Canadian Cities to Get New EV Charging Network
Electric Vehicles have been one of the success stories in Canada over the last decade. The increase in demand for electric vehicles has been consistently rising in Canada and the rest of the world. In a report released by Frost and Sullivan, the global sales of Electric Vehicles (EVs) are set to jump from 1.2 million sold worldwide in 2017 to 1.6 million for 2018.
Tesla S model electric car
Driving the EV industry forward has been the introduction of new low-cost solid state batteries, seen as a game changer for the future of the EV industry. Longer life batteries mean more miles travelled, making the viability of EVs much more of an attractive option to the everyday consumer. However, commercially, the EV charging infrastructure needs a lot more investment and density, if it is to keep up with the global demand for EVs.
At present, the EV charging network has been centred around homes or stations with the private individual in mind. However, recently there has been more of a push to starting building and adding to the electric vehicle charging station that is oriented towards the commercial application of charging station, i.e. for institutions, hotels and companies et al.
Electric car ownership can still be difficult or even impossible for those that live in apartments and people who simply do not have access to home charging. A number of companies and municipalities in Canada are now busy working on providing solutions. One such solution will see 100 new curbside charging stations deployed around Canada.
A $6.7 million project funded by Natural Resources Canada, AddEnergie, a Canadian manufacturer of EV charging stations is being planned so that Canadian cities will have curbside EV charging via its ‘Flo’ charging network.
Louis Tremblay, the CEO and President of Flo and AddEnergie said: “Expanded urban charging station installation is a key step to support the fast-growing adoption of electric vehicles in Canada. Our experience enables us to address the operational and logistical complexities of such projects. We look forward to playing a leading role coordinating with municipal stakeholders to execute the installations.”
At present, there are more than 90,000 public charging stations worldwide serving 1.2 million electric vehicles worldwide. This is an anomaly that needs to be addressed quickly. We can expect to see that figure increase to over 120,000 this year, however, EV charging stations are still too few and those that are up tend to cluster in areas where the majority of EV sales are.
Investing into the charging infrastructure for non-residential use seems to be a good solution for the future. No access in homes has put a lot of people off buying an EV. If the infrastructure is more focused on commercial use and in the workplace, this will take away much of the cons out of buying an EV. All eyes will be on Canada to see if the new EV network can succeed and whether or not it is something that can be rolled out quickly, cheaply and in other countries.
Author: Jacob Maslow
