Canada’s most ubiquitous coffee shop chain will soon offer even more of a morning jolt to some of their customers.
Tim Hortons, in a partnership with Quebec-based electric-vehicle charging infrastructure company Flo, plans to install EV fast chargers at 100 restaurants across Canada by the end of 2028.
The iconic coffee brand says it’s targeting installations in all 10 provinces “to provide coast-to-coast coverage for our guests.”
The first EV fast chargers have already been installed and are open to the public in Regina.
Work is under way to launch EV fast chargers at up to 13 more Tims restaurants by the end of the year and up to 50 Tims restaurants by the end of 2026. Each participating restaurant will have an average of four charging ports for guests to use.
Tim Hortons Chief Marketing Officer Hope Bagozzi said in a statement that the rollout of roughly 400 ports will make it “the largest restaurant provider of EV fast charging in Canada.”
Tim Hortons is Canada’s largest restaurant chain, serving more than five million cups of coffee every day with 80 per cent of Canadians visiting a Tims in Canada at least once a month, according to the restaurant.
The charging stations to be installed are the Flo Ultra, which are capable of delivering up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) of range in as little as 10 minutes.
“This partnership with Tim Hortons marks a pivotal moment in making EV charging a seamless part of everyday life for Canadians,” Flo CEO Louis Tremblay said in the same statement. “By investing ourselves in the installation of Flo Ultra chargers at trusted, well-visited locations, we are accelerating our strategic focus as an own-and-operate charging network operator and delivering the reliable infrastructure EV drivers need to confidently embrace their transition to electric mobility.”
The new installations are part of Flo partnership with the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which committed $235 million to Flo, bringing more than 1,900 public fast charging ports online across Canada.
EV mandate needs more chargers
Starting next year, Ottawa will require that 20 per cent of all new light-duty vehicles sold be zero-emission vehicles, which include gas-powered plug-in hybrids. That benchmark is set to climb annually to reach 100 per cent in 2035.
Nationwide, the current number of charging stations falls far short of what would be needed to meet and sustain those goals and demands, if they’re met.
In a 2021 analysis commissioned by Natural Resources Canada, Dunsky Energy and Climate estimated Canada needed 52,000 chargers by this year alone.
But the firm found there are currently a little more than 35,000 charging stations across the country — well below the 100,520 Canada needs to meet its policy goals for electric vehicles, researchers with the Montreal-based consultancy said in a report.
Charging a concern
The lack of charging infrastructure in Canada has long been a concern for automakers, who are being mandated by the federal government to increase EV sales.
But Brain Kingston, CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, which represents the interests of the Detroit Three automakers in Canada, has said the funding and number of charging stations fall short.
“There is a large and growing public charging infrastructure gap in Canada that requires the installation of 40,000 chargers every year to close,” Kingston said earlier this year.
The federal government is under pressure to repeal that EV sales mandate. Automakers have argued they can’t meet the sales target and would have to pull gas-powered vehicles off the market to achieve it — which would undermine domestic production.
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