Electric automobiles manufactured by BMG, left, and Tesla sit at an electric vehicle charging station at a Circle K gas station near Oslo. Circle K owner Couche-Tard is using the Nordic country as a testing ground for how to respond to the electric-vehicle boom.Kyrre Lien/Bloomberg
Convenience store and service station giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. activated its first North American electric vehicle (EV) fast charger on Friday at one of its Circle K outlets in Rock Hill, S.C. – the beginning of a deployment of EV charging units at 200 of its stores across North America over the next two years.
Couche-Tard, based in Laval, Que., introduced EV charging stations four years ago in Norway, “the world’s most mature EV market,” the company said in a news release. In 2020, it announced it would add charging stations at locations on the West Coast of the United States and Canada, and in its home province. That same year, Couche-Tard said it wanted to eventually expand into the home charging market in North America, mirroring progress in Norway.
Currently, Couche-Tard has more than 1,000 chargers at over 230 Circle K locations in Scandinavia. Now, it is looking at areas in the U.S. and Canada with “strong EV adoption rates and electric delivery infrastructure … whether in-town or on the highway.” The company has more than 9,000 stores across North America.
Couche-Tard says one of its first Canadian EV charging units will be operational in June or July in Montreal.
Snorre Skeie, Couche-Tard’s director of eMobility-North America, said in the release that EVs represent 90 per cent of new cars sold in Norway. “While development in North America is in relatively early stages by comparison, EV acceptance is growing here as manufacturers introduce innovative offerings,” he added.
This announcement comes as Canada’s auto sector and governments try to hasten the shift to an electric future. The federal government and Ontario’s provincial government recently announced up to $1-billion in support for auto manufacturer Stellantis NV (which owns Chrysler) for its $3.6-billion plan to refit plants in Windsor and Brampton, Ont., for EV and battery production.
In March, the federal and provincial governments also earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars for Stellantis and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution to build its first Canadian battery lab in Windsor for $5-billion, one of the largest investments ever in the country’s auto sector.
The federal government has been underscoring its commitment to limit greenhouse gas emissions and encourage a shift to EVs by Canadian drivers for some time. “Transportation accounts for approximately 25 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), of which almost half comes from passenger cars and light trucks,” according to a federal website.
However, a deterrent for many Canadians to go electric – besides cost – is the availability of charging stations. Studies have shown that some EV drivers even switch back to owning gas-powered cars mainly because of the inconvenience of available charging units.
Canada currently has 7,586 public charging stations, and about 16,000 chargers in total, according to data from Natural Resources Canada. Most of those are Level 2 chargers, which are much faster than Level 1.
Couche-Tard said it will “continue to partner with other participants in the emerging e-mobility economy,” but provided no further details.
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