The Electric Circuit

The Electric Circuit (Le Circuit Électrique) is the largest public network of charging stations for electric vehicles in Quebec. As of 2019, The Electric Circuit offers 2,389 public charging stations in Quebec and eastern Ontario.

History
In April 2011 the government of Quebec published a plan to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, setting a target of 25% of cars sold in 2020 to be electric. The plan also called for provincial utility company Hydro-Quebec to develop a strategy for the deployment of public charging infrastructure.

The plans for building Canada's first public charging network were presented in June that year. Hydro-Quebec found partners in Rona, St-Hubert, Metro and public transport company AMT to install a hundred charging stations at the physical locations of these partners.

The first 30 charging stations were put in use in March 2012. The pricing was set at 2.50 dollar per charging session regardless of the time used. The network's first 400V fast charger was installed in 2013, with fast charging priced at 10 dollar per hour.

By 2014, The Electric Circuit network had grown to 1,500 members. 253 chargers had been installed at sites of 60 different partners, including a corridor of 12 chargers along Autoroute 40 between Quebec and Montreal.

An expansion of 1,600 additional fast chargers over the course of 10 years was announced in 2019.

Partner networks
Members of The Electric Circuit can also use chargers from the FLO network across Canada and the New Brunswick E-charge network.