Jump to content

Electrify America

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hrmhrm (talk | contribs) at 15:21, 20 October 2022 (→History: added info and link to los angeles times story about lack of reliability for public chargers). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Electrify America, LLC.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryElectric vehicle infrastructure
FoundedFebruary 7, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-02-07) in Reston, Virginia, U.S.
Headquarters
Reston, Virginia
,
U.S.
Key people
Giovanni Palazzo (CEO)
ProductsElectric vehicle chargers
ParentVolkswagen Group of America
Websiteelectrifyamerica.com

Electrify America is an electric vehicle DC fast charging station network in the United States, with more than 788 charging locations and over 3,531 individual charging units as of September 2022.[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]

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 multi-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 today to plug in and charge. Tesla vehicles in the US use proprietary connector 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 currently 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, Harley Davidson, Hyundai and Lucid Motors.[citation needed]

As of 2020, Electrify America prices its electricity in most states where it operates based on the energy dispensed, charged by kilowatt-hour. In some states,[which?] 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.

The Electrify America charger network roll-out is being done in four 30-month cycles. As of October 2020, the company expected to install or have under development approximately 800 stations with about 3,500 DC fast chargers by December 2021.[9][needs update]

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.[10]

Charging

Drivers can find stations through Electrify America's website,[11] 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[12] 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.[13]

The chargers support 50 kW, 150 kW, and 350 kW.[14][15]

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". 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b "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. ^ Hawkins, Andrew (2020-10-05). "Driving the 2021 Volkswagen ID 4, VW's first all-electric SUV". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  10. ^ Manthey, Nora (31 January 2021). "Electrify America launches Electrify Commercial". electrive.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Locate a Charger - Electrify America". Electrify America. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  12. ^ "Mobile App - Electrify America". Electrify America. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "Locate a public EV charger". Electrify America. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  15. ^ "Electrify America installing 150/350 kW fast chargers at more than 100 Walmart locations". Green Car Congress. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Electrify America.


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electrify_America&oldid=1117223401"