Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. Thank you for having me.
ChargePoint is one of the world's largest electric vehicle charging networks. ChargePoint provides a fully integrated EV charging solution that includes a portfolio of hardware, software and services that support consumer and fleet charging needs at home, work, around town and in depots.
ChargePoint has a significant and growing presence in Canada. We work with a network of over 40 partners to distribute, and we work with hundreds of companies to install and maintain our charging solutions across Canada. These partners range from electrical equipment providers like Graybar Canada and Sonepar Canada, to small and medium-sized businesses like Arntjen Clean Energy Solutions, Virtuoso Energy and Waleco. We work with these partners to sell solutions to businesses, municipalities, utilities and fleets from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Prince George, B.C.
Canada's EV charging footprint has grown significantly as sales have risen. Today there are over 12,000 places to charge, and likely more than double that amount in the homes of Canadians, workplaces and fleet depots. The growing footprint not only establishes a fuel distribution network that will deliver significant emission reductions in one of Canada's largest emitting sectors, but also represents investment and job growth. For example, the B.C. government reports that there are over 250 companies in the province's EV sector, contributing 6,000 full-time equivalent jobs and $600 million to the provincial GDP.
Canada's EV charging sector employs trade and skilled workers from across the country, including civil and electrical contractors, engineers, sales and distribution professionals, logistics personnel and utility employees. One of our channel partners in B.C. estimates that the average charging station installation requires between 188 and 372 job hours, and between five and 10 different job functions per installation, for level two and fast charging installations, respectively.
These numbers are also in line with data we've collected for other installations across North America. The potential for growth in this sector is significant, because of growth in the global market and Canada's target for 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2040. Domestically, this potential is partially dependent on federal policy action. On the vehicle side, this includes policies like ZEV standards, vehicle emissions regulations and vehicle incentives. On the charging side, this includes measures like infrastructure incentives, clean fuel standards, building codes and addressing regulatory barriers.
Canada has already made progress by offering funding mechanisms to match private capital and accelerate consumer and fleet charging. It has also made progress on the regulatory side with ongoing changes to Canada's electrical code, most recently with a provision to enable the use of energy management features that reduce the costs for charging station owners.
The next challenge we face as an industry is enabling energy-based fees for charging services. Currently, owners of charging stations must sell charging services by the minute, even though different EVs draw different amounts of electricity over the same period of time. For example, when charged per minute, a Chevrolet Bolt driver is billed the same amount as an Audi e-tron driver although the Audi draws 1.7 times more power over a 30-minute fast charging session.
Energy-based pricing provides more transparency to drivers and more transparent cost-recovery to station owners. Enabling energy-based pricing requires that the meters embedded in these charging stations be certified by Measurement Canada and that station owners be subject to obligations under our Electricity and Gas Inspection Act and regulations.
The act and regulations were not developed with EV charging stations in mind, and therefore, a unique approach is needed to ensure that we have timely enablement of energy-based pricing in a manner that reflects the reality of charging station operations, requirements in other jurisdictions and demand for pricing options. We hope the recently initiated Measurement Canada process achieves these objectives.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee. I look forward to your questions.