EV charging stations scarce from Ottawa to the Quebec border, drivers say

Electric vehicle drivers who travel between Ottawa and the Quebec border near Montreal say the region would benefit from more charging stations.

According to the ChargeHub website, which drivers use to locate stations, there are only 16 in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, which stretches from Clarence-Rockland, Ont., to Hawkesbury, Ont.

The majority of them are split between Hawkesbury, which has six, and Casselman, which has five — the only five located directly along Highway 417. 

"You really have to have the app to find them," said Jean Yves Pigeon, who occasionally drives his electric car from Montreal to visit friends in eastern Ontario. 

"On the side of the highway, there aren't that many."

His car's battery can easily cover the 500-kilometre round trip, but from time to time he opts to charge along the way, especially in the winter. 

Pigeon says charging stations on the Ontario leg of his trip are scarce compared to in Quebec.  

Sharolyn Higgs agrees.

She lives in Orléans and says she either avoids certain routes when heading east to Montreal or she charges up her vehicle enough to make it to Quebec, the infrastructure is better.

"The infrastructure needs to get better. We need more high-powered chargers, and we need more need more of them at those stops," Higgs said. "So you'll pull in [and] there's one. We need six or seven."

Scarcity leaves drivers vulnerable 

Antonios Tsounourakis owns one of the smattering of charging stations in that part of eastern Ontario. 

He installed chargers outside his restaurant in Hawkesbury because he saw a hole in the market and figured it would be a good way to attract customers.

"It takes at least fifteen or twenty minutes to get a nice charge," said Tsounourakis, who also owns an electric vehicle.

"That's enough time to eat something or do a little shopping. It gives people something to do while they're waiting for their cars to load."

Tsounourakis, who's also a town councillor, said the scarcity of chargers in the region puts drivers in a tight spot. Superchargers, which are particularly efficient, are especially hard to come by outside of Casselman, he added.

"If you're really at zero, it's going to take time to have a full charge. But with the superchargers that you see in Casselman or [the Montreal area], you can be charged up to 80 per cent in 25 minutes.  We don't have that here."

The scarcity isn't unique to this corner of the province. Earlier this year, industry experts said that while EV sales have exploded in Canada, the supporting charging infrastructure is lagging in Ontario. 

The federal government announced funding this year for EV charging stations in Toronto and Ottawa, but that won't help to bring stations to communities outside city limits. 

• Electric vehicle numbers have 'exploded' but too few charging stations in Ontario, experts say
• Feds fund more than 100 electric vehicle charging stations in Ottawa

"If you get to a place and the charger doesn't work, you're stuck because you don't have the range to get to another one. That's a problem."

Tsounourakis said he's seen his chargers save a few desperate motorists. 

'It's the future'

Electric car sales are rising quickly in Canada, said Raymond Leury, president of the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa. 

"It's certain that as the number of electric vehicles increases, the number of chargers will have to as well," he told Radio-Canada.

"Where we need chargers is either at the destination where we're headed, or on the way to the destination."

As for Tsounourakis, he bought his Tesla two years ago and he appreciates how economical it is compared to its gasoline-powered predecessor. 

"It's been two years now and I can see that it's the future," he said. 

"Like all things, it takes time, it will get better. But we can't stop making progress just because we encounter obstacles. We have to do what we can to move forward."