Petro-Canada celebrated the completion of its coast-to-coast network of EV fast chargers on Tuesday when the company officially opened an electric vehicle charging station near Victoria, B.C.
Known as the “Electric Highway”, the network is the first of its kind in Canada. It is made up of 40 EV fast charging stations located in small towns and big cities situated along the Trans Canada Highway from Stewiacke, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia.
“With more than 100,000 electric vehicles on the road in Canada and an average of 4,000 EVs added each month, we know that this is an important step in meeting the current and future driving needs of Canadians,” said Mark Little, president and chief executive officer of Petro-Canada’ parent company, Suncor.
Little added that Petro-Canada wants to help meet energy demand while cutting the carbon footprint of the transportation system. “The new purpose of our company is to provide trusted energy in order to enhance people’s lives and to care for each other and for the Earth,” said Little, at Tuesday’s ceremony.
Petro-Canada says it is committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent before 2030. In a press release, the Calgary-based company says “The landscape of fuelling is changing.” Petro-Canada and Suncor say they will continue to work with all levels of government to support the transition to a low carbon economy.
“Zero emission vehicles are critical to our clean energy future and to combatting climate change,” said the Honourable Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources.
“Our government is supporting initiatives like Petro-Canada’s coast-to-coast network of EV fast chargers; putting more electric vehicles on our roads, reducing pollution and creating stronger and more sustainable communities.”
The fast EV chargers will be free to use until the beginning of next year. The units are DC fast chargers outfitted with universal standard CCS and CHAdeMO connectors and can provide up to a 200 kilowatt charge, which is enough to provide an 80 per cent charge to most EVs in less than 30 minutes.
According to Petro-Canada, the units are also capable of 350 kilowatt charging with future upgrades.
Wilf Steimle, President, EV Society said “This network is quite possibly the longest non-proprietary charging network in the world. And, it was built in less than a year.”
Steimle said he has attended many openings of charging stations during the past 10 years. He added “Each new station represented an important step toward supporting electric transportation. None, however, have been as significant as what we’re celebrating today.”
“For the electric car owners in Canada, this means they can now travel from coast-to-coast as quickly and conveniently as they would have in a traditional car.”
The project received $4.6 million in funding from the Canadian government, through Natural Resources Canada’s Electric Vehicle and Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Deployment Initiative.
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