ChargeStop opens Canada’s first “Electric Vehicle Station”

You pull into the gas station and grab a coffee while you fill up. What could be more convenient?

That century old ritual, however, has been lost on electric vehicle owners who instead have been confined to the far flung edges of towns, in barren parking lots and strip mall corners.

Until now.

Canadian tech company ChargeStop September 9 opened Canada’s first dedicated station for EVs, in Edmonton. Yes, you can get a coffee and a snack. Yes, there is an attendant. Yes, there are clean washrooms.

But wait, you say, I can fill up my gas guzzler in five minutes. Charging an EV takes hours. That’s a lot of coffee.

Making the station idea work requires the “Technologies” part of “ChargeStop Technologies” to kick in. The company offers what it describes as “super-fast” charging. How fast? Most EVs get an 85% charge in just twenty minutes.

“EV drivers have been generally ignored by the service station industry, making it difficult to access even the most basic amenities during EV charging,” CEO Tim Murphy said in a press release. “ChargeStop is a new concept that is app-driven, convenient, safe and fast. Each ChargeStop station includes all of the amenities of a service station but is designed to serve EV drivers. We are dedicated to make charging an enjoyable experience for drivers.”

So if you build it will they come? ChargeStop notes that according to Stats Canada, new vehicle registrations for battery, hybrid and electric cars rose from 94,500 in 2019 to 320,237 in 2023.

ChargeStop says it plans to launch stations across Canada in 2025.