Quebec's New Truck Stop Charges More Than Coffee

A heavy-duty EV charger near Montreal marks Quebec's first step toward an electrified freight corridor.

24 Jun 2026

A public charging station built specifically for heavy trucks has opened at the Relais Routier Petit truck stop in Sainte-Helene-de-Bagot, Quebec. The site marks the first physical step in a plan by Propulsion Quebec to electrify the freight corridor connecting Quebec City and Toronto.

Officials said the location was chosen deliberately. It sits on Highway 20, roughly midway between Quebec City and Montreal, placing it within the typical 160 to 300 kilometer range of a fully loaded electric Class 8 truck.

Chargepoly, a France-based heavy-duty charging specialist, supplied and installed the equipment. Circuit Electrique, the province's largest charging network, now owns and operates the station. A single 480 kilowatt power cabinet feeds two dispensers, letting one truck charge at up to 400 kilowatts, or two trucks simultaneously at 240 kilowatts each.

The design is modular, according to the companies involved, which means capacity can be added later without rebuilding the site. Nationex, a trucking company based in Saint-Hubert, is already running its electric delivery fleet through the chargers.

Sylvain Cabanetos, director of business development for Chargepoly Canada, said the truck stop location was chosen because drivers already associate it with refueling. Restaurants and restrooms suited to heavy vehicles reinforced that logic. An earlier Propulsion Quebec study had identified just seven locations as necessary to support the full corridor, with additional sites still in planning.

Few other Canadian freight routes have attempted anything comparable at this scale. Megawatt charging is technically possible at the site pending a grid capacity upgrade from Hydro-Quebec, and the daisy-chain design gives operators a lower-cost entry point that can scale as truck volumes grow.

That sequencing, analysts say, is likely to shape how other provinces plan their own long-haul charging buildouts. The results could inform freight electrification policy well beyond Quebec's borders.