Electrify America has announced that it has registered 1.45 million charging sessions for owners of battery-electric vehicles for 2021. This shows a huge increase in the use of its charging stations last year. In 2020, only 268,000 customers used DC charging. According to Electrify America, BEV drivers avoided the use of 5.7 gallons of gas while traveling over 145 million miles without any emissions. Overall, it dispensed 41.4 GWh of energy to customers’ vehicles in 2021.
“The combination of our rapidly expanding charging network, plus the growth and availability of all-new electric vehicles, is accelerating the transition to eMobility,” said Robert Barrosa, Senior Director of Business Development & Marketing at Electric America. “Electrify America is working with automotive manufacturers to smooth the transition from gas to electric by offering integrated access on the Electrify America network. We are seeing this positively impact vehicle adoption as first quarter battery electric vehicle sales reached a record 5.2% market share of new vehicle sales in the US.” Barrosa also added that more drivers are discovering the benefits of BEVs based on the significant increase in charging sessions for 2021.
Currently, Electrify America has 800 charging stations with around 3,500 individual chargers open or with construction completed. These stations offer 150 to 350 kW chargers, which are among the fastest speeds available. The latter will allow vehicles like the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, BMW iX, and Lucid Air to make full use of their 800- and 900-volt charging architectures. Those systems enable these vehicles to charge to 80% in less than 30 minutes. Less powerful 150 kW DC chargers will be able to accommodate vehicles with 400-volt charging architectures and lower peak charging speeds. These allow vehicles like the Volkswagen ID.4, Nissan Ariya, Audi Q4 e-tron, Mercedes-Benz EQB, Kia Niro EV, and Ford Mustang Mach-E to make use of their top-end DC charge rates without needing to plug into a 350 kW charger.
By 2026, Electrify American aims to have 1,800 charging stations with over 10,000 individual chargers throughout the United States and Canada. Several automakers have partnered with Electrify America to provide BEV owners with complimentary charging. Volkswagen and Audi, for instance, include free charging for three years with the purchase or lease of a fully electric model. Porsche and BMW, on the other hand, get free 30-minute charging for three years. Polestar and Hyundai have the same perk for two; however, the latter is only offered on the Ioniq 5. Kia gives you a megawatt of free charging to use over three years. The Volvo C40 and XC40 Recharge and Hyundai’s Kona Electric and the recently discontinued Ioniq Electric hatchback get 250 kWh of free charging over the same period as Kia’s.
Electrify America recently unveiled its latest design for its future charging stations aimed at improving the customer experience and easing the transition to electrified mobility. The initial installations begin in 2022 and 2023 in cities like Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Diego, Beverly Hills, Manhattan, and New York. These will join Electrify America’s first two flagship stations in Baker and Santa Clara in California. The new stations will feature lounges that drivers can use while waiting for their vehicle to finish charging and will take customer feedback into account to make improvements to the space. Electrify America will also add solar awnings to its charging stations across the U.S. to provide additional power.
