The first two days of AJAC’s EcoRun took us through Squamish—an hour north of Vancouver and a surprisingly forward-thinking little town—to Whistler, then Pemberton north of that and back again to Whistler.

That’s a whole string of numerous elevation changes, steep climbs and scenery to take your breath away.

This run is not just devised for hatchbacks. Of the 12 manufacturers represented, there is a hatch or two but we’d be taking the wheel of full-size SUVs, a pickup, crossovers and sedans. There’s even a sports coupe on-hand.

It’s an indication that no longer is it enough for a manufacturer to provide a green model or two, but that a concerted effort is being made to infuse green ideals (smaller turbocharged engines, brake regeneration, etc.) across the entire line-up, and into vehicles not of the hybrid or electric variety.

Throughout our journey, vehicle diagnostic experts MyCarma will be tracking our progress. Numerous parameters will be covered, from fuel economy, to electricity usage and more. Even our driving habits are under the microscope; do we accelerate too quickly, brake too soon and so forth.

This is my second EcoRun, and the hills definitely pose a new set of challenges for many of these cars. We do our best to keep even throttle inputs and so forth, but when you have a 15 degree grade to climb, well, it isn’t as simple as it sounds. 

Having said that, any range anxiety we experienced was helped by the fact that BC’s Seat-to-Sky corridor from North Vancouver to Pemberton is littered with charge stations that would make California proud.

Squamish, a town of about 17,000 an hour’s north of Vancouver has a quick charge station in its downtown core, and the resort-rich Whistler Village has 11 Level 2 charge stations, with a level 3 fast-charger on the way according to the town’s mayor, Nancy Wilhelm-Morden. Our first stop of the day, The Canadian Heritage Railway Museum in Squamish, even has one.

Little ol’ Pemberton Lodge in sleepy Pemberton (our turnaround point) can lay claim to having the first charge station on the corridor.

Even on the Ontario and Quebec runs, where our country’s population is the strongest, a mobile charging station had to be brought along.

My, how far we’ve come.

Watch this space for the final round-up, including my impressions on the cars I’ve sampled.