Electric car drivers heading south will soon have a second corridor with charging stations between Quebec and the United States.
On Monday, Premier Philippe Couillard and Maine Governor Paul LePage announced 10 charging stations will be built between Quebec City and Portland, which will pass the border city of Jackman and the capital of Maine, Augusta.
The plan was revealed at the annual conference of New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers in Boston.
While no time frame was given for the project’s completion, several rapid charging stations in the Quebec portion of the route have already been completed and more terminals could be added in 2017.
The first such corrido was built in 2013, connecting Montreal with Burlington, VT.
The Quebec-Maine project follows the formation in March of a joint working committee between the province and state on the electrification of transport. Two other routes are still under study: one that would connect Montreal to Western Maine and on to New Hampshire, while the other would go along a coastal road.
Couillard said nearly 95 per cent of tourist travel between Quebec and Maine is done by car and the new route would encourage Quebecers to purchase electric cars.
In a statement, the Quebec government said the new corridor is part of its plan to electrify transport between 2015 and 2020 which was launched last October. The plan includes getting 100,000 electric cars on the road in the province by 2020.
