Canadian EV Fast Charging — Q3 2026
Paren’s Q3 2026 Canadian EV fast-charging report explores network expansion, recovering utilization, and declining charging prices. Get the latest data on infrastructure deployment, charging demand, reliability, and provincial trends.
About This Report
The State of the Industry report is Paren's quarterly deep-dive into Canadian public fast charging — tracking infrastructure growth, network reliability, operator market share, provincial deployment and pricing trends. We publish it free of charge to give the industry a shared, standardized view of the data. It is independent work: not sponsored, and not affiliated with any charge point operator or automaker.
Data reflects all publicly accessible DCFC ports in Canada, updated daily — Paren monitors more than 90% of Canada's DCFC infrastructure in real time. In this edition, we've also given the floor to a leading industry expert to share their perspective on where the market is heading. We hope you enjoy the report.
Industry Perspective: Guest View
A super interesting quarter for fast charging
Industry Perspective by Daniel Breton, Electric Mobility Canada – Mobilité Électrique Canada
As the CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, the Canadian EV industry association and as the co-chair of the Canadian EV charging infrastructure working group, I find that the Paren report is a very useful tool to help the EV industry understand Canada's fast charger deployment and use trajectories. While some people may claim that the pace of EV fast charging deployment is not keeping pace with the evolution of EV market, facts tell us otherwise.
With a 26.8% year over year port-base growth, 391 new DCFC ports and 103 stations compared to Q2 2026, fast charging deployment growth is more than keeping pace with the Canadian EV market.
With a use rate of 10.4% (almost 10% more than Q2 2026 but 10% less than Q3 2025) we are still far from the 20% threshold that the industry needs to be financially healthy, meaning that for a while EV charging infrastructure industry is still going to need government support to help expand the Canadian network for the time being.
While Tesla is still the leading fast charging network in the country, it now represents less than a third of all Canadian fast chargers. This means that other networks are starting to deploy more chargers across the country.
At 91.1%, the reliability score is slightly lower than during Q2 2026 which was at 91.4%. This metrics is one that I find particularly important to keep an eye on as it is part of the user experience and we will have to keep working hard to ensure that this percentage keeps improving as we face new challenges such as cables being cut and stolen across the country.
Superfast charging is gaining ground at the healthy rate and the next few years should see their expansion increase with newer EVs being capable of much better charging performance.
I can't wait to see where the market will be a year from now as we are expecting the federal government's National Charging Infrastructure Strategy to be unveiled later this year, the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program to be revamped soon and the Chinese carmakers start offering their EVs to Canadians and possibly their charging network.
Exciting times ahead!
emc-mec.ca
Industry Snapshot
Section 1: Charging Infrastructure Expansion
How many DCFC stations and ports opened in Q3 2026, where they are, and what power levels they deliver to drivers.
Canada Added 103 Stations and 391 Ports in Q3 as the Quarterly Pace Slows
NOTE
We've updated our methodology to more accurately capture operating stations. See Appendix B for more details.
Canada added 103 stations and 391 new ports in Q3 2026, bringing the national network to 2,740 stations and 9,615 fast-charging ports. The installed base grew 3.5% in stations and 4.2% in ports from Q2, and 20.4% and 26.8% year-over-year, up from 2,275 stations and 7,585 ports in Q3 2025.
Q3 BREAKS THE SEASONAL JUMP.
In 2024 and 2025, Q3 openings jumped well above Q2, by more than 70% in both years. This year Q3 matched Q2 almost exactly, leaving it a third below Q3 2025 in new stations.
THE LARGEST NETWORKS PULLED BACK IN 2026.
From January to September, Canada added 1,376 ports, 16% fewer than the 1,633 in the same period of 2025. Tesla, BC Hydro, Circuit électrique, ChargePoint and Flo added 410 fewer ports combined, and Lakeland EV added none after 75. Mercedes-Benz HPC (62), Couche-Tard (+52) and On The Run (+49) offset part of the decline.
NEW SITES MADE UP A LARGER SHARE OF GROWTH.
Of Q3's 103 stations, 93 were new sites and 10 were existing stations adding ports, compared with 77 new sites and 24 expansions in Q2. New sites accounted for 367 of the quarter's 391 ports (93.9%). Q2's 24 expansions were the highest in the series; earlier Q2s had 10 or fewer.
Non-Tesla Stations Hold at 3.2 New Ports; Tesla Station Size Swings on a Small Sample
NON-TESLA SITE SIZE HOLDS FLAT.
