Dive Brief:
- Parkland Corp. reached 100,000 charges within its electric vehicle (EV) charging network in Canada, the company said on LinkedIn Wednesday.
- The convenience retailer debuted its charging network in October alongside EV fast charger manufacturer FreeWire Technologies, initially targeting 25 locations but later doubling the plan. Parkland has already opened 28 of those sites, the company said.
- In Canada, Parkland’s EV charging program directly competes with Circle K, which expects to have 40 charging sites active by this summer and 200 by next year.
Dive Insight:
With 28 chargers up and running, Parkland is over halfway toward its goal.
“Very proud to be bringing fast charging infrastructure to so many places in [British Columbia] — and building sites with the needs of drivers in mind,” Scott Sharabura, vice president of EV charging for Parkland, said Wednesday in a LinkedIn post.
Last year, Parkland secured nearly $7 million in government funding to help build out its EV charging network. Natural Resources Canada — the Canadian Government’s official sustainability arm — provided a $5 million grant through its Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program, while the Government of British Columbia provided over $1.8 million.
Parkland’s chargers are located on highways across Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, the Okanagan and parts of Alberta. Each On the Run c-store in the program features two to four charging ports, each delivering up to 200 kilowatts and capable of charging most EV models within 20-30 minutes. Each charging location is staffed, and customers can find them using Parkland’s Journie mobile app.
With 1,860 stores in its Canadian network, Calgary, Alberta-based Parkland is the largest independent fuel retailer and second-largest c-store operator in Canada. In the U.S., Parkland supplies fuel to independently owned gas stations and operates 212 c-stores under a variety of banners, including On the Run, Rhinehart Oil, Hart’s, Superpumper, and KB Express.
