry Sowerby.
This competition is primarily focused on energy efficiency, as the winning crew has driven the Rally stages with the lowest energy consumption (kWh/km) while not exceeding the target time for each stage.
In addition, along the route of the Great Electric Car Rally, multiple electromobility awareness activities were organized in collaboration with local stakeholders. The Great Electric Car Rally participants were staff or collaborators of the project partners, but also part of the general public.
About QRSEF
The Quebec Road Safety Education Foundation (QRSEF) is a non-profit organization founded in 2016. Since 2020, in addition to its mandate to train and educate youth on safe driving, the foundation has expanded its mission to promote sustainable mobility. The deployment of transportation electrification projects is at the heart of its interventions.