![]() Ottawa has set an objective of adding 50,000 new EV chargers and hydrogen refuelling stations across the country, but those will be a mix of ultra-fast charging stations, like the kind FLO is poised to build using the CIB loan, as well as less expensive level 2 units. And that’s a conversation we have with government on an ongoing basis.” “From what we’ve seen, there are enough deals, good investments for taxpayers … that we would seek to extend our target or to go beyond that. He said the FLO loan will be “far from the last” and that the $500-million is a target but not a cap, adding, “We would look to go beyond it.” “So range anxiety stops being a concern for people.” “If we want to accelerate adoption of EV vehicles in our country and decarbonize our transportation fleets, there’s got to be wide access to reliable charging,” Cory said. ![]() The CIB immediately started canvassing the market, he said, and formally announced a $500-million fund for EV charging and hydrogen refuelling last September. It has faced criticism in the past for failing to quickly find projects in which to invest.Įhren Cory, CEO of the CIB, told the Star his organization acted fast after the federal government first outlined EV charging as a priority in the budget last year. The CIB is a crown corporation created almost six years ago to back infrastructure projects aligned with public priorities such as transit and the green transition. The company says the CIB investment will double the number of public fast-charging ports in Canada. FLO’s existing stations are a mix of fast chargers - which use direct current to deliver power rapidly to a car’s battery - and what are known as level 2 units, which charge at a slower pace and are commonly found in private homes, office and retail parking lots and curbside locations right on the street. Some of those it owns itself while others it sold to private buyers such as homeowners or office building operators. The company, which has about 23 per cent of the Canadian EV charging market share, says it has developed deep data from its existing network, which includes more than 90,000 charging stations across North America (mainly in Canada). “We’re going to try, through our process, to well serve that market (the GTA) that we strongly believe in the long run will be the biggest market,” Tremblay said, adding that the company is looking at the map of all of Canada and will base its location decisions on numerous factors. Ontario has been slower to adopt EVs than provinces like Quebec and B.C., according to FLO, but it sees opportunity in the GTA. “We’ve been around for almost 15 years now, we’ve demonstrated the ability to give great service and we know what we’re doing,” Tremblay told the Star, explaining the pitch his company made to the CIB. Louis Tremblay, CEO of FLO, said the financing will help the company take a bigger risk in what he called a complex refuelling industry, one where drivers actually charge at home about 80 per cent of the time. But without drivers - and the prospect of a steady revenue stream - charging companies are reluctant to invest. ![]() The ports will be distributed at about 400 sites across the country - typically at locations along busy highways and travel corridors - and are meant to charge most EVs to 80 per cent in 15 minutes.Ĭonsumers are hesitant to invest in EVs without knowing they can charge quickly and on the go, including over long distances. The Canada Infrastructure Bank announced its first investment from a dedicated EV charging fund on Wednesday: a $220-million loan commitment to help FLO, a Quebec City-based EV charging network operator, build more than 2,000 “ultra-fast” charging ports in public places over the next four years - with the GTA as a potential key point of expansion. High-speed charging of electric vehicles across the country just got a multimillion-dollar boost in a bid to address the “range anxiety” felt by many drivers looking to go green.
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