Australian EV charging start up company JOLT announced today that it will enter the North American market in partnership with leading Canadian communications technology company, TELUS.
The strategic partnership will see JOLT develop and install up to 5,000 street side fast chargers across Canada, all of which will run on the TELUS network. Starting in late 2023, JOLT will begin installing a comprehensive network of EV charging stations nationwide that include TELUS’ public Wi-Fi capability, starting in Toronto and Vancouver. Across the JOLT EV charging network, similar to the customer proposition JOLT delivers in Australia, all electric vehicle drivers can access 7 kWh of free charging per day, which equates to 40 to 50 kilometres of range and 15 to 20 minutes of charge time, depending on the vehicle. Drivers can save approximately $1,000 per annum by charging with JOLT.
With more than 13 million electric vehicles forecasted to be on Canadian roads by 2030, and a need for more than 200,000 public chargers, this partnership will accelerate infrastructure development to meet this high demand, drive the adoption of electric vehicles, and support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
“As JOLT’s newest international market outside Australia, this partnership with TELUS is just the start of our ambitious plan to build tens of thousands of sites over the next decade in major cities globally, starting in Canada later this year,” said Doug McNamee, CEO, JOLT.
“Canadian cities have some of the highest EV uptake in North America and free public charging will make it even easier for Canadians to own an electric vehicle. We’re thrilled to partner with TELUS, which, like JOLT, has a focus on sustainability and innovation, to deliver best-in-class customer experiences.”
Tony Geheran, chief operations officer, TELUS, said: “Our partnership with JOLT is another demonstration of how TELUS partners with innovative companies who share our values, like investing in a healthier, more sustainable future. We are already 90 per cent of the way to achieving our goal of using 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025 due to our investments in Power Purchase Agreements, and this collaboration is another significant step forward.”
JOLT is Australia’s largest free and fast EV charging network and already has a broad range of partnerships throughout Australia, including Transport for NSW, Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and a variety of local government councils across the country. JOLT launched in New Zealand last year and is working to build charging infrastructure in partnership with governments, cities, utilities, transit authorities and private landowners.
JOLT’s Australian footprint is expanding rapidly, with an 84 per cent increase in the number of chargers operational, and a 460 per cent increase in clean energy provided to EV charging customers in the last 12 months. The company has EV charging stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide. Powered by 100 per cent renewable energy, JOLT has been working to facilitate the growth of EV usage globally.
Coupled with TELUS’ dedication to being a world leader in environmental sustainability and using technology for a greener future, this partnership will create more accessible, affordable EV charging in cities across Canada. For TELUS, the partnership is another demonstration of its longstanding commitment to leverage its technology, products and services to build a better, more sustainable future. As the only telecommunications company in Wall Street Journal’s top 100 Most Sustainably Managed Companies in the World, the partnership builds on its bold social, environmental and governance strategy, recently shared in the 2022 Sustainability Report, which will enable TELUS to become a zero-waste, carbon-neutral company by 2030, and rely on 100 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
