Image: Great Lakes Now News

By Alex Hill - Great Lakes Now News - August 22, 2022

The popularity of electric vehicles (EV) has continued to grow since the first electric Toyota Prius was mass produced in 1997.

Now there are new companies like Tesla dedicated to EV production as well as major shifts among traditional auto makers to ramp up EV production as seen with the GM Factory Zero launch. Yet, the infrastructure remains a hurdle:

Are there enough charging stations?

Can local electric grids handle the addition of multiple EVs charging?

The data used in this map come from Natural Resources Canada, which has pulled together both US and Canadian EV charging stations filterable by various criteria. Most EV charging stations are Level 2 or 240 volts (double your standard wall plug), but Level 3 is increasingly common in larger cities as well as areas that might not be served by very many EV charging stations.

As you can see, Montreal and Toronto in Ontario have the biggest clusters of EV charging stations in Canada, followed by Chicago and metro Detroit on the US side of the Great Lakes.

So, could you drive your EV on a roadtrip around the Great Lakes watershed?

Absolutely. And the optimal route is highlighted on the map.

As long as your EV has a 200-mile range, there should be no issue traveling between all of the Great Lakes’ coolest cities.

But the biggest hurdles will be the 75 miles between Thunder Bay and Nipigon in Ontario on the north shore of Lakes Superior as well as the 145-mile stretch between Wawa, Ontario and St. Saint Marie, Michigan.

Petro Canada has you covered along Lake Superior’s northern edge. There are fewer EV charging stations and most are Level 3.

Pro tip: It’s also a good idea to check the status of the EV charging stations before you go. Many often are offline for maintenance or only have a single plug working properly.

To read this original story and more news, follow this link to the Great Lakes Now News website.