EV infrastructure is getting a boost

Jule’s fast-charging solution decentralizes power, alleviates strain on the grid and shores up domestic sovereignty. The trick? A really big battery.

When Monsoon Fu talks about what gas stations can teach us about the finicky business of EV charging, he focuses on something that typically goes unseen. “At any station, no one’s taking gas out of a pipeline,” says Fu, the director of product and innovation for the Toronto fast-charging firm Jule Power. “There’s always a gas tank.”

That buried structure offers a key insight into Jule’s strategy for cutting the time it takes to charge an EV from an hour (as is the case with many public chargers) to 15 or 20 minutes. The company tethers a large-format battery to its Level 3 EV charging stations — a pairing that allows it to provide rapid service without unduly stressing the local electrical grid.

Jule’s large-format battery stores energy drawn from the local utility, which EV drivers can then access if their timeline doesn’t accommodate waiting around for a Level 2 charger, which dispatches energy at a more leisurely pace. The firm’s growing network of large-format batteries, in turn, doubles as a source of inexpensive decentralized power, available to the companies that lease its systems.

With the increased use of AI and ongoing electrification, demand for electricity is set to skyrocket. (The IESO estimates demand in Ontario could increase by up to 60 percent by 2050.) Decentralized power sources, such as large-scale batteries configured to draw power during low-demand (and thus low-cost) periods could help municipalities add capacity to the local electrical grid while deferring expensive infrastructure upgrades. And Jule’s made-in-Canada technology, developed with the aim of strengthening local grids and safeguarding Canadian data addresses another key stressor facing the country in this power-hungry age: domestic sovereignty.

Amping up the charging industry

Despite the phasing out of various provincial and federal inducements, EV sales in Canada for 2026 exceeded 92,000 vehicles between February and June, up sharply from about 65,000 from the year previous, according to StatsCan data. The latest figures indicate that EVs now account for about one in nine new vehicles sold in Canada.

As gas prices continue to soar, the window to accelerate the electrification of Canada’s passenger vehicle market is wide open. Fully seizing that opportunity will require making improvements to charging infrastructure, particularly when it comes to issues such as outages, accessibility and extended charging times, all of which can deter consumers from embracing this technology.

Owners who live in houses with driveways and sufficient electrical power can slowly charge their vehicles overnight. But the same isn’t true for people whose homes don’t have driveways or those who live in apartment buildings without charge points in the parking garage. Range anxiety may prevent ride-share operators and taxi drivers from considering EVs, even if they recognize the financial and environmental benefits. Although the range of EV batteries continues to increase, refuelling on a long drive may still not be all that straightforward: not every public charger provides fast charging, which can mean lengthy delays.

“There’s a broad industry consensus that integration of storage can be a hugely effective tool,” says Travis Allan, president and CEO of the Canadian Charging Infrastructure Council, the industry body that represents the various EV charging networks operating in Canada. Such pairings, he adds, are well suited to remote communities that have less energy capacity in their local grids, as well as regions where electricity rates spike during periods of high demand — a conservation policy that can “ruin the economics of your charging station.”

As of March 2026, Canada had almost 40,000 public charging ports in 14,743 locations, with most of the year-over-year growth coming from new fast-charger (Level 3) installations, especially in B.C. and Quebec, according to NRCan data. (The market leaders are Tesla, Flo and Hypercharge, while some gas retailers, such as  Shell, Petro-Canada and Circle K, are actively building their own networks.)

However, where fast chargers place enormous stress on the local utility (as well as the vehicle battery), Jule’s systems reduce grid surges. As Fu says, “We don’t want to disturb the grid by connecting one charger that’s equivalent to around 30 to 50 houses turning on most of their load at one time.”

Leveraging battery storage

For Jule, battery storage was the entry point to this market. In 2009, former General Motors manager Carmine Pizzurro founded the company, then called eCamion, to develop battery storage and software solutions. In response to demands from utility clients, it then shifted to developing larger-format grid storage batteries that could be used to hold some power in reserve for peak demand periods. “Back then there was almost no technology on the market,” says Fu.

However, he adds, utilities tend to move slowly, so in 2018, the company turned toward the more dynamic EV charging sector. Jule established funding and research partnerships with TheAtmospheric Fund, MaRS and the University of Toronto to develop a product that married its battery storage units to fast chargers with a novel direct current (DC) connection that minimizes energy loss. That involved solving a technical challenge: they needed to develop a way of maintaining a safe internal temperature for the battery storage module, which has to rapidly dispatch a large quantity of power into an EV — a transfer that generates heat and friction within the vehicle’s battery.

“The technology has improved significantly over the past 10 years, but the potential occurrence of a fire in a battery system is always there because the electrolyte that is in the battery is very volatile,” says Carlos Da Silva, a PhD mechanical engineer who heads U of T’s Electrification Hub and has worked with Jule on its batteries.

To mitigate that risk, Da Silva’s researchers worked with the firm to develop sensors and software systems that monitor both the internal and external temperatures of the battery and then make adjustments so the components remain at a steady level, around 25 degrees Celsius. Their modifications are designed to contain overheating lithium cells, which are the modular components of large-scale batteries, says Da Silva.

That this safety-related innovation is the result of Canadian R&D is notable. Jule is also prioritizing a Canadian supply chain, using a local factory to produce its components. “We design and manufacture battery-integrated fast-charging systems — including energy storage, power-conversion equipment, charger controls and the software that manages them,” says Fu. “Developing these layers as one platform lets us adapt each installation to local grid capacity, improve reliability and resolve problems more quickly.

Sovereign power

To date, Jule has installed more than 150 fast-charger-battery systems in 57 locations, including several Ontario parks, Loblaw supermarkets and the University of Toronto. This approach has allowed them to introduce a new business model into the charging world. The company essentially leases space for its batteries from the venue where its fast chargers are located, and purchases its electricity either from the land owner or directly from the local utility. Jule is able to mitigate pressure on the grid during peak periods and take advantage of off-peak rates to recharge its batteries by storing power that will be dispatched to the fast chargers powering up EVs.

And by providing a key element of decentralized grid infrastructure, Jule helps also bolster the stability and security of our energy supply. This is becoming more of a hot-button issue as reports of AI going rogue illuminate how vulnerable our electrical systems are to being hacked by bad agents. To that end, the company stores the data generated by its chargers — which can include user demographics, grid capacity metrics and other potentially sensitive information — on Canadian servers. “For Jule, data sovereignty means maintaining clear control and accountability for Canadian EV drivers’ information — from the charger and on-site controls through to the network platform,” says Fu. “Because we develop the full technology stack we can minimize the data collected and avoid unnecessary transfers between vendors.”

Much like its investment in using a domestic supply chain, Jule’s commitment to data sovereignty holds particular value at a moment when the Canadian economy is under siege due to steep U.S. tariffs. “Our approach reduces integration gaps and provides clearer accountability for performance, cybersecurity and data protection,” says Fu. “It also keeps more high-value engineering, manufacturing and intellectual property in Canada.”

Discover more game-changing Canadian solutions at this year’s MaRS Climate Impact at the MaRS Centre on November 17 and 18.

Photos courtesy of Jule