Expanding the Electrify America and Electrify Canada Networks for the future of eMobility

[trutolife27]

President and CEO Palazzo highlights the speed of deployment, quality, and technology.
Giovanni Palazzo, President, and CEO of both Electrify America and Electrify Canada wants to make sure everyone knows just how much progress the companies have made in the past 34 months since they installed the first ultra-high-speed DC Fast charge station in May of 2018.
So he recorded this video at Electrify America's "Center of Excellence" lab in Herndon, Virginia, to highlight the progress the company has had in expanding its charging networks. The Center of Excellence lab is where new equipment is validated and also where all of the new EVs are tested for compatibility, quite often many months before they are available for purchase, in an effort to assure a seamless transaction when customers plug in.

Electrify America is the largest open DC-fast charge network in the US, serving all models of electric vehicles on the market today - Giovanni Palazzo, President, and CEO, Electrify America

Electrify America and Electrify Canada President & CEO, Giovanni Palazzo
Palazzo explains that since Electrify America installed its first DC fast-charge station in Chicopee, Massachusetts, in May of 2018, the company has averaged installing four new stations per week. The charging station sites have an average of four chargers per station, so the network has been averaging more than sixty new charging station installations every month for nearly 3 years now. He also said that they are actually continuing to accelerate that rate of deployment all of the time.
Electrify America now has more than 560 charging stations open and Palazzo explains that the company will have about 800 locations by the end of 2021. To achieve that goal, they would have to accelerate to about five new station installations per week. At that point, Electrify America would then have roughly 3,200 high-speed DC fast chargers in service in the US.

A DC fast charge station in Electrify America's Center of Excellence lab in Herndon, Virginia.
Electrify America currently has charging stations in 45 states of the 50 states in the US (Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Hawaii & Alaska not yet being served), and Electrify Canada has charging station locations in four Provinces.

I am very proud to say that Electrify America continues to rank number one in quality and customer satisfaction. - Giovanni Palazzo, President, and CEO, Electrify America

Palazzo also explains that he's proud that Electrify America continues to rank number one in quality and customer satisfaction. However, the press release didn't cite the sources for those claims.
So I reached out to the network and was pointed to a recent study done by Charged Magazine and the German firm Umlaut, which was designed to rate the state of the charging network user experience between five of the largest infrastructure providers in the US.

Electrify America scored the highest in the Charged Magazine & Umlaut ratings
Electrify America did achieve the highest score of 691, followed by EVgo (610), ChargePoint (604), EVconnect (566), and Greenlots (512). The scoring took into consideration the companies website, the app operation and functionality as well as the cost to charge on the network. They also evaluated the environment of the station's location, the charging stations, customer service, and the payment process.
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Palazzo also points that Electrify America was a pioneer in the DC fast charging industry and that the technology you see across the industry was actually first developed by Electrify America. He closes out by saying that Electrify America is "absolutely committed" to expanding both the Electrify America and Electrify Canada networks to help move us to a zero-emission vehicle transportation system.

 

[Badger_Prof]

Let's get Giovanni out to the actual chargers to make them reliably execute the advertised Plug and Charge. I will say that their chargers mostly seem to work-- not with Plug and Charge and sometimes not with the app but usually (sometimes on the third try) using a credit card. I guess they deserve some time to make them work as well as their CEO thinks they already work. On the other hand, if he and other execs think they already have everything solved, there will probably be little pressure to improve their reliability.

 

[DaMeatMan]

I'm really encouraged by the expansion, particularly here in Canada where our infrastructure is lagging behind the US. I know Petro Canada has build out a network that will take you coast to coast in an EV, but would love to see EA Canada do the same so that there are multiple options along the way which will certainly help ease range anxiety to new comers.

One thing I would also like to see is the expansion of more urban fast chargers within the city cores, rather than just along highway routes. As someone who lives I a condo that is completely dependent upon public infrastructure for my MME, I've got to say it would be really nice to have closer options that are faster than 50kw. Actually I think the new 75KW Tesla urban chargers strike a pretty decent balance between speed and battery health. They are not quite the 150KW+ speeds, but that's not really a speed you want to charge at on a regular basis either, but they are much faster than the 50kw stations that are most common in urban areas. Ultimately though if we could see every gas station install at least one fast charger that would go a very long way towards helping adoption, particularly in densely populated cities where a large part of the population does not live in a home with a driveway or garage, but rather a condo or high rise apartment.

 

[CHeil402]

@Kamuelaflyer It looks like you might finally be able to use that free charging in the future as EA committed to building in Hawaii... Not sure if on your island however.

https://electrek.co/2021/04/29/electrify-america-600-charging-stations-announces-new-locations-us/

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

@Kamuelaflyer It looks like you might finally be able to use that free charging in the future as EA committed to building in Hawaii... Not sure if on your island however.

https://electrek.co/2021/04/29/electrify-america-600-charging-stations-announces-new-locations-us/

don't tell anyone else but I heard they are putting it in at Bill's house.

 

[mdolan92869]

don't tell anyone else but I heard they are putting it in at Bill's house.

I thought it was on Larry Ellison's island only.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

@Kamuelaflyer It looks like you might finally be able to use that free charging in the future as EA committed to building in Hawaii... Not sure if on your island however.

https://electrek.co/2021/04/29/electrify-america-600-charging-stations-announces-new-locations-us/

Oahu only last I checked. Unless the whole state is considered "Metropolitan Honolulu." 90% of the state's population is there, so that makes business sense. This island really needs some though.

I thought it was on Larry Ellison's island only.

Larry would never get caught dead with a CCS DCFC on his island. That will be the one and only SuperCharger in the state. Really needed too, Lanai has 31 miles of road after all!

 

[S.B.]

Looking forward to EA expansion and hoping they will succeed in installing these chargers in strategic locations near Superchargers everywhere. I was traveling east across southern PA today and this is what is offered at the rest stop at PA Turnpike mi 289. Eight new Tesla Superchargers and an old Blink charger. Plug Share reports that the screen doesn't even work for its one J-1772 Level 2 charger and one CHAdeMO fast charger. Good thing for me that I didn't need it.

 

[fayt349]

I think if they just literally go to tesla super chargers and put some EA stations where every super charger is, they're golden.

 

[S.B.]

Well for the many people who are traveling a route where they get on 76 after Carlisle but who may be getting off before KoP, it may be a strategic location. Tesla seems to think so.

 

[CHeil402]

I big difference for that too is the fact that this is on the PA Turnpike and that is at a rest stop compared to Carlise where it's off the Turnpike. Although the timing doesn't make a big difference, it's a toll road that costs more to get on/off than it does to stop at a rest area... plus the rest area has restaurants and bathrooms (ideal for a road trip) compared to getting to an EA station by itself at Carlise where you have to walk to anything else nearby.

 

[trutolife27]

There are many places where E.A. needs stations, Louisville is the biggest city without a EA charger. Cincinnati has one but if your in northern KY you have to cross to get to it. Tesla has 2 charging stations at each.

Many other places like these that need to grow quickly.

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