Trans-Canada highway getting more electric vehicle charging stations in northern Ontario - Action News
Home WebMail Saturday, November 23, 2024, 01:45 AM | Calgary | -11.7°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Sudbury

Trans-Canada highway getting more electric vehicle charging stations in northern Ontario

Electric vehicle drivers in northern Ontario may soon find it easier to travel the Trans-Canada Highway.

Petro-Canada breaking ground on new charging stations this week

FILE- In this June 24, 2017, file photo, a Telsa Model 3 car recharges at a Tesla charging station at Cochran Commons shopping center in Charlotte, N.C. esla has cut $1,100 from the base price of its Model 3 car designed for the mass market.  The electric car company now says on its website that the car starts at $42,900, still short of the target base price of $35,000.  For $42,900 buyers will get a rear-wheel-drive Model 3 in black with Teslas lower-range battery that goes 264 miles per charge. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
More charging stations are appearing across northern Ontario, which may one day make driving the Trans-Canada highway by electric car a possibility. (Chuck Burton/Associated Press)

Electric vehicle drivers in northern Ontario may soon find it easier to travel the Trans-Canada Highway.

Petro-Canada broke ground this week on battery charging stations in Thunder Bay and Ignace, with another coming to Nipigon in the near future, while electric vehicle company Tesla has stations planned in Espanola, Sault Ste. Marie and Terrace Bay.

Devin Arthur, with the Greater Sudbury Electric Vehicle Association says it looks like the two companies are in a race for market dominance.

"It will be interesting, for sure, to see who can complete the Trans-Canada first," Arthur said. "Healthy competition is always good and to see this in the electric vehicle industry is pretty exciting."

Arthur said a cross-Canada trek is difficult by electric vehicle, with the number of charging stations in the north sporadic, at best.

"Right now if you're travelling across Canada, unfortunately, once you get to Sudbury you have to go to the states to get out west, or vice versa," Arthur said."

The Ministry of Natural Resources is providing part of the funding for a number of the battery charging stations, paying up to $50,000 toward the cost of installing some of them.