Electric vehicle (EV) companies in Canada are receiving major financial commitments from the federal government to help build charging infrastructure.
The Canada Growth Fund (CGF), an arm’s-length funding unit for climate-friendly energy solutions, led a $55-million USD ($79.3 million CAD) funding round in Dcbel to help it commercialize in North America and Europe. The Montréal-based smart home company has a unique bidirectional EV charging system, Ara, that integrates with home energy management.
Ara can not only generate and store energy through solar power, but uses vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging with compatible EVs to minimize the effect of power outages. The concept of V2H isn’t new and is available for vehicles like Ford’s F-150 Lightning, but Dcbel is counting on what it calls “advanced home intelligence” that uses AI to help reduce home energy costs and spur renewable energy use.
Ara can not only generate and store energy through solar power, but uses V2H charging with compatible EVs to minimize the effect of power outages.
The CGF is investing $40 million USD ($57.6 million CAD) directly, with the Idealist Climate Impact Fund (a past CGF recipient) and other investors contributing “up to” $15 million USD ($21.6 million CAD), CGF said in a statement.
The move will help Canada “improve its competitiveness on the world stage” by scaling companies and guarding their intellectual property, Canada Growth Fund Investment Management CEO Yannick Beaudoin said in a statement.
The move comes days after the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) reached a $194-million loan agreement with Australian charging-startion provider Jolt to help expand its EV charging network into Canada. The arrangement will pay for up to 1,500 curbside chargers in urban areas, the government claims.
Jolt’s offering provides seven kilowatts of free charging per car per day. That’s adequate for a short car commute and is meant to “make EV ownership more accessible,” CIB and Jolt said in a statement.
The CIB says it has invested a total of $650 million to date for about 5,500 public charging ports in Canada. This underscores a “commitment” to innovative technology that will “remove a potential barrier to EV adoption,” according to CIB chief Ehren Cory.
Both the CGF and CIB investments come as foreign companies continue to dominate Canada’s EV charging infrastructure. Elon Musk-owned Tesla is the best-known provider, with over 234 high-speed Supercharger stations and over 50 new locations expected to open in 2025, the company claims. It’s not the largest, however, as ChargePoint had 247 DC Fast Charger stations as of March 2024. In comparison, Volkswagen’s Electrify Canada had 34 similarly quick stations by last March.
Some of the effort is going toward charging at home, including in apartment complexes and other multi-tenant buildings where powering EVs has been historically difficult. Toronto-based EV charging company SWTCH recently introduced a solution meant to help multifamily building owners install chargers without the need for electricity and networking upgrades. The company claims this can save costs while letting building operators install as many chargers as they need.
Feature image courtesy Dcbel.