The Weekly 1.21⚡(EVI News #14): ROVE Charging is World Class. ChargePoint Evolves AC Solutions. CPOs Lean into Launch Pricing.

Good day, fellow frunk space optimizer 🚘🧳

A relatively quiet period in the EV charging and energy space this week, sitting as it does between big industry events and as the wider world digests the impact of on/off tariffs.

Why not use the lull to let us know what info you want to see when activity kicks up again?

All set for another edition, let’s plug into this week’s electric vehicle infrastructure developments… ⤵️

📢 ROVE Scores a Top 10 EV Charging Hub

News - Newcomer ROVE Charging secured a place in the top 10 of the Global Convenience Store Focus “Best EV Hubs in the World” awards, with the potential for voters to crown it the winner for 2025 later this year.

Numbers - 10 charging hubs in nine countries made the cut as finalists, with the UK the only country to score two candidates. ROVE’s first California hub, located in Santa Ana, is also the first from North America to make the finalists list. It features 12 dispensers managed by ROVE and another 28 Supercharger stalls, on-site but managed by Tesla.

Nuance - As our video coverage above shows, ROVE’s charging hub is a dedicated EV facility that is still uncommon in North America. While Europe and Asia have been developing EV-focused facilities for years, the United States and Canada have lacked the required adoption levels to justify such coveted-yet-costly hubs. ROVE’s launch and immediate appearance as a finalist in these awards marks another step towards the mainstream for EV charging here.

Next Up - Voting runs through May 8th, with the overall winner announced on Thursday 15th May, 2025. Watch for that news in The Weekly 1.21⚡ #19!

🔍 Charging Vendor Spotlight: Mercedes-Benz HPC

News - After establishing a regional travel corridor presence with Buc-ee’s, Mercedes-Benz is leaning into other regional US partnerships to take its network nationwide.

Numbers - 25 locations across nine states, most of which offer 10 high-power ports across five 400kW dispensers. Sites typically feature Alpitronic Hyperchargers with two ports offering simultaneous charging, sometimes with a single user station allocated to ensure full power is available for EVs that can accept more than 200kW.

Nuance - What started out as a very Buc-ee’s-driven buildout has expanded to other site partners like Simon Properties in recent months, as MB-HPC moves beyond its strongholds in the Southeast and Texas. For more on stations under construction and the network’s wider progress, check out this recent tNAC video update.

Next Up - Expansion into the Northeast is on the Mercedes-Benz map, with new sites planned at retail locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts. A partnership with Starbucks is also expected to bring the network its first West Coast locations. Still curious? Pitch questions to network CEO Andrew Cornelia on the next edition of Coast-to-Coast EVs later this week.

🔌 AC/DC: ChargePoint’s Take on Evolving L2

News - ChargePoint shared its latest AC charging architecture, "Charge-Ready AC", which aims to simplify and optimize L2 charging installations.

Numbers - The modular solution pushes power to as many as 12 charging ports from a single power hub. The system can provide up to 80A / 19.2kW of power, which almost doubles the charge rate of most publicly available L2 deployments.

Nuance - Although the company’s CP6000 system is capable of 80A and has been available to commercial customers for several years, expanding that higher power delivery to new sectors such as residential users opens up new possibilities. Bi-directional power transfer for V2X applications is one such scenario, giving property owners access to backup power and intelligent load-balancing functionality.

Next Up - ChargePoint plans to start deploying the new Charge-Ready AC solution in Europe this summer, then towards the end of 2025 in North America. The integration of Omniport means that the system will be future-proofed to serve both J1772 and SAE J3400 connector types, as EV ports gradually transition to the latter.

🛣️ On the Road: This Week in DCFC

News - Canada had a very slow week in terms of AFDC additions, with only two locations in New Brunswick added. The United States kept a more steady pace, with activity spread across the country and most of the larger charging providers active.

Numbers - 105 fast charging ports at 41 charging stations added to AFDC listings this week across the United States and Canada.

Notable Locations Added/Announced This Week:

🟢 Electrify America opened a new Utah station in partnership with Rocky Mountain Power. The Ogden, UT locations adds eight new stalls to the Wasatch Front, a metro area with high EV adoption and six Electrify America stations in total.

🛌🏻 EV Gateway added two new California stations with overnight accommodation nearby, with four dispensers energized at the Surestay in Sacramento and three 120kW units now available at the Best Western Plus in Thousand Oaks.

⚡No new additions to the NEVI map this week, although Electric Era sites in Delaware and Tesla Superchargers in Pennsylvania look very close to completion.

🔴 Tesla opened new Supercharger locations in Phoenix, AZ (16 stalls) and Oklahoma City, OK (12 stalls). Metro area expansion continues to be a focus of Tesla’s recently opened sites.

