NAmEVI News #1: Switching Standards, Increased Competition

Good day, fellow EV obsessive ⚡

Thanks for being one of the first 100 folks to receive NAmEVI news (that’s a very working title… expect change soon).

I value your time and will make this a succinct, direct digest of weekly EV developements and infrastructure progress across North America, so let’s get to it ⤵️

Switch to SAE J3400/NACS is Finally Underway

News: After 18 months of agreements in boardrooms and press releases, J3400/NACS handles are starting to show up at (non-Tesla) North American charging stations.

Numbers: Excluding Superchargers, there are a little over 300 fast charging stations across the U.S. and Canada offering a NACS handle. Filter out pre-J3400 offerings such as on-site adapters or retrofitted CHAdeMO and that number falls to low double digits, emphasizing just how early we are in the transition to a single connector type.

Nuance: From an EV travel perspective, new deployments from IONNA, Mercedes-Benz, and bp pulse (via TravelCenters of America) are the most compelling non-Supercharger vendors to offer J3400/NACS at this early stage. The combination of the new connector type on proven charging hardware with up to 1,000 VDC capabilities could become the go-to solution for non-Tesla EV models shipping with a native J3400 port, as well as the Cybertruck (at least until Tesla deploys full V4 Supercharger sites at scale).

Next Up: Watch for charging vendors with established CCS1 networks walking the tightrope of serving new EV drivers with J3400/NACS ports, while trying not to alienate existing customers used to the current CCS-focused setup.

Can Electrify America upgrade its upgrades, which feature single handle CCS1 dispensers?

Will truck stop chains deploying hundreds of CCS1-only sites retrofit stations to serve J3400 customers?

Will drivers find adapters sufficiently easy to use that none of this matters?

All transitional questions that we will watch play out this year.

Charging Vendor Spotlight

News: Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) opens select locations for use by any EV.

Numbers: 10 RAN stations across eight states (CA/TX/MT/CO/IL/MI/PA/NY) have opened with Rivian’s latest hardware (gen 1.5), capable of up to 300kW, with longer cables on dispensers around 2’ taller than early RAN stations. These locations represent just under 10% of the wider Adventure Network. Pricing ranges from $0.53 to $0.60 per kWh for non-Rivian models, which represents around a 33% premium over what Rivian owners pay.

Nuance: Opened mid-December, the Michigan RAN location in Lansing was funded in part by the federal NEVI program, which was likely a factor in Rivian’s timing to upgrade its dispensers and open to non-Rivian EVs. Some RAN locations are uniquely placed to open up compelling travel destinations, such as the new Gardiner, MT site leading to Yellowstone National Park, generating extra interest in the otherwise small network.

Next Up: EV drivers are wondering if (and how quickly) Rivian can upgrade nearly 100 first-generation RAN stations. These stations, often in attractive but underutilized locations, currently serve Rivians only. The automaker seems unconvinced that existing hardware can deliver the charging experience it aims to provide. If upgrades occur, pay attention to the prioritized locations and the eventual inclusion of NACS/J3400 connectors.

AC/DC

One of our goals this year is to give AC charging solutions more attention. As a key to unlocking one of the main advantages of EV ownership - charging where you park - for residents of multi-family dwellings and others who can’t easily charge at home, it’s essential that level 2-focused businesses see more support moving forward.

Excellent news, then, that San Francisco has chosen the first neighborhoods in which it will deploy curbside charging solutions from three selected vendors: Urban EV, Voltpost, and it’s electric. Duboce Triangle and Dogpatch will be the areas in which these innovators demonstrate how their distinct approaches to bringing charging to city curbs bridges the gap for apartment dwellers. Around two-thirds of the city’s residents fall into this category, complicating EV ownership for a majority of drivers.

Itselectric takes a Euro-centric approach to curbside with a bring your own cable solution, while Voltpost retrofits street lighting posts to charge EVs from existing infrastructure. San Francisco-based Urban EV offers a mixed approach that integrates both level 1 and level 2 charging, where appropriate. The pilot program mirrors others underway in Boston, Detroit, and New York City, which gather data on utilization and reliability to inform potential deployment at scale.

Another solution for crowded city streets is pole-mounted chargers, which are deployed in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Greater Boston to date. Check out our interview with Martha Grover, former Sustainability Manager of Melrose, MA, to hear results of a pilot for National Grid using this technology and to see the system in action.

