EVgo and Electrify America team up to make chargers more accessible

Chevrolet Bolt EV charging at EVgo DC fast charge stationFinding a fast charger in the U.S. just got a lot easier for a lot of electric-car drivers. Two of America's largest fast-charging networks announced an agreement Thursday to allow each other's users to charge at their charging sites without signing up for new memberships or payment plans. Electrify America and EVgo agreed to a roaming partnership...

Senate bill includes up to $1B for clean-car infrastructure

Electrify America DC fast chargers in Gulfport, MississippiThe transportation infrastructure bill long promised by President Trump and Congress was finally introduced in the Senate on Monday—and it may include some money for electric cars. The bill, called America's Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019, proposes to spend $287 billion on transportation projects over the next five years, and up...

Senate bill includes up to $1B for clean-car infrastructure

Electrify America DC fast chargers in Gulfport, MississippiThe transportation infrastructure bill long promised by President Trump and Congress was finally introduced in the Senate on Monday—and it may include some money for electric cars. The bill, called America's Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019, proposes to spend $287 billion on transportation projects over the next five years, and up...

Tesla opens access to CHAdeMO chargers for Model 3 drivers

Tesla Model S with CHAdeMO adapterTesla has been widely known for having the most convenient fast charging networks in the world of electric cars. It's been so successful that some have even referred to it as Tesla's "moat" against competition. For Model 3 owners, however, who make up the bulk of Tesla drivers, it has been all they have access to. This week, Tesla released a...

Tesla opens first 250-kw charging stations at Fremont factory

2017 Tesla Model 3 in Tesla assembly plant parking lot, Fremont, CA, November 2017With Tesla's Supercharger fast charging network, Tesla vehicles can now be charged faster than any other currently available electric car. That status comes courtesy of eight new Version 3 Superchargers that the company opened at its Fremont, California, factory, which can charge a Model 3 at up to 250 kilowatts. That can give the car, which is...

GM plans its own nationwide charging network with Bechtel

2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV at public charging stationGeneral Motors, the nation's biggest automaker, is teaming up with construction giant Bechtel to build thousands of chargers around the U.S. with the aim of promoting adoption of electric cars. The companies will form a joint venture to build the chargers in which Bechtel will provide its expertise in construction and permitting and GM will...

What matters most when fast-charging on a road trip? Take our Twitter poll

2019 Audi E-tron  -  first drive report  -  Calirornia, May 2019In the rollout of the 2019 E-tron quattro SUV, Audi is making the claim that rated range might not be the most important thing on a road trip. The E-tron is rated at just 204 miles of estimated range, so the German automaker has some steep ground to gain versus Tesla. But it's made a case that consistency of real-world range and fast charging...

EVgo fast-charge network commits to 100 percent renewable power

2019 Jaguar I-Pace at EVgo chargerIf electric cars are supposed to clean up the environment and reduce global warming—and they are—EV drivers would like to rely on 100 percent renewable energy to do charge. And charging networks are striving to provide it. Many, including Tesla with its Supercharger stations, are building new charging stations with solar canopies or...

Electrify America releases new pricing plans and mobile app

Electrify America DC fast chargers in Gulfport, MississippiA new debate is raging in the electric-car and charging communities: Whether electric-car drivers should pay for charging like gas, by the kilowatt-hour; or like parking, by the minute. Electrify America, which has been firmly in the latter camp, released new pricing plans last week that takes a few steps toward the former. With chargers getting...

EVgo launches first curbside fast chargers

EVgo curbside DC fast chargers at Southside Park, Sacramento, California [CREDIT: EVgo]With wires running along almost every street in America where cars drive, putting EV chargers along the curb would seem a natural enough place to put them. While several other countries such as Britain have begun efforts to put charging stations on light poles, in America, chargers have been sited almost exclusively in parking lots and garages...

West Coast charging corridor may expand to trucks

Tesla SemiEven as installations of fast and public chargers for electric cars have taken off, they have not kept pace with the number of new electric cars automakers have sold. Now states and utilities are trying to get ahead of a potential similar problem for trucks. Following on an earlier model for the West Coast Electric Highway, a network of...

Charging network EVgo goes tagless, tests battery buffers at stations

EVgo 350-kw DC fast-charge station, Baker, Calif. EVgo announced earlier this week that it will be the first charging network—other than the Tesla Supercharger network, of course—to enable a feature for its DC fast chargers that doesn't rely on RFID tags or even credit cards to be activated. The charging network will roll out the ISO Plug&Charge standard on its CCS chargers used...

One-step Plug&Charge coming to Greenlots stations

2018 Nissan Leaf with Greenlots fast charger by Dumpster at I-87 Modena travel plaza, Feb 2018No more RFID tags! A new "interoperability" standard is sweeping across the electric-car charging landscape in the U.S. After reaching the largest ChargePoint network last month, Hubject's Plug&Charge is now coming to Greenlots chargers, the companies announced last week. The technology will rely on a new standard, ISO 15118, that will store...

Electrify America adds city charging, fills in highways in second cycle

Electrify America DC fast chargers at San Francisco Premium Outlets, Livermore, CaliforniaOver the next 2-1/2 years, Electrify America plans to expand its network of DC fast chargers for electric cars to include more cities, as well as to finish more of its build-out along highways across the U.S. Electrify America is a division of VW founded to use money from Volkswagen's diesel emissions settlement to build out a network of fast...

Tesla battery packs coming to Electrify America chargers

Electrify America chargers at San Francisco Premium OutletsElectrify America has been billed as a charging network to compete with Tesla's Superchargers. Now it turns out, they may be partners as well. In an announcement on Monday, Electrify America said it would install Tesla stationary battery packs at 100 of its locations to balance power demand and reduce costs. DON'T MISS: Electrify America maps out...