Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly electric and autonomous vehicle report, Quebec has announced $2 million to be allocated towards increasing the number of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations; while General Motors’ (GM) Cruise prepares to resume on road testing again.
Increasing infrastructure
According to a press release originally published by The Canadian Press, Quebec is allocating close to $2 million to help establish a pilot project to increase the number of charging stations for electric vehicles available in the province.
Specifically, the project aims to support those who do not have a charging station at their place of residence or within their neighbourhood.
As part of the pilot project, Hydro Quebec will test 34 dual charging stations for EV owners who are “charging orphans.” Modulated overnight charging will also be tested during this project, a process that allows energy to be balanced between energy needs within the vehicle.
The government of Quebec noted that this pilot project could benefit residents living in dense neighbourhoods. Moreover, as part of the project, three fast-charging stations for heavy vehicles will also be introduced by March 31st, 2025.
Last week, the Circuit électrique announced a change for charging rates for the charging points currently in service.
Use of fast charging stations will now be billed based on the quantity of electricity used and supplied to the vehicle, as measured in Kilowatt-hours (kWh), or by the hour as soon as the power supplied by the charging station falls below 10 or 20 kWh, depending on the terminal.
As part of its Stratégie québécoise sur la recharge de véhicules électriques 2023 to 2030, the provincial government wants to have 110,000 Level Two charging stations and 6,700 fast-charging stations on Quebec’s public network by 2030.
Cruising once more
GM’s Cruise autonomous driving service is reportedly preparing to resume testing its robotaxis with safety drivers in Phoenix, Arizona.
The company announced last Tuesday that it will begin collecting road information in certain cities, starting in Phoenix and then hopefully expanding into other states where Cruise previously operated.
According to reports from BNN Bloomberg, “in recent months, Cruise has been in talks with officials in 20 metropolitan areas where it previously operated cars in preparation to lay the foundation for eventual robotaxi service.”
For Phoenix, Cruise already has vehicles in the area. “Cruise is resuming manual driving to create maps and gather road information in select cities, starting in Phoenix,” Cruise spokesperson Pat Morrissey originally told Bloomberg in an email.
“This work is done using human-driven vehicles without autonomous systems engaged and is a critical step in validating our self-driving systems as we work towards returning to our driverless mission.”
Once Cruise has collected the data and mapping information it needs, the company will then work to test the vehicles—still with human drivers—to help ensure systems are functioning properly.