Non-Tesla stations adding ports in Q3, new sites and expansions together, averaged 3.2 new ports each, level with Q2's 3.2 and consistent with the multi-quarter trend. New sites alone averaged 3.3.
TESLA'S RATIO KEEPS SWINGING.
Tesla's 9.8 new ports per station is the fifth different reading in five quarters (14.9 → 13.0 → 10.6 → 16.3 → 9.8). Canada's Tesla build, 9 stations this quarter, is too small a sample to read this metric as a trend.
SMALL SITES LEAD THE Q3 BUILD FOR TWO NETWORKS.
Of Q3's 93 new sites, 36 (38.7%) have 2 ports or fewer, down from 46.8% in Q2. ChargePoint opened the most (10 of 16 new sites, 62.5%), followed by Flo (9 of 10, 90.0%).
TESLA AND PARK + CHARGE BUILT Q3'S LARGEST SITES.
17 new sites opened with 6 ports or more. Tesla led with 7, including 24 ports at Mont-Tremblant, QC and 16 at Drummondville, QC. Outside Tesla, Park + Charge opened three 8-port sites in Toronto, Collingwood and Oshawa, ON; Electrify Canada and Circuit électrique each opened 8 ports, in Vaughan, ON and Montréal, QC.
Tesla Now Holds Less Than a Third of Canada's DCFC Ports
GROWTH IS MORE DISTRIBUTED, AND Q3 CONFIRMS IT.
New Canadian fast-charging ports are spread across more networks, and Q3 continues the trend. Tesla added 88 of the quarter's 391 new ports (22.5%, down from 24.4% in Q2), so it is slowly losing share of ports deployed. Tesla now holds less than a third of Canada's DCFC ports: 32.1%, down from 36.0% in Q3 2025, even as its port count rose from 2,729 to 3,091.
CIRCUIT ÉLECTRIQUE AND CHARGEPOINT ROUND OUT THE TOP THREE.
Circuit Électrique (61 ports, 15.6%) and ChargePoint (41, 10.5%) follow Tesla, ahead of Park + Charge (24) and BC Hydro (22).
A LONG TAIL OF SMALLER NETWORKS.
“Other Networks” combines 27 networks outside the top 10. Together they hold 1,697 ports (17.6% of the base) and added 90 ports in Q3 (23.0%).
Québec Holds the Lead as New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories Join the Map. British Columbia Slows.
QUÉBEC AND ONTARIO EDGE UP; BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALBERTA EASE.
Québec added 49 stations (44 in Q2) and Ontario 22 (21). British Columbia fell to 18 from 21 and Alberta to 5 from 8. Ontario's ports fell to 69 from 121, as Q2 included 82 Tesla ports in the province.
URBAN: FEWER OPENINGS, NEW LEADERS.
Urban openings fell to 57 stations from 68 in Q2, 55% of the total, down from 65%. ChargePoint led with 13, while Flo dropped to 5 from 13 and On The Run to 1 from 8. Toronto added 6 stations, the most of any city.
RURAL: OPENINGS RISE.
Rural openings rose to 46 stations from 36. Circuit électrique led with 12, followed by Flo (7) and Tesla, which went from 1 rural station to 5 (48 ports). New Brunswick (4) and the Northwest Territories (2) returned to the map.
ROLLOUT TRACKS UTILIZATION ONLY LOOSELY.
British Columbia (13.1%) and Ontario (11.5%) have the highest Q3 utilization; Québec added the most stations at 8.5%.
Canada Isn't Racing to Faster Charging: 33% of New Ports Hit 250+ kW
CANADA BUILDS AT LOWER POWER THAN THE U.S.
In the U.S., 73% of Q3 new ports were 250 kW or more and 31% were 400 kW or more, versus 33% and 2% in Canada. The gap is widest outside Tesla: 61% of non-Tesla U.S. ports were 250+ kW, compared with 14% in Canada.
PORTS OFFERING 250 KW TO 399 KW RISES ON TESLA.
The 250–399 kW band took 31% of Q3 new ports, up from 27% in Q2. Tesla supplied 88 of those 123 ports across 9 sites at 325 kW. Mid-power 150–249 kW remained the largest band at 42%.
OTHER NETWORKS ADD SITES AT 280 KW AND UP.
Outside Tesla, Eddie opened 7 sites (14 ports) at 280–320 kW, Electrify Canada 1 site with 8 ports at 350 kW, and HyperCharge 7 ports at 280–350 kW. At 400+ kW, Mercedes-Benz HPC opened 1 site with 6 ports at 400 kW.
WITHOUT TESLA, THE 250+ KW SHARE IS UNCHANGED.
