JOLT strikes EV charging partnership with TELUS in Canada

Having crossed the Tasman last year to take its electric vehicle (EV) charging station business to New Zealand, JOLT is now taking on greater international ambitions through a partnership with TELUS that will see it roll out 5,000 streetside EV chargers across Canada.

The Sydney-based startup will begin installing a comprehensive network of EV charging stations across Canada, starting in Toronto and Vancouver, later this year.

JOLT declined to reveal how many chargers it has installed in Australia and New Zealand, but in mid-2022 it announced a deal with Endeavour Energy to install 1,000 in Western Sydney over the next decade, following another deal to install 500 with Ausgrid.

The Canadian charging network will offer 7kWh of free charging per day for EV drivers, which equates to around 40 to 50 kilometres of range and 15 to 20 minutes of charge time. The network will also include TELUS’ public Wi-Fi capability.

There are more than 13 million electric vehicles forecast to be on Canadian roads by 2030, creating a need for more than 200,000 public chargers.

The partnership will accelerate infrastructure development to meet this high demand, drive the adoption of electric vehicles, and support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

“As JOLT’s newest international market outside Australia, this partnership with TELUS is just the start of our ambitious plan to build tens of thousands of sites over the next decade in major cities globally, starting in Canada later this year,” said JOLT founder and CEO Doug McNamee, who started the company to address the challenge of inadequate EV charging infrastructure, having experienced the limitations himself of EV ownership while living in an inner city apartment building. 

“Canadian cities have some of the highest EV uptake in North America and free public charging will make it even easier for Canadians to own an electric vehicle.

“We’re thrilled to partner with TELUS, which, like JOLT, has a focus on sustainability and innovation, to deliver best-in-class customer experiences.”

TELUS chief operations officer Tony Geheran said the partnership added to the company’s sustainability goals.

“We are already 90 per cent of the way to achieving our goal of using 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025 due to our investments in power purchase agreements, and this collaboration is another significant step forward,” Geheran said

JOLT has a list of partnerships throughout Australia, including Transport for NSW, Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and a number of local government councils, with EV charging stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Following its 22 move into New Zealand, the company is working to build charging infrastructure in partnership with governments, cities, utilities, transit authorities and private landowners.