New data shows that about 80% of the publicly available electric vehicle (EV) charging stations that have been funded by Canada’s federal government are inoperable and sitting idle on the country’s roads and highways.
Data supplied by the federal Department of Natural Resources shows that only about one in five (20%) of the more than 43,000 EV chargers that have been funded with taxpayer money over the last seven years are currently operational.
This means that 80% (34,400) electric vehicle charges that have been established through Ottawa’s two main EV infrastructure programs are inoperable.
The data release comes as federal officials announce another $25 million of public money is being spent to install 1,500 EV chargers throughout Quebec.
The federal government's two funding programs have now invested a total of $768 million since 2016 to buy and install EV chargers nationwide.
The electric vehicle charges that Ottawa is installing on public roads and highways does not include the charging stations installed in peoples’ private residences.
Officials in Ottawa say that many of the EV charges that have been purchased in recent years are not yet installed and some aren’t scheduled to come online until 2027.
An analysis for the federal government by the research firm Dunsky Energy and Climate says Canada will need about 200,000 publicly available electric vehicle charges by 2030 to meet demand on the country’s roads and highways.
The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made greater adoption of electric vehicles one of his government’s main transportation priorities.
