Canada to Install 853 New EV Chargers with $32 Million Investment

According to Tesla North, the Canadian government has just announced an investment of over $32 million CAD as part of #EVWeekinCanada, earmarked for the installation of 853 new electric vehicle (EV) chargers across the country. The numbers come from Natural Resources Canada, a department of the federal government.

Celebrating the announcement in a tweet, Minister of Heritage Steven Guilbeault (@s_guilbeault) also noted that Canadians can now drive coast-to-coast, from Victoria, B.C., to St. John’s, Newfoundland, in an EV without any difficulty finding a place to charge up.

Did you know that you can now drive coast-to-coast from Victoria, BC to St. John’s, NL in an electric vehicle?
🇨🇦⚡🚗
During #EVWeekinCanada we announced over $32 million to install 853 electric vehicle chargers across Canada! pic.twitter.com/2v5J5CiVw3

— Steven Guilbeault @ 🏡 (@s_guilbeault) July 30, 2021

“We’re giving Canadians the greener options they want to get to where they need to go. We’re building a coast-to-coast network of electric vehicle charging stations from St. John’s to Victoria, and raising ZEV awareness. This is how we get to net-zero by 2050,” said Seamus O’Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources, in a statement.

Here’s a breakdown of the announced investment, courtesy of Tesla North:

• $200,000 to the City of Hamilton to install 40 EV chargers in Hamilton
• Over $800,000 for 170 EV chargers to help British Columbians
• Combined investment of $830,000 to install 166 EV chargers in B.C., Ontario and Alberta
• $12.7-million investment in six clean energy technologies projects across Ontario and other provinces
• $50,000 investment to Oshawa Power to support a dynamic zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) virtual showroom
• $1.7-million investment in FPInnovations to develop and demonstrate hybrid diesel-electric forestry harvesting trucks in British Columbia and Quebec
• $350,000 investment to Seneca College and to Petro-Canada to install seven EV fast chargers across Ontario
• $310,000 in funding to install 44 EV chargers in Calgary and Edmonton
• Over $1.2 million to install 98 EV chargers across British Columbia
• $50,000 investment to the City of Ottawa to install one EV charger
• $9.4-million investment to install 215 EV fast chargers across Quebec
• Over $2.6-million to install 79 EV chargers and two hydrogen stations across B.C.
• $2.3-million investment to Anvil Crawler Development Corporation to install 36 EV chargers across Ontario
• Over $220,000 to help Ontario transport companies lower their fuel costs
• $100,000 to Upper Sherman MOBIL to install two EV fast chargers in Hamilton

According to the federal government, the investments made in charging infrastructure so far “will result in more than 17,000 new charging stations available to Canadians.”

While significant rebates from the federal government and on a provincial level have made battery-electric vehicles more affordable for Canadians, the lack of charging stations has proven to be a hurdle in EV adoption. This new initiative will certainly help alleviate those concerns for many.