Supercharger station opens in Bancroft

Feb. 9, 2021

By Chris Drost

Travellers and residents alike now have access to a Supercharger station located in the parking lot of Bancroft Canadian Tire on Hwy 62 N.

Tesla's new Supercharger station has eight stalls (250 kW) and will provide direct current fast charging for electric vehicles.

“We are very pleased to have this facility in our town,” says Bancroft Mayor Paul Jenkins.

According to Electric Mobility Canada, there were 168,000 electric vehicles on the road in Canada in 2020, including 46,000 in Ontario. Worldwide there were expected to be over 10 million electric vehicles on the road representing 4.2 per cent of the global market for new sales.

The national target for electric vehicles in Canada is 10 per cent by 2025. There is still some way to go to achieving that goal although between 2015 and 2017 the percentage of sales grew from one per cent to 2.7 per cent.

In Ontario, the Ford government cancellation of the rebate for the purchase of electric vehicles in 2019 is believed to have contributed to a 55 per cent drop in sales of electric vehicles over 2018. The federal rebates are still in place.

It is estimated that the average driver who drives 20,000 kilometres per year would save approximately $2,000 in fuel costs annually.