A review of the current state, challenges, opportunities and future directions for implementation of sustainable electric vehicle infrastructure in Canada

Abstract

Transportation sector is one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions at the global level and electrification of this sector could potentially address this issue subject to the development of a reliable and comprehensive charging infrastructure of electric vehicles. Canada, being one of the largest economies of the world, aims to attain a net-zero economy by 2050 and swift electrification of Canadian transportation sector is imperative to this cause. Hence, this review paper mainly focuses on development of charging infrastructure of electric vehicles in Canada which is its primary novelty. Following a comprehensive overview of the overall contributions of transportation sector to emissions at global and Canadian levels, the current state of electric vehicle market in Canada, the global standing of Canada in terms of sales and production of electric vehicles, and review of some recent literature specific to electric vehicle infrastructure in Canada, this paper discusses and comparatively evaluates the existing charging technologies. It then provides a detailed overview of the current state of charging infrastructure across several Canadian provinces. Next, the standards and codes for implementation of charging infrastructure in Canada are also described briefly. Furthermore, the challenges and future directions for electric vehicle adoption in Canada are provided. Based on the comprehensive review conducted, the Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec are quite far ahead as far as the widespread network of charging stations and government investments for new projects are concerned. Hence, government support to other provinces is essential to improve Canada's national outlook of charging infrastructure. In terms of sales and production of electric vehicles, Canada is currently not included in the list of top ten countries however, most recent trends suggest relative improvement in its global ranking.