GCC: Canada awarding $4.6M to Petro-Canada for cross-country EV fast-charging network

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/07/20190712-canada.html

The Government of Canada is awarding $4.6-million to Petro-Canada, a Suncor business, for building 92 electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers in its coast-to-coast network.

The first completed station, in Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, will be part of a larger network of more than 50 Petro-Canada locations, each with two charging units on site. . . .

More than 500 fast chargers are built or planned this year, with hundreds more expected over the next two years. Through Budget 2019, a further $130 million is being invested in charging infrastructure, and a new incentive, worth up to $5,000, is available for Canadians who purchase or lease a zero-emission vehicle.

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Strange that this was announced in July of 2019. Petro-Canada had announced their coast to coast network of fast-charging stations back in February 2019. Was this a pre-election re-announcement, or did the government decide to fund a previously planned project?

They seem to be rolling it out quite quickly though. Last I checked, 32 of 56 planned stations were open. The network is mostly 1 thin line though, so if you are taking an alternate route, you are out of luck.

roger1818 said:

Strange that this was announced in July of 2019. Petro-Canada had announced their coast to coast network of fast-charging stations back in February 2019. Was this a pre-election re-announcement, or did the government decide to fund a previously planned project?

They seem to be rolling it out quite quickly though. Last I checked, 32 of 56 planned stations were open. The network is mostly 1 thin line though, so if you are taking an alternate route, you are out of luck.

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I can't believe how quickly they are rolling these out. I just checked again and now 36 of 56 planned stations are open.

Also out of luck if you happen to live in Edmonton. Every other Canadian city over 1/4 of the size of Edmonton has or will soon have a Petro-Canada DCFC within 100 km, but not us.

Titanium48 said:

Also out of luck if you happen to live in Edmonton. Every other Canadian city over 1/4 of the size of Edmonton has or will soon have a Petro-Canada DCFC within 100 km, but not us.

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Windsor is just over 1/4 the size of Edmonton and won't have a Petro-Canada DCFC station within 100km (the closest is just outside London, in Dorchester, and about 200km away). Saskatoon also won't have one nearby, but it is just under 1/4 (about 22%) the size of Edmonton. It is also strange that there won't be any in Newfoundland (St. John's is only about 16% the size of Edmonton though) or PEI (Charlottetown is about 1/20 the size of Edmonton).

I guess the objective was to allow people to drive from coast to coast not to serve major population centres, but there are a few stations that don't really fit within that objective. For example, here in Ottawa, although there will be one within 100km, it will be north of the city, in Gatineau, and not really convenient to the Trans-Canada Route (or the Trans-Canada Highway). The stations in Boisbriand, Milton, Dorchester, Aldersyde, and Kelowna are also a detour from the Trans-Canada route (I drew a map of the stations and the route here).

Interestingly, the route doesn't follow the Trans-Canada highway in southern and eastern Ontario, but instead follows highway 401, but I guess they wanted it to go through Toronto (thus bypassing Ottawa).

Looking at Petro-Canada's website, they have now opened all of the EV Charging station on their Electric Highway. According to Plug Share, the most recent station (Burrard St. in Vancouver) opened on June 3. Apparently they plan to open more stations over time, but this is the last one from their initial plan.