For anyone who might be concerned about the future of electric vehicle charging after Tesla's news this week, here's some good news about other big players in the space. Electrify America's DC fast charging network in North America experienced significant growth in 2023, as the number of charging sessions and dispensed energy more than doubled year-over-year. And 2024 could be even bigger for the charging giant.
The company reports 10.9 million customer charging sessions recorded in 2023, 106% more than in 2022 (5.3 million). At the same time, the amount of dispensed energy increased by 118% year-over-year from 175 gigawatt-hours in 2022 to over 380 GWh in 2023.
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Electrify America charging network
Electrify America is one of the largest public DC fast charging networks in North America (in Canada known as Electrify Canada) with over 900 stations and over 4,000 chargers. It was established by the Volkswagen Group as part of its efforts to offset emissions in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal (Dieselgate).
If we crunch the numbers, it will turn out that an average fast-charging session consumes close to 35 kilowatt-hours of energy.
Electrify America estimates that 380+ GWh of electricity delivered last year is enough to drive over 1.3 billion electric miles and avoid the consumption of more than 52 million gallons of gasoline.
Developed as a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group of America to support EVs after its diesel emissions cheating scandal, the Electrify America network is currently in its sixth year. The network includes more than 900 stations and more than 4,000 chargers, installed across 47 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and six Canadian provinces. More than 680 of the chargers have already been upgraded, as some of the initial legacy chargers were said to be underperforming.
Electrify America has gotten its share of criticism over the years for those issues, which also include station access, speed and uptime. But recent data does suggest that things are getting better as the network has matured and the technology develops further.
By the end of this year, Electrify America would like to expand the network to more than 5,000 individual chargers. The chargers utilize the CCS1 charging plug and have a power output of up to 350 kilowatts. Starting in 2025, Electrify America will introduce also the SAE-standard NACS charging connectors.
Other elements of the plan for the near future are to build larger charging stations and expand Plug and Charge payment technology. Pricing for DC fast charging depends on a variety of factors, including charger location, the charging plan and time. It can be seen in the app or on the charger itself.
Do you think Electrify America is getting better? Let us know in the comments.
