Canada’s government wants to make it easier for citizens to drive electric, and they’re putting more than $4 billion in funding for electricity infrastructure and grid modernization that includes more than 55,000 new EV chargers.
The proposed federal budget set aside $4 billion (CAD) for grid improvements, with a $~635 million carveout specifically for EV charging infrastructure with $587 million of that set aside to renew the Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP), which funds the development of new public EV charging stations.
“The charging industry is really encouraged by the multi-year investment in the budget,” explains Travis Allan, president and CEO of the Canadian Charging Infrastructure Council (CCIC) told Electric Autonomy. “We’ll be looking to make sure that we have great programs in place to deal with the barriers faced by people living in condos and apartments, public fast charging, which needs to cover major corridors and metropolitan areas, and then also charging for fleets and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which make up a major share of transportation emissions.”
The rest of the $4 billion will be spent on electricity infrastructure expansion over the next 10 years, starting in 2027 and running through 2036. Because it’s Canada where nearly 60% of electrical generation already comes from renewable hydro and wind power, renewable energy is a de-facto priority, with carveouts for the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program, new data and modeling efforts to guide grid planning, and $1.6 billion to modernize power systems in northern and remote communities.
The charging infrastructure program highlighted here, ZEVIP, would help charge point operators by covering up to 50% of eligible project expenses for most projects, and up to 75% of projects led by indigenous developers with caps of up to $2 million per project.
Global ambitions
Canada continues to take steps to separate itself from the wild swings and economic chaos caused by America’s random tariffs, trade policies, and dumb oil wars – and building out an infrastructure that makes it easier for its citizens to give affordable Chinese EVs a chance while strengthening its relationship with the US’ biggest economic rival?
If Washington doesn’t see that for, “Go pound sand, eh?” that it is, then it’s truly lost the plot – but even if the “blue wave” last week was enough to shake a little sense into the folks running the show, it may already be too late to patch things up.
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