This Week in DC Fast Charging…

For a quick pulse check on new additions to the AFDC, there’s no better source than these weekly summaries from Walter Schulze at the tNAC channel:

Notable additions in terms of stall count, vendor, or location:

• Tesla opened a 20-stall 250kW Supercharger at the ever-iconic Buc-ee’s chain, this one in Auburn, AL. The site is also a Magic Dock-equipped location. Notably, Mercedes-Benz also activated a 10-stall, 400kW-capable HPC station here in the same period. No NACS/J3400 on the latter…yet?

• bp pulse opened a 12-stall travel hub in Jacksonville, FL, one of the first of many stations we expect to see go live at TravelCenters of America this year.

• The New York Power Authority (NYPA) opened two stations in western NY on the final day of 2024, pushing the EVolve NY network past 200 chargers energized.

• Moving back to Tesla, two new Superchargers in Yarmouth, NS and Hanna, AB, will add valuable options in Canadian locations with limited DC charging. Both locations are open to non-Tesla models with an adapter.

• Pilot-Flying J closed the year with a flurry of openings that spanned 12 states. Although the chain had targeted 200 operational stations by the end of 2024 when early construction began back in 2023, adding 130+ DC sites in less than 18 months remains a valuable contribution to the US fast charging map.

• Rivian continued the gradual opening of its Adventure Network to other EV models with six new stalls in Flagler, CO. The location also has an upgraded Electrify America location, on a stretch of I-70 with sparse public fast charging.

For a complete look at DCFC pricing observations as the calendar turned, find our first EVCPI post of 2025 here. Future editions of this digest will surface similar trends and observations on a weekly basis, including expanding to review prices in Canada.

On the Road

Holiday travel places extra stress on charging infrastructure, as bad weather and limited repair resources stretch networks. Out of curiosity, we tracked NEVI station uptime for two weeks over Christmas and New Year.

Here’s how the nation's federally funded stations hold up over the holidays:

✅ Peak of 243 out of 246 ports (98.8%) available achieved on three days.

🚨 Low of 95.9% (235 out of 246 ports) hit on two days. Three days failed to stay above the 97% mark.

💯 33 of 46 stations (72%) had perfect records, with all ports available - according to charging vendor system status - for holiday EV travel.

New kid on the block, IONNA, also won its first NEVI award over the holidays (Fruita, CO) but it’s the network’s “public beta” site activations that are grabbing the attention of EV enthusiasts across the Southeast and Midwest. First, the flagship Apex Rechargery opened in North Carolina, then a handful of sites hosted by c-store partner Sheetz opened up just before New Year. Introductory pricing is below the national average, at $0.48 per kWh.

Check out the video below from the EV Charging Station Reviews channel to get a feel for what the IONNA experience is like “in the wild”, away from Apex:

Fleet Focus

As of January 1st, 2025, new requirements in the state of Oregon come into effect to shift fleets closer to the state’s zero emission targets. Manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (Class 2B to Class 8) now need to sell an increasing percentage of ZEV models over the next decade to meet Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) targets set for 2035.

The graph above details percentage requirements by year and vehicle class. On December 20th, 2024, Daimler Trucks North America released a statement immediately pausing registrations for new internal combustion vehicles in the state of Oregon. Citing concerns that it would breach the new requirements, Daimler issued the pause, effective immediately.

Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) subsequently clarified that provisions in the ACT rules are flexibly designed and do not completely restrict the sale of diesel-powered vehicles in the state. The DEQ confirmed it has contacted the truck maker, whose brands sold more than one-third of the Class 8 trucks sold in the US in 2023, to clarify its position.

Watch this space for further developments as ambitious ACT targets increasingly influence fleet deployment decisions across the United States.

For Your Listening Pleasure

Every week, we’ll recommend one of the best listens out there on electrification, energy, or something similarly EV-related. This week’s suggestion is the always-excellent Volts podcast by David Roberts, with an episode that unpacks the complexities of building fast charging infrastructure in large cities.

🎧 Volts - How to Cram DCFC into City Spaces⚡

Tobias Lescht, Head of EVI at electric rideshare provider Revel, joins Roberts here to explain the challenges of deploying high power charging in tight urban spaces like New York City. By simultaneously driving demand through its electric taxi fleet and forging private/public partnerships, Lescht shares how Revel has developed a blueprint to use as the company expands to Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

That should do it for this week. I consider this digest yours to shape, so do hit reply if you have suggestions for industry areas, insights, and data points that would be helpful to have in your inbox every week. There’s no better time to help shape this into a resource for both industry professionals and EV drivers alike.

And remember, it’s not range anxiety until the infotainment powers down. 🪫

Cheers,

Steve

Essential EV Follow