Electric vehicles find a home on the Gunflint Trail and Highway 61

Bob and Ginny Padzieski of Grand Marais purchased a Hyundai Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid car in 2019. They did so for a variety of reasons, including both environmental and economic factors.

Bob took WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs for a spin up the Gunflint Trail as part of the ‘Going Green in Cook County’ series.

As the duo discovered traveling up the Gunflint, there happens to be an electric vehicle charging station at Bearskin Lodge that was beneficial during their quick summer road trip.

As evidenced by the charging station on the Gunflint Trail, the future of transportation has arrived to even remote areas of Minnesota. Indeed, when one can charge their electric vehicle on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at places such as Bearskin Lodge, it appears the times are changing.

Erik Bigelow is a senior engineering consultant based in St. Paul who works for the Center for Transportation and Environment. He says electric vehicles are appealing for a variety of reasons and that more people are going to be buying electric in the coming years because it will actually be less expensive than engines with a strictly combustible engine.  

Learn more about electric vehicles and their place in the future of Cook County and North Shore life in part two of this WTIP original series looking at what it means to “go green in Cook County.”