Of the 303 new ports from networks other than Tesla, 41 (14%) were 250 kW or more, compared with 14% in Q2 and 24% in Q1. Tesla's 88 ports at 325 kW account for most of the rise to 33% across all new ports.
Per-Port Demand Softens as Sessions Rise 37% Year Over Year and the Port Base Grows 51%
INFRASTRUCTURE IS GROWING AHEAD OF DEMAND.
Q3 2026 recorded 3.84 million charging sessions on tracked ports, up 37% from 2.80 million in Q3 2025. Over the same period the number of ports tracked during the quarter grew 51%, to 8,820 from 5,824. Each port is counted once if it reported in any month of the quarter, so this base runs above the average of the monthly counts. With ports growing faster than sessions, each port averaged 436 sessions in the quarter, down from 481. The network continues to expand ahead of the charging it serves.
TOTAL VOLUME KEEPS CLIMBING WITH THE NETWORK.
Monthly sessions ranged from 0.79 million to 1.13 million between July 2025 and June 2026, with September 2025 the low and December the high. Summer 2026 set new highs at 1.29 million sessions in July and 1.38 million in August, and September held at 1.17 million.
SUMMER 2026 LIFTED PER-PORT DEMAND.
July and August 2026 ran at 161 and 157 sessions per port, up from 137 in June but below the 181 and 185 of the same months in 2025. September eased to 133, close to September 2025's 135, as September sessions rose 49% year over year on a port base 52% larger.
Section 2: Utilization & Reliability
How utilization and reliability are trending across Canada and its provinces as the fast-charging network scales through Q3 2026.
Utilization Rebounds to 10.4% as Port Growth Slows to Its Lowest Pace
UTILIZATION IS RECOVERING.
Canada added 391 ports in Q3, its smallest quarterly addition in more than a year, growing the installed base 4.2%. Demand grew faster. On networks Paren tracked in both quarters, utilization rose to 10.7% from 9.4%. National utilization reached 10.38%, up from Q2's 9.55% low, held back by three newly tracked networks averaging 6.5%.
DEMAND ROSE ON 73% OF NETWORKS.
Of the ports Paren tracked in both Q2 and Q3, 96% sit on networks where utilization rose from Q2 to Q3, with network gains from 0.3 to 3.9 points.
FOUR SMALLER NETWORKS SLIPPED.
The remaining 4% sit on four smaller networks where utilization fell. Each was at or below 4.1% utilization in Q2, and none fell by more than 0.4 points.
Provincial Utilization Rates Rise From Q2 but Trail Q3 2025 in Top Markets
YEAR OVER YEAR, PROVINCES SPLIT EVENLY.
Every province and territory rose from Q2, the seasonal lift expected from summer travel. Against Q3 2025, six are higher and six are lower. British Columbia (13.1%) and Ontario (11.5%) still lead, followed by Prince Edward Island (10.1%), New Brunswick (9.0%) and Québec (8.5%).
NEW PORTS IN THE LARGEST MARKETS ARE BEING USED.
British Columbia, Ontario and Québec grew their port bases 45% to 70% over the year. Utilization fell only 1.3 to 1.5 points, which means drivers are using the new stations.
THE PRAIRIES ARE ABOVE LAST YEAR.
Alberta (7.6%), Manitoba (5.0%) and Saskatchewan (3.9%) all beat Q3 2025. Alberta gained 0.7 points as its port base grew 40%.
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR COMES INTO FOCUS.
Paren improved its coverage in Newfoundland and Labrador with 43 stations in Q3, up from 6 in Q2. On that broader base, utilization was 4.7%, ahead of only Saskatchewan, Yukon (both 3.9%) and the Northwest Territories (0.3%).
Eight of the 10 Largest Metros Gain on Flat Supply as Vancouver and Toronto Lead
VANCOUVER AND TORONTO STILL LEAD.
Vancouver (22.8%) and Toronto (17.3%) remain well above the national rate of 10.4%. Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (16.4%) and Calgary (14.7%) follow, and the other six range from 8.5% to 13.1%.
Q3 GAINS CAME ON FLAT SUPPLY.
Eight of the 10 metros raised utilization from Q2, led by Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (+2.2 points), Calgary (+2.1) and Québec City (+1.8). Their combined port base held flat, so the gains came from more use of existing ports. Toronto (−0.3) and Ottawa–Gatineau (−0.5) eased slightly.
MOST METROS REMAIN BELOW LAST YEAR.
Seven of the 10 are below Q3 2025, including Vancouver (25.7% a year ago) and Ottawa–Gatineau (13.3%), whose tracked ports grew 29% and 55%. Calgary, Winnipeg and Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo are above their year-ago rates.