🔷 EVgo opened a new station in San Jose, CA, adding six new stalls powered by three Delta Electronics 350kW dispensers. The site is energized in conjunction with General Motors, another notable OEM partnership that, like Toyota, is helping the network grow in cities and suburban locations. This site is hosted by Canyon Creek Plaza, a retail strip with dining, coffee, and groceries all within walking distance.

📍 Nouria continued its progress in New England this week, with another three activations. Two were in its home state of Massachusetts, with another in Bridgton, ME. The latter is the chain’s first location in Maine but does raise some questions. The site listing shows two dispensers at 320kW each. However, NEVI funding (for which the site was reportedly selected) requires four ports at 150kW. Perhaps two more could be in the works? We’ll watch this site and another Nouria in Gorham, ME for updates.

🔶 Rivian’s upgrades to make existing RAN stations accessible to non-Rivian models continued, with locations in Meadows of Dan and Roanoke, VA, as well as Groveland, CA all now available to the public.

To see how and where the leading charging vendors are expanding, check out The Network Architect Channel on YouTube for DCFC updates like this one.

💲DCFC Pricing: Launch Rates Gather Pace

News - The opening of bp pulse’s first full (non-HQ) Gigahub in North America will be accompanied by promotional pricing to attract EV drivers. The tactic is increasingly common for DCFC locations, as greater competition has CPOs looking for new approaches to drive utilization.

Numbers - Launch rates at the Gigahub near Boston’s Logan airport in Massachusetts will be $0.36 per kWh before taxes + fees, which is 25% lower than pricing at most other sites across the bp pulse network.

Nuance - The price point excludes taxes and fees, which differs from the likes of Mercedes-Benz HPC’s Welcome Pricing initiative. There, pricing is set at $0.40 per kWh net, which often equates to a lower fee for energy delivered before other charges are added to level out at 40 cents. We prefer net pricing for clarity to customers but US shoppers are also used to seeing pre-tax prices. Which approach do you prefer?

Next Up - The Boston Gigahub will be open from Thurs. April 24th, with celebration and refreshments scheduled for that first day. Launch pricing is available for a limited time, at which point it will be interesting to see where rates settle for this style of bp pulse site. Gigahubs are planned for the 40 largest US metro areas, often at or near airports.

✒️ Policy: WS-DOT Awards Charger Reliability Funding

News - Washington State Dept. of Transportation (WS-DOT) announced awards for federal grant funds allocated to projects that repair or replace existing, publicly accessible EV chargers that are outdated or damaged.

Numbers - $9.5M — $7.6M in federal grant awards + $1.9M in private match funds — to replace 66 charging ports and add 40 new charging ports. Funding will support 42 locations spread across 13 communities.

Nuance - The Electric Vehicle Charging Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator (EVC RAA) is funded through the NEVI Program as a 10% set aside fund, administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). These funds have specific requirements for uptime and reporting to align with the reliability focus of the program.

Next Up - Although some states continue to deploy federal funding for EV charging projects and announce awards for further projects, uncertainty remains around programs like NEVI and EVC RAA. Further FHWA guidance is due in the next two months, until which time many states have their EV infrastructure deployments on hold.

🎧 For Your Listening Pleasure

In every edition, we recommend one of the best listens on electrification, energy, or something similarly EV-related.

🎧 ROVE’s Bill Reid and Jeff Toon on the Electric Vehicle Hub’s Origins 🚘

In this edition of the Munro Live podcast, two executives behind the US charging station in this week’s headline story explain how the hub came to be and what they’ve experienced during the site’s first six months of serving EV drivers in California.

Hear about the power requirements, design concepts, and how ROVE envisages the experience for EV drivers as the industry adjusts to serve mainstream buyers.

💻 WoW - Webinar of the Week

Continuing on from last week’s replay of the CharIN session on the challenges and opportunities of adopting J3400, the organization will host a follow-up focused on policy. Representatives from Tesla and GM, as well as Electrify America and the California Energy Commission, will join CharIN’s Erika Myers for this session:

💻CharIN Tuesdays: SAE J3400 Standardization: Policy & Regulatory Impacts🔌

With so much focus on a change in administration and the shifting sands of EV policy, this session promises to be a helpful update on what’s happening at the federal and state levels, as well as what to watch for in the months ahead.

That’s North American EV infrastructure developments all wrapped up for another week.

The objective is to improve this digest with every edition, so hit reply with your suggestions for new areas to cover (or the things you don’t need to see).

And remember, planning landscaping at your EV charging site doesn’t count as adding a restroom 🚻🌲

Cheers,

Steve / Plug & Play EV 

🔔 Essential EV Follow - Laycee/Miss Go Electric