Canada floats $634M to double EV chargers and shore up its grid

Ottawa is putting $634.2 million behind electric vehicle charging, split across three pots of money. The headline piece is $587 million to renew the Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program, which had been slated to expire next year. Parliament still has to approve the spending, which would then roll out over five years starting in 2027. Another $45 million over five years goes to charging infrastructure research and development, with $2.2 million for the federal government's own shift to zero-emission vehicles.

The ZEVIP money is designed to buy chargers. The program covers up to 50 per cent of project costs, or 75 per cent for Indigenous-led projects, with a cap of $2 million per project. According to the budget, the renewed funding is expected to add more than 55,000 chargers in what it calls areas where the infrastructure is needed most, roughly doubling the more than 50,000 chargers supported through existing programs.

Travis Allan, president and CEO of the Canadian Charging Infrastructure Council, told Electric Autonomy he wants the programs shaped around the people who actually struggle to plug in. He named condo and apartment dwellers, public fast charging along major corridors and metro areas, and charging for fleets and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which he said make up a major share of transport emissions. On the $45 million headed to Natural Resources Canada from 2027-28, Allan said he is interested to see how it gets spent, given how many Canadian companies are innovating in the charging ecosystem.

The grid is getting its own bundle. The budget sets aside nearly $4 billion over 10 years starting in 2027-28 for electricity infrastructure expansion, renewable energy and priority grid projects, including fresh funding for the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program. Natural Resources Canada also gets $26.4 million over a decade for data and modelling to guide grid planning, and $1.6 billion over 10 years is earmarked for modernising power systems in northern and remote communities. The charging push sits inside a national electricity strategy that would put more than $50 billion toward doubling Canada's grid capacity by 2050.

Daniel Breton, president and CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, called the funding encouraging and said the five-year ZEVIP window makes planning and securing financing easier. He was just as positive about the grid work: it's one thing to install chargers, he said, but the electricity has to reach them. He also voiced disappointment that the budget left out new money for medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles, EV education and battery recycling. Canada's Incentives for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicles program already ended on March 15, 2026, with no federal replacement so far.