Three Markets Below 90 on Reliability as Newfoundland & Labrador Clears the Line
THREE BELOW 90; THE NATIONAL LINE EASES.
The Northwest Territories (77.8), Yukon (85.3) and Nova Scotia (86.3) sit below 90 in Q3, while Newfoundland & Labrador rose above the line to 90.7 from 80.3 in Q2. Nationally, reliability slipped to 91.1 from 91.4 in Q2 and 93.7 in Q3 2025, and 10 of 12 provinces and territories are lower than a year ago.
NEWLY TRACKED NETWORKS PULL Q3 SCORES DOWN.
Our port universe grew in Q3. Nova Scotia reliability score drop from 95.4 to 86.3 as its tracked stations rose by 33% with one new opening.
Most Provinces Offer Reliable Charging, but Stations Remain Under-Utilized
NO PROVINCE CLEARS THE 20% UTILIZATION BAR.
Every province and territory remains below 20% utilization. All rose from Q2, but British Columbia (13.1%), Ontario (11.5%) and Québec (8.5%) are below their levels of a year ago, so the gap to “Healthy” has widened in the largest markets. Newfoundland and Labrador posted the largest year-over-year gain, to 4.7% from 1.8%.
BROADER COVERAGE BRINGS LOWER-USE NETWORKS INTO VIEW.
As Paren expands its Canadian coverage, networks tracked for the first time tend to start below the national average. The three added in Q3 averaged 6.5% and pulled the national rate down, while the largest network rose to 15.9% from 14.0% in Q2.
THREE PROVINCES IN “LAGGING,” WITH TWO EXITS AND ONE ENTRY.
Prince Edward Island left “Lagging,” rising to 91 from 88, and Newfoundland & Labrador followed, gaining 10 points to 91. Nova Scotia entered, falling to 86 from 95. A year ago only Yukon was in the group. The Northwest Territories (78) is down from 91 a year ago.
THE BUILDOUT MIDDLE IS RELIABLE, WITH ONTARIO AT THE EDGE.
The nine “Pre-demand Buildout” provinces average 92 on reliability. Ontario sits closest to the 90 line and was below it in Q1 (89).
Section 3: EV Charging Pricing
How fast-charging prices and pricing models vary across Canadian provinces, and why the market remains structurally fragmented.
Charging Prices Fall; Tesla and Non-Tesla Prices Converge
FAST CHARGING GOT CHEAPER AS OTHER PRICES ROSE.
The average price fell to $0.486/kWh from $0.500 in Q2 and $0.494 in Q3 2025, while Canada's CPI rose 3.0% year over year in August and gasoline 22.8% (Statistics Canada). US average prices per kWh rose 0.4% from Q2.
PRICE DECLINES IN EVERY MAJOR PROVINCE BUT YUKON.
Nova Scotia fell 11.2% to $0.55, Saskatchewan 7.3% to $0.57, New Brunswick 5.5% to $0.53 and Manitoba 3.5% to $0.53. Québec ($0.46), Ontario ($0.59), British Columbia ($0.41) and Alberta ($0.67) each eased 1.2–3.4%. Yukon rose 1.6% to $0.58. Alberta remains 61.8% above British Columbia, the widest gap.
TESLA AND OTHER NETWORKS ARE CONVERGING.
Tesla's non-member average rose to $0.518 from $0.502 this quarter, while the non-Tesla average fell to $0.478 from $0.500. The year-over-year gap narrowed to 4.0 cents from 12.8.
LOWER PRICES, MORE USE.
Utilization rose in every priced province in Q3. New Brunswick paired a 5.5% price cut with the largest gain, to 9.0% from 5.4%. Yukon's utilization also rose, to 3.9% from 2.8%, despite higher prices.
A Year-Long Migration to Fixed Per-kWh Pricing Is Reshaping the Mix
FIXED PER-KWH REMAINS CANADA'S MOST COMMON MODEL.
Fixed per-kWh pricing now covers about two in five non-member stations. A year ago it ranked second behind time-based pricing; it has since moved into first place and held there through Q3.
POWER-BASED PRICING IS LOSING SHARE.
Power-based fell 4.2 points from Q2 and 8.5 points from Q3 2025. Prices tied to a charger's power level are harder for drivers to anticipate, since the cost depends on how fast their vehicle can charge. Per-kWh pricing, up 7.1 points over the year, shows drivers what they pay for the energy they get.
TIME-OF-USE GAINS GROUND AMONG PER-KWH STATIONS.
