Brian Kingston, the President of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association says Canada needs to build millions, not thousands of EV charging stations.
The statement comes as the federal government’s current plan is to spend $880 million over the next four years to build 65,000 charging stations.
However, the crutch of the issue surrounds the push to electrify without the necessary infrastructure to support it. Kingston told CBC News that people will not make the switch if charging networks do not keep pace with the push to electrify sales.
He warns that some might even switch back to internal combustion engines. This is not unheard of. A study in Nature Energy noted that one in five ZEV owners went back to gas because of inconvenient charging access.
With the planned Natural Resource Canada funding, Canada will have one charger for every 50 EVs by 2025. By 2050, this number would fall to one charger for every 49 EVs.
In comparison, Europe plans to have one charger for every 10 EVs. In addition, California plans to have one charger for every seven vehicles.
Moreover, Canada ranks in the bottom three of the world’s ten biggest auto markets for EV readiness. A lackluster charging system and low demand are the reason for the low rankings.
Finally, the International Energy Agency noted Canada has 0.06 available public chargers for every EV on the road. This puts Canada at 20th in the world.
The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association represents Ford, GM and Stellantis in Canada.
