(Vancouver) Telus has signed a partnership with an Australian electric vehicle charging company, announcing plans to install up to 5,000 electric vehicle charging stations in Canada.

The companies plan to begin installing the network of hotspots, which will connect to Telus’ public Wi-Fi network, later this year.

Electric vehicle drivers will be able to use the Jolt app to access seven kilowatt hours of free charging per day, the companies said in a statement.

The free charge is 40 to 50 kilometers of range and 15 to 20 minutes of charging time, depending on the vehicle, they added.

In a report released last year, Natural Resources Canada calculated that Canada will need to have approximately 200,000 publicly accessible charging stations by 2030.

Telus estimated that its partnership with Jolt would accelerate the development of essential infrastructure to meet this high demand.