In Q3, 142 of 1,059 per-kWh priced stations used time-of-use (13.4%), up from 63 of 823 (7.7%) in Q2. Over the five quarters in the table, Québec has the highest provincial time-of-use share at 9.9% of stations.
PEAK AND OFF-PEAK ARE CONVERGING.
Over the year, average peak time-of-use prices fell to $0.512/kWh from $0.639 and off-peak to $0.370 from $0.402, narrowing the spread to 14.2 cents from 23.7. Fixed rates held near $0.49, so off-peak charging now saves about 12 cents per kWh against a fixed-rate station, up from 9 cents.
Section 4: Appendices
Supporting data, definitions, and reference materials.
Appendix A: Terminology
Charging Infrastructure
CPO
Charge Point Operator
Fast Charging
Charging port of a minimum of 24 kW
NACS
North American Charging Standard; Tesla's charging connector now adopted by many networks.
ZEVIP
Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program; federal EV charging funding delivered by Natural Resources Canada.
Connector
A charging plug conforming to CCS, CHAdeMO, or NACS (J3400) standard
Port
A charging unit with one or more connectors capable of charging one EV.
Station
A physical location with one or more EVSEs (charging ports).
Utilization & Reliability
Reliability Index
The Paren-specific calculation that measures charger reliability taking into account recent successful charge sessions with and without retries, failed charge attempts, and station downtime over a specific time period.
Tesla
Tesla is a reference to the Tesla Superchargers
Utilization
The percentage of tracked time spent on both successful and unsuccessful charging activity at a charger over the time period open per day.
EV Charging Pricing
Fixed Price
Refers to a consistent rate per kWh for the entire charging day.
Time of Use (TOU)
Pricing changes based on the time of day with higher prices during expected peak demand time. It encourages off-peak charging and can help balance grid demand.
Dynamic Pricing
Pricing changes based on an ad-hoc changes not tied to a specific time. Typically, dynamic pricing daily spreads are within the same minimum and maximum of the TOU model.
Time
Charges by the minute or hour. Often used where energy-based pricing is restricted.
Appendix B: Methodology
Continuous Refinement
We introduced targeted refinements to improve accuracy and better reflect real-world market conditions. Some figures may differ slightly from earlier editions. Most notably, in Q2 2026, our session counting methodology improved across busy charging stations, resulting in more tracked, successful charging sessions.
Infrastructure Methodology
We enhanced how we measure station growth and identify new stations, reducing reliance on AFDC open-date fields and incorporating additional signals for more accurate activation timing.
Pricing Methodology
We updated our average pricing model to exclude free chargers from calculations to reduce distortion. Prior-quarter figures were recalculated using this updated methodology for comparability.
Port-Count Universes
Port counts vary by analysis because the report uses different validated data universes. Network-size figures use Paren's reconciled installed DCFC port base. CPO market-share tables use the subset of installed ports that can be attributed to a charging network/operator. Sessions, utilization and reliability use ports within Paren's real-time observed coverage for the reporting period.
These totals answer different questions and should not be read as competing counts. Installed-base figures describe network scale; operator-attributed figures support leaderboard and market-share analysis; observed-coverage figures support performance metrics such as sessions per port, utilization and reliability.
Total Port Counts
Starting with the Q3 2026 report, the total fast charging station and port counts are better adjusted to exclude chargers and sites that have been retired. Comparing previous report total port numbers with the new ports added will show a discrepancy due to these removed ports.
Counting New Infrastructure
We apply the following rules when calculating new infrastructure:
- Simple: Introduction of new equipment where nothing was in place previously counts as new infrastructure.
- Expansion: Adding new chargers to an existing site increases the port count but not the station count.
- New Owner Replace: In an existing site, if a new CPO takes over and replaces the hardware, the station and ports are counted as new.
- Same Owner Replace: In an existing site, if the existing CPO replaces hardware with the same port count, it does not count towards new infrastructure for that period.
Data Sources
- AFDC
- Paren Public Charging Infrastructure Dataset
- Select ZEVIP and provincial EV infrastructure funding award data
- Proprietary charging session / utilization models
Infrastructure and pricing data as of September 30, 2026.
About Paren
Paren is the intelligence layer of EV charging infrastructure.
Paren operates the most complete, real-time view of fast charging in North America — aggregating, enriching and standardizing data across networks into a single source of truth. Automakers, charge point operators, map makers, ride share platforms and government agencies rely on Paren to turn fragmented signals into decisions they can trust. With historical depth back to January 2024 and live data today, we give the industry a consistent standard for how performance is measured.
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