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People drive electric cars in Toronto? I can't imagine they get much range in the winter...

Model S is the best-selling car in Norway, which is further north than Toronto. Very low temperatures means it runs a battery heater; it still gets 175-250 miles range in well-below-zero winter days with the cabin heater blasting. There are tons of great Model S winter performance videos on YouTube, as well as independent reviews. Consumer Reports did a Model S winter range test you can read about IIRC.

On average Toronto winters are as cold or colder than Oslo - Latitude is not the only determining factor.

Note, however, that further north doesn't necessarily mean colder. For instance, looking at the climate data on Wikipedia indicates that Oslo and Toronto have about the same average highs/lows in the winter months.

Meanwhile, Winnipeg (Winterpeg) is a full 10 degrees latitude south of Oslo, but is much, much, colder.

As as aside, though Europe's warmer climate is often attributed to the Gulf Stream, evidence suggests it's actually a consequence of angular momentum. See, for instance,

https://www.americanscientist.org/issues/issue.aspx?id=999&y...

and the paper in PDF form here:

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/div/ocp/gs/pubs/Seager_etal...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxR99bGYEAQ

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