Founded in 2025, AstraX Charging Network opened its first 100-kilowatt DC fast-charging site at 7500 Woodbine Ave. in Markham this spring.
The station features one charging unit capable of delivering up to 100 kW of power, allowing drivers to add approximately 100 kilometres of driving range, in about 10 minutes for roughly $10, depending on the vehicle.
The site was designed with future expansion in mind, with infrastructure already in place to support additional chargers if demand grows.
Frank Lin, founder of AstraX, said usage has increased steadily since the station opened, with monthly charging activity more than doubling in recent months.
For Lin, however, the project is about more than operating charging stations.
He sees electric vehicles as part of a long-term transformation in transportation and believes many of today’s concerns about EV adoption are similar to questions people once asked about gasoline-powered vehicles.
“Do you know when gas-powered vehicles broke through one million sales in Canada?” Lin asked. “It was 1927. Almost exactly 100 years ago.”
“What does that mean? It means that 100 years ago, we might have had an interview like this.”
Federal statistics show Canada had more than one million registered motor vehicles by the late 1920s, a period Lin points to as a useful comparison for today’s EV industry.
At the time, Lin said, consumers were asking many of the same questions now being raised about electric vehicles — if there would be enough gas stations, if the technology would become mainstream and if the supporting infrastructure could keep pace with demand.
“Today, nobody asks those questions,” he said. “People just expect gas stations to be there.”
Lin believes EV charging infrastructure will eventually reach a similar point.
He also points to Canada’s long-term emissions reduction goals as a reason he remains confident in the future of electric vehicles.
The federal government has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a goal that Lin expects will increase demand for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in the coming decades.
