Electrify America

Electrify America is an electric vehicle DC fast charging station network in the United States, with more than 840 charging locations and over 3,700 individual charging units with over 100 coming soon as of October 2023.[1] It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America, established in late 2016 by the automaker as part of its efforts to offset emissions in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.[2][3][4] In June 2022, Electrify America received its first external investor with a $450 million investment from Siemens for a minority shareholder stake, valuing Electrify America at $2.45 billion.[5][6] Electrify America supports the CCS connector type as well as CHAdeMO.

Electrify America, LLC.
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryElectric vehicle infrastructure
FoundedFebruary 7, 2017 (2017-02-07) in Reston, Virginia, U.S.
Headquarters
Reston, Virginia
,
U.S.
Key people
Robert Barrosa (CEO)
ProductsElectric vehicle chargers
ParentVolkswagen Group of America
Websiteelectrifyamerica.com

History
See also: Volkswagen emissions scandal

In 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency accused Volkswagen Group of using defeat devices in its diesel-fueled vehicles in order to hide from regulators that the vehicles exceeded emissions standards. The scandal quickly grew, leading eventually to billions of dollars of penalties and agreements to buy back vehicles, among other consequences.

As part of a consent decree reached with United States officials in 2016, Volkswagen agreed to numerous actions, with US$2 billion in total, to promote electric vehicle use over 10 years to atone for the additional air pollution it caused. One aspect of the program was a pledge to establish a public electric vehicle charging network.

The Electrify America brand was unveiled in January 2017, along with its first phase of station buildout. Its first station opened in May 2018, in Chicopee, Massachusetts. In 2022, Siemens became its first external investor with a minority shareholder stake and a seat on the board.[5][6]

Electrify America, along with several other charging companies in the U.S., began drawing criticism in 2022 for a high rate of non-working public chargers.[7]

Operations
An Electrify America charging unit in Arlington, Virginia

Electrify America stations are frequently located in parking lots and parking garages of big-box stores and shopping malls. The company has location agreements with Walmart, Target and Simon Property Group, among other companies.

Electrify America stations feature the major nonproprietary standards CCS, CHAdeMO and J1772, allowing nearly all EVs on the road to plug in and charge. Tesla vehicles in the US use a proprietary connector (NACS) and require a special adapter that allows them to use standard CCS or CHAdeMO.[8] Stations are rated to provide a minimum of 50 kilowatts and up to 350 kilowatts, although the actual output is dependent on multiple factors including the vehicle's capabilities.

Electrify America has agreements with various manufacturers for their electric vehicles to use its network of chargers or provide discounted charging rates or free charging, including Volkswagen, Audi, Kia, Hyundai, and Lucid Motors.[9]

Electrify America prices its electricity in most states where it operates based on the energy dispensed, charged by kilowatt-hour. In some states, such as Montana and Wyoming, users are charged by the amount of time their vehicle is plugged in. This is usually because the state allows only electric utilities to charge for the amount of electricity a customer uses. In August 2023, Electrify America announced that it would price their chargers based on time of use and slowly roll out this update to many of their existing chargers. In addition, Electrify America charges an idle fee when a car is done charging at select locations.[10]

Electrify America is also building a charger network in Canada called Electrify Canada, and added a commercial section in January 2021 targeting business, utilities and government agencies.[11] Electrify Commercial provides customized end-to-end EV charging solutions to businesses, utility companies, fleet owners, travel centers and convenience stores. In May 2023, they announced an agreement with Rocky Mountain Power to provide fast charging options across the state of Utah with Electrify Commercial providing the charging equipment, installation, and ongoing operations with maintenance.

Electrify Home is also a business unit of Electrify America.[12] They provide charging solutions targeted towards residential charging solutions and is offering a Level 2 residential charger, HomeStation, to its customers.

Charging

Drivers can find stations through Electrify America's website,[13] smartphone applications or through networks like PlugShare. They can pay for electricity through the phone apps or with a credit card at the chargers. The Electrify America mobile app[14] lets users pay through their phone and receive discounted rates with an Electrify America Pass+ subscription.

As of November 2020, the network's chargers support Plug & Charge, a standard that enables an electric car to talk to the charger and handle authentication and billing.[15]

The chargers support 50 kW, 150 kW, and 350 kW.[16][17]

In late June 2023, EA announced plans to use the NACS charging connector by 2025, in addition to the CCS connector it already uses.[18][19]

See also

References
  1. "Electrify America locate charger statistics" – via www.electrifyamerica.com.
  2. "VW's Electrify America to install EV chargers at Walmart stores". Reuters. April 18, 2018 – via www.reuters.com.
  3. Shepardson, David (February 7, 2017). "VW launches U.S. electric vehicle infrastructure unit". Yahoo Finance. Reuters. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  4. "VW launches U.S. electric vehicle infrastructure unit". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  5. Dummett, Ben (2022-06-27). "Volkswagen Nears Deal to Sell Stake in Electrify America to Siemens". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  6. "Volkswagen and Siemens invest in Electrify America's ambitious growth plans" (Press release). Wolfsburg, Germany: Volkswagen Group News. 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  7. "California's EV charging network could use a jolt, a trip down I-5 shows". Los Angeles Times. 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  8. "ELECTRIC VEHICLES: How Volkswagen turned from diesel pariah into electric gorilla". www.eenews.net. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  9. "Charging | Lucid Motors". www.lucidmotors.com. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
  10. "Electrify America Is Completely Changing Its Pricing Structure". InsideEVs. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
  11. Manthey, Nora (31 January 2021). "Electrify America launches Electrify Commercial". electrive.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021.
  12. "Homepage". Electrify Home. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  13. "Locate a Charger - Electrify America". Electrify America. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  14. "Mobile App - Electrify America". Electrify America. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  15. Gitlin, Jonathan (2020-11-16). "Seamless car charging comes to Electrify America with Plug&Charge - Model Year 2021 EVs from Ford, Lucid, and Porsche will support the new standard". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  16. "Locate a public EV charger". Electrify America. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  17. "Electrify America installing 150/350 kW fast chargers at more than 100 Walmart locations". Green Car Congress. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  18. Gitlin, Jonathan M. (2023-06-29). "Two more EV charging networks will add support for Tesla-style NACS plugs". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  19. Lewis, Michelle (2023-06-29). "Electrify America, Blink to add Tesla's NACS connector to their EV chargers". Electrek. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
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