General Motors plans to install 4,000 charging stations in Canada as part of a push by the carmaker to invest more heavily into electric vehicles.
The Detroit-based company says it plans to install 40,000 stations across the U.S. and Canada over the next year, part of a pledge to spend $750 million US to beef up its electric vehicle infrastructure by 2025.
“We expect 10 per cent of the total number of chargers for the Canadian market,” the company told CBC News in a statement.
The company says the charging stations will be installed at GM dealerships, but also at various other workplaces, multi-unit dwellings, sports and entertainment venues and college and universities.
The charging stations will be available to use by anyone with an electric vehicle, not just people with one built by GM, the company said.
Beefing up electric future
The initiative is “part of our plan to put everyone in an EV, making access to charging even more seamless than before,” GM president Mark Reuss said in release.
“We want to give customers the right tools and access to charging where and when they need it, while working with our dealer network to accelerate the expansion of accessible charging throughout the U.S. and Canada, including in underserved, rural and urban areas.”
For comparison purposes, there are roughly 11,000 gas stations dotted across Canada, so 4,000 new electric charging stations would be a significant increase in the number of places where a driver could get a boost.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg, roughly 1.5 million plug-in electric vehicles have been registered to drive in the U.S. and Canada since 2011.
GM is in the process of retooling some of its manufacturing plants in Canada to start making electric vehicles.
The news comes a day after rental car company Hertz announced plans to buy 100,000 electric Tesla vehicles this year, adding to the growing availability and demand for electric vehicles.
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