CALGARY, Alberta -- High-power electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations have gone live at Petro-Canada.
The first EV charging station to open at a Petro-Canada-branded site went live in 2014, at a franchisee-owned and -operated location in Crossfield, Alberta. The Sun Country Level II charger supplied 19.2 kilowatts of power, according to Green Car Reports. A Level II charger can charge an EV in 4 hours.
Later, Petro-Canada would install Level II charging stations at five locations along Highway 401 in Ontario.
Now, it is turning up the power with fast-charging stations, which can deliver a nearly full charge in 30 minutes or less. EV news site Elecktrek shared photos taken by Luke Chau, an EV owner from Ontario, of two of the stations at a Petro-Canada site in Milton. The charging stations are branded Petro-Canada, and each has charging adapters to fit EVs that have either CHAdeMO or the Society of Automotive Engineer’s (SAE) Combo Charging System (CCS) fast-charging configurations. The CCS charger is rated 200 kW, while the CHAdeMo charger is 100 kW.
“So far they are testing and getting feedback so there is no cost to charge,” Chau told Electrek. The news site noted the surprisingly high wattage of the CHAdeMo charge; most modern EVs—except for Tesla models—cannot handle a charge that high. This would indicate that Petro Canada has installed equipment to prepare for future EVs that can handle a higher charge.
According to Petro-Canada’s website, it now has 10 locations with charging stations. The Calgary, Alberta-based company has more than 1,500 branded gas stations and convenience stores across Canada. It is owned by Suncor Energy, a major Canadian integrated energy company whose operations include oil sands development and upgrading, onshore and offshore oil and gas production, petroleum refining and petroleum product marketing.
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