At the North American International Auto Show earlier this week, VIA Motors announced that is has received an $80 million purchase agreement from Sun Country Highway. The deal outlines plans to electrify hotels and other businesses as part of a trans-continental electrification project.
The privately funded ‘Sun Country Highway’ project has launched over 1,000 charging stations across Canada to allow electric vehicle owners to travel coast-to-coast with free charging. In the next phase of the project, it will provide charging for the business’s own electric shuttle vans and trucks.
“In phase one of the project we electrified hundreds of businesses across the country including placing about 100 chargers at Best Western Hotels,” said Rathwell. “In phase two, we will deploy VIA’s electric trucks and vans and have already placed an $8 million order with a deposit VIA for the first 100 vehicles. We have signed a purchase agreement with VIA committing us to about $80 million of electrified vehicles overall, to meet the demand of the expanding project,” concluded Rathwell.
[Best Western] looks forward to providing our guests with clean electric shuttle service and free charging for their own electric vehicles.
The first in North America to offer electric shuttle van service will be the Best Western Seven Oaks in Regina, Canada.
VIA Motors CEO said that VIA’s rugged, four wheel drive extended range technology is ideal for Canada’s extreme weather conditions and extended driving range.
