ElectrifyAmerica
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EVgo and Electrify America let you charge your EV with just one account
EVgo and Electrify America have announced a partnership that will make it less of a hassle for EV owners to find a charge. Drivers will be able to access public chargers on either network without the need to create a new membership or pay additional fees, the companies said. The agreement covers over 3,000 DC fast chargers at more than 1,000 stations across the US.
Electrify America will use robots to charge self-driving EVs
As self-driving and electric vehicles advance, one fundamental question remains: How will autonomous EVs connect to charging stations? Volkswagen-backed Electrify America and Stable Auto hope to answer that. The two companies are working together to develop robotic charging stations for self-driving vehicle fleets.
Harley-Davidson offers free charging for its electric motorcycle
Harley-Davidson's first electric motorcycle will soon hit the roads, and while the LiveWire will have a longer range than first expected, at 140 miles of city driving on a single charge, you'll still need to hook it up to a charger once in a while. To help you save on electricity fees, Harley is offering free charging for US customers.
Volkswagen will use Tesla batteries at its charging stations
Volkswagen announced today that it will be using Tesla Powerpack battery storage units on more than 100 of its Electrify America charging stations in the US, according to Reuters. The battery packs, which will be installed over the course of 2019, will be placed in regions where there is a higher concentration of electric vehicle owners in order to provide power during heavy charging hours. The packs will primarily be placed at charging stations on the west coast.
Electrify America's high-powered EV charging stations are back online
Electrify America has restored its full network of electric vehicle charging stations after a partial outage. It took most of its high-powered (150 kW and 350 kW) chargers offline Friday after supplier Huber+Suhner identified a "safety issue" linked to liquid-cooled charging cables.
Porsche Taycan owners will get three years of free charging
Porsche announced today that owners of its upcoming electric vehicle, the Taycan, will get three years of free charging at Electrify America charging stations across the United States. The promotion will provide an unlimited number of 30-minute long charges. Electrify America operates more than 300 highway charging stations in 42 states and 184 stations in 17 metro areas across the country.
Electrify America shuts down most of its high-powered EV chargers
Volkswagen-backed Electrify America has been busy building up an infrastructure of 150kW and 350kW-capable electric vehicle charging sites, even before there are any production cars on the road to use them. However, now it has had to take most of them offline at the advice of Huber+Suhner, the supplier of its charging cables. According to Electrify America CEO Giovanni Palazzo "Out of an abundance of caution, Electrify America is shutting down all of our stations that use the HUBER+SUHNER high-powered cables until we can confirm that they can be operated safely. We are confident that HUBER+SUHNER will investigate and resolve this issue as quickly as possible."
Paying for EV charging could soon be as simple as plugging in your car
The number of EV charging stations across America is increasing, thus paving the way for wider adoption of electric vehicles. But a lot of the infrastructure surrounding charging has remained complicated and time-consuming. Charging points typically require downloading an individual app -- or in some cases, making a phone call to a customer rep -- before you can start juicing up. It's a faff. Now, though, Electrify America is working on a program that will let you pay for electric vehicle charging simply by plugging in your vehicle.
Electrify America installs California's first 350kW EV chargers
Californians now have access to some of the fastest electric vehicle chargers on the planet... even if people can't really use those chargers yet. VW's Electrify America has installed California's first publicly available 350kW EV chargers at Simon's San Francisco Premium Outlets in Livermore Valley, 40 miles from San Francisco proper. The shopping location now has two of the extra-fast stations in addition to eight new chargers that muster 'only' 150kW. If you plug in a compatible car, the 350kW units should deliver 200 miles of range in about 10 minutes -- enough to be sure you get home.
VW's Electrify America to install EV chargers along the Ohio Turnpike
If electric cars are going to become a staple of American roads, they're going to need chargers near prominent routes. And VW's Electrify America is about to address that. The company has revealed plans to install the first EV charging stations along the Ohio Turnpike, a 241-mile toll road meant to speed up trips in the state's northern corridor. This deployment will be modest, with four-dispenser units at Genoa's Blue Heron and Wyandot Services Plazas as well as West Unity's Indian Meadow and Tiffin River Services Plazas. However, the chargers will be fast -- each unit will offer between 150kW to 350kW, so it might take just minutes to top up your next-generation EV.
Lucid Motors will give owners access to VW's charging network
Lucid Motors' first electric car won't roll out of the factory until 2020, but you'll at least know where to charge it when it does arrive. The company has signed a preliminary deal that will give Lucid Air drivers access to VW's Electrify America charging network through a cross-country charging plan. You won't win any prizes for guessing the reason why: it's all about the scale and performance of the network. Electrify America is promising more than 2,000 chargers with power levels up to 350kW. The chances are good are that you'll have access to numerous quick-charge stations in your state.
Volkswagen kicks off EV awareness campaign
Volkswagen's Electrify America subsidiary has put out a commercial that aims to spread awareness of electric vehicles and how far the industry has progressed, Reuters reports. The ad is part of a $45 million public education initiative. "We're trying to say with this campaign that electric vehicles are fun to drive, the range is great and charging is more widely available than people know," Richard Steinberg, Electrify America's senior director of green cities, marketing and communications, told Reuters.
Target promises EV chargers at more than 100 stores
Walmart isn't the only big retailer installing a slew of EV chargers in its parking lots. Target and a collection of retail property owners (PDF) have unveiled plans to add a horde of charging stations in the (relatively) near future. In Target's case, it's adding chargers at more than 100 locations (600 parking spaces in total) over two years with the help of a variety of backers, including Tesla, VW's Electrify America and ChargePoint. The big-box store only has chargers at 18 locations out of 1,800-plus as we write this, so it's no trivial expansion.
VW's fast EV charging network is headed to Walmart parking lots
Walmart probably isn't the first place you'd go to charge an electric car, but you may have to rethink that belief before long. VW's Electrify America is installing (PDF) EV chargers at more than 100 Walmart stores across 34 states, with the rollout finishing by June 2019. And these won't be frugal installations, either -- they're some of the first 150-350kW DC fast chargers built to handle next-generation EVs. They should be three to seven times faster than the 50kW chargers you typically see today, so you may come back to a completely recharged car if your shopping trip is long enough.
VW pours $300 million into a national EV charging network
Volkswagen's nearly $15 billion settlement over its diesel emissions cheating included a stipulation that it push clean transportation, and that involves a lot more than producing electric cars. The automaker's Electrify America division has unveiled plans to invest $300 million into a national network of 450 electric car charging stations. The grid will cover 11 "major metropolitan areas" and high-traffic highways in 39 states. These won't all be basic chargers, either. The 240 highway stations will include both 150kW and 320kW chargers that, at the higher power rating, will top up future EVs in as little as 15 to 20 minutes -- a short enough time that you might not have to plan your schedule around your recharging habits.
