Canada's public DC fast-charging network kept growing in the third quarter of 2026, but more slowly than before. Paren is a charging-data firm that says it monitors more than 90% of the country's publicly accessible fast-charging ports in real time. Its Q3 2026 Canadian report, published October 13, counts 2,740 DC fast-charging stations and 9,615 ports as of the end of September 2026. Those totals include 103 stations and 391 ports added during the quarter.
On an annual basis the network is still expanding quickly. Ports are up 26.8% from a year earlier. Within the quarter, though, the pace slowed. According to Paren, Q3 station openings were about a third below Q3 2025, and the 391 ports added were the smallest quarterly addition in more than a year.
The numbers at a glance
- Stations (end of Sept. 2026): 2,740, up from 2,275 in Q3 2025 (MobileSyrup)
- Ports (end of Sept. 2026): 9,615, up from 7,585 a year earlier
- Added in Q3: 103 stations (93 new locations, 10 expansions of existing sites) and 391 ports
- Quarter-over-quarter growth: 3.5% in stations and 4.2% in ports versus Q2, as reported by Paren (EVwire)
- Sessions: 3.84 million in Q3, up 37% year over year
- Utilization: 10.4%, up from a Q2 low of 9.55%
- Reliability score: 91.1, versus 91.4 in Q2
- Average price: CA$0.486/kWh in Q3 2026, down from CA$0.500/kWh in Q2 (Paren data, as reported by EVwire on Oct. 22, 2026)
Where the new chargers went
Most Q3 additions were in Quebec, which accounted for 49 of the 103 station additions, according to EVwire's summary of the Paren data. Ontario added 22, British Columbia 18 and Alberta 5. EVwire also reports that New Brunswick added four stations and the Northwest Territories two, which leaves a small number of additions without a province in the sources we read.
The quarter's builds were also more likely to be at new locations. Of the 103 additions, 93 were new sites and 10 were expansions of existing ones. In Q2 the split was 77 new sites and 24 expansions, MobileSyrup reported. New sites accounted for 367 of the quarter's 391 new ports, according to Paren, so the network spread to more places in Q3.
Site size depends heavily on who is building. Non-Tesla stations adding ports averaged 3.2 new ports each in Q3, level with Q2. Tesla averaged 9.8 new ports per station, down from 16.3 in Q2, according to MobileSyrup. EVwire notes that Tesla's Canadian build this quarter was only nine stations, a small sample. Tesla did build the quarter's largest single site, a 24-stall Supercharger in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, EVwire reported.
Among other networks, EVwire reported that Circuit électrique added 61 ports and ChargePoint added 41 during the quarter.
Tesla's share keeps shrinking
Tesla added 88 Supercharger stalls in Q3, bringing its Canadian total to 3,091 ports, according to EVwire. That is 32.1% of all public fast-charging ports in the country, down from 36.0% in Q3 2025, as reported by MobileSyrup. Tesla accounted for 22.5% of the ports added this quarter (88 of 391), down from 24.4% of new ports in Q2, MobileSyrup reported.
Tesla's network is not shrinking: its port count rose from 2,729 a year earlier to 3,091. Its share is falling because other operators, as a group, are adding ports faster than Tesla. In a guest view in the Paren report, Daniel Breton of Electric Mobility Canada notes that Tesla now holds less than a third of Canadian fast chargers.
Sessions are up, but ports are growing faster
Demand grew in absolute terms. Charging sessions reached 3.84 million in the quarter, up 37% year over year. The number of ports Paren tracked during the quarter grew faster, by 51% to 8,820, so the average port logged 436 sessions, down from 481 a year earlier. Paren describes the network as still being built ahead of demand. Utilization, which Paren defines as the share of tracked time ports spend on charging activity, recovered to 10.4% from 9.55% in Q2.
Breton's commentary in the Paren report puts that figure in context. He says the industry needs a utilization rate of about 20% to be financially healthy. At 10.4%, the national average is roughly half that. He concludes that the charging industry will keep needing government support to expand the network for the time being.
Reliability barely changed. Paren's score was 91.1 in Q3 against 91.4 in Q2. Breton also lists cable cutting and theft as a continuing concern. The report excerpts we read do not measure how much theft contributes to downtime.
Pricing
The average fast-charging price Paren recorded across Canada fell to CA$0.486/kWh in Q3 2026 from CA$0.500/kWh in Q2, EVwire reported on October 22, 2026. This is a national average across networks. Prices at a given station vary by operator, location and pricing model, and drivers should check the current rate in a network's app or on the charger before plugging in.
What It Means for Drivers
For most EV drivers in Canada, the Q3 numbers mean more places to charge but not much more capacity at each non-Tesla stop. The 93 new locations, with Quebec getting nearly half of all station additions, widen coverage. Non-Tesla stations averaged just over three new ports each, so a busy site can still mean a wait. All counts here are operating public ports as of the end of September 2026. The sources do not give figures for announced or planned sites.
Tesla Superchargers still make up close to a third of public fast-charging ports in Canada, 3,091 according to EVwire. A growing share of new capacity, however, comes from networks such as Circuit électrique and ChargePoint. Which of these sites a given vehicle can use depends on its connector and on each network's access policies. The sources do not detail those policies, so drivers should check with the network or their automaker.
Paren reports a national average price of CA$0.486/kWh for Q3 2026, slightly lower than the CA$0.500/kWh it recorded in Q2. Reliability held near 91, so drivers should still have a backup charger in mind on longer trips, especially in regions with fewer sites.
Paren's data show utilization recovering at 10.4% while quarterly port additions were the smallest in more than a year. Per-port session counts were still lower than a year earlier, so the sources do not show whether peak-time crowding is getting worse. Breton's 20% benchmark is a useful yardstick for how far the national average is from where the industry says it needs to be.
