The Weekly 1.21⚡(EVI News #22): Embattled NEVI Nears 100. Anti-EV Budget Opposition. Seasonality in EV Charging.

Good day, fellow battery booster🔋 ⚡

With loyalties shifting left and right this past week in other walks of life, we ignore all of that noise to focus on competition of another kind: vendors energizing new stations right next to their fast charging rivals.

A new Mercedes-Benz HPC site in western Massachusetts sits close to an existing Electrify America, while our tour of new(ish) DCFC sites in Pennsylvania reveals a slew of new options, in no small part as a result of NEVI.

Charge ports suitably girded for the increased competition that lies ahead of us, let’s dive into the week’s EVI developments (and if you have a few extra seconds, do send this to a colleague or friend who'd find it useful) ⤵️

📢 Accountability Office Ignored As NEVI Rolls On Towards 100 Stations

News - As the backdrop of a legislative tug of war over National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding grinds on, individual states continue to make progress with newly activated stations. Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) this week instructed the Department of Transportation to ignore the non-partisan Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) ruling that withholding the funds is illegal.

Numbers - More than 80 NEVI stations have now been energized across 16 states, with 50+ additional stations somewhere between the pre-construction phase and activation. A clear path to 100 new stations and beyond exists, with a further 750+ awarded sites somewhere in the limbo created by the federal funding pause.

Nuance - We’re in uncharted waters as far as the legal challenges go, as the administration’s insistence that it has the authority to withhold congressionally appropriated funds by executive order shows no sign of buckling under the weight of independent orders from the likes of the GAO. Court rulings will be the ultimate test of this assertion, with no clear end in sight for early legal challenges from ZEV states.

Next Up - A self-imposed spring milestone for the Federal Highways Agency to deliver new guidance for the NEVI program has only two weeks remaining. It would be little surprise if the agency continues to slow walk the process while the main protagonists argue the issue in court, but states including Texas, Pennsylvania, and Colorado continue to show the impact of new fast charging locations on EV travel as summer approaches.

🔌 AC/DC: Massachusetts State House Deploys Destination Charging

News: Maverick EV Services confirmed installation of new AC charging ports at the Massachusetts State House in Boston. The stations are located to the north of Boston Common, accessible via Mt. Vernon St.

Numbers: Four new level 2 chargers in the heart of Boston, set at a reasonable $0.25 per kWh for visiting State House guests and electric fleet vehicles.

Nuance: Adding destination charging at state properties provides a physical, tangible representation of the shift from federal support to state-level initiatives to maintain electrification momentum. However, to facilitate EV charging for a majority of city residents, a wider variety of AC charging options will be essential.

Next Up: The City of Boston’s curbside EV charging program is the most likely path to catalyzing AC charging in the tightly packed city. Through various deployment paths, the program aims to add an EV charging station within a 5-minute walk of every Boston resident.

🛣️ On the Road: This Week in DCFC

News - A healthy uptick in additions to the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC), with the long holiday weekend appearing to take its toll.

Numbers - 175 fast charging ports at 54 fast charging station locations added to AFDC, bringing us back to a more stable footing this week after the preceding holiday weekend.

Notable Stations + Additions to AFDC 

🛒 Walmart Energy got busy again in its Dallas-Fort Worth launch market, with three new locations energized according to The Arkansas eTraveler (welcome back!) Plano, Irving, and Fort Worth are all listed on the retail giant’s website detailing stores with EV charging.

🔴 For all the furore around Superchargers being booted from a handful of NJ Turnpike locations, the broader march of Tesla Charging continues unabated. The company confirmed new Superchargers energized in 8 different states this week alone, including locations in Newark, CA (12 stalls), Houston, TX (16 stalls), American Falls, ID (8 stalls), and Saint Sauveur, QC (16 stalls).

⭕ A welcome return too for Circle K this week, who opened new stations in Myrtle Beach, SC, Salisbury, NC, and San Antonio, TX. As one of the most consistently inexpensive DCFC vendors at $0.43 to $0.49 per kWh, it’s great to see the brand back in action after what appeared to be an extended period of inactivity.

🟦 EVgo was busy in its home state of California, with 38 new ports activated across five new stations, most of which offer eight ports up to 350kW. EV drivers in Brentwood, Fremont, Oxnard, San Jose, and Vallejo all have new EVgo locations to check out.

⚡ Mercedes-Benz High Power Charging established a beachhead in the Northeast, with its western Massachusetts station at Lee Premium Outlets now online. This narrowly beats the network’s first location in Connecticut, which also looks ready to go. The partnership with Simon Property Group is really starting to bear fruit following last week’s activation in Ellenton, FL, as another 3 “coming soon” locations were also added to the MB-HPC map.

🍁 FLO Charging was active north of the border, with four new locations in three different provinces. New stations in Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec all add to the network’s Canadian presence, with its newest FLO Ultra unit deployed at a Canadian Tire in Burlington, ON. The remaining stations use older 50 kW dispensers at dealerships and local attractions.

⚡ Pilot-Flying J energized a new station in Summerville, SC, adding a useful option for EV drivers traveling to and from Charleston via I-26.

🟢 Following up on the recent vendor spotlight covering the outage of MidAmerican Energy chargers in Iowa, a further nine sites appear to have been transitioned to the new provider. EV drivers in the state are still awaiting news on the full switch from previous provider Shell Sky, including a new app to access the 50-station network.

