5,000 High Speed Chargers Across the U.S.
Electrify America, the national charging network owned by Volkswagen Group, recently celebrated its sixth anniversary with the opening of its latest fast-charging station. By the end of 2023, the company had a total of 900 fast charging stations across the U.S. and Canada, with over 4,000 charging ports – but 2024 promises to be even bigger as Electrify America plans to add an additional 1,000 chargers to bring the total up to 5,000.
The Fastest Level 3 Chargers
One of many national charging networks, Electrify America is known for having some of the fastest Level 3 chargers available. Its latest-generation chargers can dish out electrons at up to 350 kW – meaning that they can max out the charging speed of most electric cars on the market. In 2023, these high-speed chargers fueled over 10 million customer charging sessions, double the number of sessions that Electrify America had in 2022, and doubling the total amount of energy dispensed. The latest EVs can charge much more rapidly than early EVs, meaning shorter charging sessions and more vehicles served.
While its chargers are among the fastest out there, the news hasn’t been totally rosy for Electrify America, however. J.D. Power’s most recent electric vehicle experience (EVX) charging study ranked the brand behind Tesla, ChargePoint, and EVgo for customer satisfaction, with a score of 538 out of a possible 1,000 points, and below the segment average of 654. Customers complained of connectivity issues as well as inoperative chargers at a number of locations.
Addressing EV Charging Downtime
Perhaps that’s why, in addition to announcing it will be opening 1,000 more charging ports by the end of 2024, Electrify America also said it would be upgrading 680 of its “underperforming” legacy chargers to the latest-generation chargers, which are said to offer more reliability, as well as Plug & Charge payment technology, which seamlessly initiates a charging session as soon as an EV is plugged in.
Reliable uptime and an easy customer experience are key to driving continued EV adoption, and Electrify America’s improved chargers, which are partially funded by the federal government’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) project, are primarily located in high-traffic areas where drivers need to stop during longer drives for a quick charge and be on their way. With Tesla’s recent job cuts to its Supercharging team, it’s even more important for charging networks to be reliable and dependable as more customers look to transition to electric driving.
How Much Gasoline Has EV Charging Saved?
Still, a look at Electrify America’s stats for the last six years shows how public charging can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2023 alone, the 380-plus gWh (gigawatt-hours) dispensed by Electrify America chargers are estimated to have fueled 1.3 billion miles of EV driving – avoiding the consumption of 52 million gallons of gasoline.
With Electrify America’s 25-percent expansion of its network set for 2024, on top of investments from other large players in the charging market, such as the manufacturer-led Ionna consortium, public charging infrastructure across the continent will continue to get better and more convenient. And driving green will continue to get easier.
