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

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

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

The majority of them are split between Hawkesbury, which has six, and Casselman, which has fivethe only five located directly alongHighway 417.

"You really have to have the app to find them," saidJean Yves Pigeon, who occasionallydrives his electric carfrom Montrealto visit friends ineastern Ontario.

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

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

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

Sharolyn Higgs agrees.

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

"The infrastructure needs to get better. Weneed morehigh-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

AntoniosTsounourakisowns oneof the smattering of charging stationsin that part of eastern Ontario.

He installed chargersoutside his restaurant in Hawkesbury because hesaw a hole in the market and figured it would be agood 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 scarcityof chargersin the region puts drivers in a tight spot. Superchargers, which are particularly efficient, are especially hard to come by outside of Casselman, he added.

"Ifyou'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 centin 25 minutes. We don't have that here."

The scarcity isn'tunique 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 governmentannounced funding this year forEV charging stationsin Toronto and Ottawa, but that won'thelp 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 saidhe's seen hischargers save a fewdesperate motorists.

'It's the future'

Electric car sales are rising quickly in Canada, said Raymond Leury, president of theElectric 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 hisTesla two years ago andhe appreciates how economical it is compared to itsgasoline-powered predecessor.

"It's been twoyears now and I can see that it's the future," hesaid.

"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."