Federal Government to Issue RFP for High-Speed EV Charging Networks

National Resources Canada will issue the request this spring, according to a recent CBC interview with Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr. He said there’s no time to lose in establishing a high-speed charging network for electric cars in Canada. “This is not something that government can do alone.”

In last month’s federal budget, the department was allocated $62.5 million to “support the deployment of infrastructure for alternative transportation fuels” over the next two years. This includes projects to develop better electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

According to the national electric vehicle advocacy group Plug ‘N Drive, there are 18,451 electric cars on the road, mostly in Quebec, Ontario and BC, and 3,513 charging stations, including 102 for Tesla owners only. Only 51 of the total public charging stations are high speed. The rest are medium speed, which require four to six hours to charge a vehicle.

Cara Clairman, president of Plug ‘N Drive, told CBC that a national network of charging stations would help neutralize fears of potential electric car owners that they might run out of juice before a journey is over. But she thinks the gap in the charging network is discouraging many consumers from buying an electric car because they have “range anxiety,” fear their car will run out of power on a long-distance drive.

Quebec has been a leader in building electric car infrastructure, followed by B.C. and more recently by Ontario, which announced last year it would spend $20 million on high-speed charging stations.

Read the entire CBC story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/electric-car-charging-infrastructure-1.3530793?platform=hootsuite.

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