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.

✒️ Policy: Anti-EV/Renewables Budget Items Face Opposition

News: House Republicans support Senate efforts to strategically improve clean energy tax credit provisions, aiming to develop “a truly pro-energy growth final bill.”

Numbers: 13 Republicans from 10 states, most in seats that could be vulnerable at next year’s midterm elections, signed onto a letter urging their Senate colleagues to improve a bill that their chamber passed just a few weeks prior.

Nuance: The letter represents the careful balancing act required for congressional Republicans in states that will benefit from the inevitable expansion of clean energy investment, including battery storage, solar PV, and wind generation, and transportation electrification. While they cannot be seen to side with left-leaning policies, billions of dollars in energy projects and thousands of jobs are on the line if the bill remains as is.

Next Up: The Senate is working to get the wide-ranging budget bill in place for Presidential sign-off before the July 4th holiday. Based on this letter and prominent pushback to other aspects of the bill from high-profile business voices, they face an uphill battle to do so.

🚛 Fleet Focus: Windrose Completes Electric Truck Interop Testing with Terawatt

News - Another step on the road to seeing heavy duty electric vehicles on long-haul commercial trucking routes, as Windrose Technology and Terawatt Infrastructure complete interoperability charging tests with Delta Electronics hardware in California.

Numbers - The dual connector solution deploys two Delta 350 kW dispensers, which can deliver more than 650 kW and add up to 240 miles to the Windrose class-8 electric truck in 40 minutes.

Nuance - As the industry awaits development of the solo connector Megawatt Charging System (MCS), dual connector pull-through solutions, such as the Delta system used in these interoperability tests, provide a bridge for existing infrastructure to support early electric fleet deployments in the HDEV category.

Next Up - Additional joint testing and customer pilots with Windrose are planned throughout the summer, according to Terawatt. Broader deployment of HDEV fleet trucks is expected to accelerate towards the end of this year.

🎧 For Your Listening Pleasure

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

This week we turn to the thorny topic of rental electric vehicles, with the Urban EV podcast speaking to former head of global strategy at Avis-Budget Group, Hani Sripathi.

🎧 Where Rental Vehicles, Electrification, and Autonomy Intersect 🚘

As a key executive at Avis-Budget, Sripathi offers fascinating insight into the early conversations around integrating EVs into rental fleets, including the early missteps of rival Hertz and the assumptions around rental electrification that failed to pan out.

This conversation also considers the looming shadow of autonomous vehicles on the rental sector, and where the two align with electrification.

🧮 Data Dive - Sharing Seasonality in EV Charging

A short section this week for data dive, partially because much of the work is done for us in this excellent article on EV charging seasonality from Revision Energy’s Chuck Hayward.

Here are a few key takeaways from Chuck’s piece, though I encourage you to read his full analysis for the complete dive into this topic:

☀️ Seasonal Trends: Usage data from five DC fast-charging sites in the Northeast reveals strong seasonality. A charging station near Acadia National Park, an attraction in Maine that sees 4 million annual visitors, experiences peak utilization in summer tourist months and sharp declines during the off-season.

📊 Balancing Finances: Demand charges — billed at around $35/kW — remain consistent, regardless of seasonality. At the Acadia site, peak demand holds steady at 125 kW each month, even when energy consumption drops significantly in colder months.

💲 Pricing Constraints: Legally required per-kWh billing makes adjusting for demand charges difficult. To break even, winter charging prices would have to exceed $0.60/kWh — higher than some standard fast-charging rates — while summer rates could be lower.

What strategies have you seen to make utilization more balanced throughout the year and mitigate some of the off-season profitability challenges?

Hit reply to share your thoughts or recommend a data dive item for future editions.

🔋💯 Topping Off…

Here’s a selection of news items we couldn’t squeeze into other sections, followed by select EVI incentive program updates we think you’ll want to know about:

ChargePoint + Eaton team up to develop bi-directional charging solutions

Rivian updates its Energy app section for smarter, more efficient home charging

City of Missoula releases its roadmap for improving EV infrastructure

ComEd commits a further $168 million to extend various EV + charger rebates

The deadline for Rd 3 of Oregon DOT’s Community Charging rebates is 6/18/25

Delaware extends Clean Transportation Incentive Program through 4/30/26

📆 EVent of the Week - Happy Chargers Webinar

Join the expert analysts at Dodona Analytics and synergEV founder Paco Aguirre for a detailed look at what it takes to create “Happy Chargers”.

➡️ The Challenge of Creating & Maintaining Happy Chargers [WEBINAR]

What makes a happy charger, both on the hardware and human side of the equation?

It’s a question that North American charging providers have grappled with for the past decade and are only now starting to get a handle on. I signed up for this one a while back and will look forward to watching this Wednesday at 11AM (Eastern)/8AM (Pacific).

You can do the same by registering via this link.

If you found this edition useful, consider forwarding it to a friend, colleague, or family member to share our efforts.

See you next week and remember, you’ll appreciate your EV’s charging capabilities all the more if you’ve watched it strive for warmth in the depths of winter ☀️❄️⚡

Cheers,

Steve / Plug & Play EV

🔔 Essential EV Follow - Chuck Hayward