The International Council on Clean Transportation released a new study in February, stating that Quebec will need to significantly increase its amount of EV chargers to meet 2030 and 2035 targets the province and country have set to ban sales of gas-powered vehicles.
The province is already home to 45 per cent of Canada’s electric cars, with an estimated 1.5 million EVs coming to those roads by 2030. By then, Quebec will need eight times more public chargers compared to 2020 — an increase from 5,700 to 45,800 normal and 700 to 6,300 fast chargers.
“Reaching this target for public chargers represents a 23 per cent annual growth rate from 2020 to 2030,” the ICCT report highlights. “Additionally, 1.1 million private home chargers, 23,700 private workplace, and 18,900 depot chargers will be needed by 2030.
Multi-unit dwellings a ‘unique situation’ in Montreal
In Montreal, where density breeds more multi-unit dwellings than single-family homes (currently 87 per cent of housing is low-, mid- and high-rise buildings), the future of home chargers exists primarily within MURBs. Yet, as the report asserts, only 38 per cent of EV drivers are expected to have access to private home charging in 2030.
As such, boosting non-home chargers to the extent of 94,600 will be a must for Montreal, of which 52,000 would be public chargers and the remaining split between private workplace and depot chargers.
To meet the growing need for charging infrastructure, the ICCT is calling on the government to provide charger deployment targets, implement charging deployment strategies, establish zero emission zones, offer fiscal support with contingencies and mandate smart home and workplace charging.
The report also takes into account three variables that could affect projected numbers for EV chargers; for instance, if transition is accelerated and they reach cost parity with internal combustion engines more EVs will take to the roads, which requires amping up the number of public chargers.
A greater reliance on workplace charging could also unfold if more companies were to provide affordable workplace chargers. Lastly, the need for public chargers could increase by 21 per cent if policies and pricing structures encouraged more normal overnight charging and less fast urban charging.
The full report, Assessing charging infrastructure needs in Québec can be found here.
