The Weekly 1.21⚡(EVI News #29) - NEVI Bounces Back, Hits 100. NY's Largest Charging Center. Zūm Powers Fresno School Fleet. Tesla Diner Opens.

Good day, fellow compadre in coffee and kilowatts ☕🔋

As the integration of EV charging and adjacent services continues to align, SoCal offers several takes on that trend this week. From the fully opened bp pulse Gigahub and lounge at LAX to Tesla’s futuristic take on the diner experience in West Hollywood, plus ROVE’s expansion and at least 10 iONNA Rechargeries coming to the region, the competition to evolve the North American charging experience is well underway.

Preamble complete, here’s our primary amble into this week’s North American EV infrastructure developments ⤵️

📢 NEVI Hits 100 as California Announces More Awards

News - The latest Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) fast charging site in Coalville, UT also holds the distinction of being the 100th station opened with NEVI funds. One day before it opened, California confirmed its second round of NEVI awards, bringing the state’s planned stations under the program to more than 100, as well. Awards so far stretch from Elk Grove, CA, in the north to San Diego in the south, plus several connecting inland routes to Arizona and Nevada.

Numbers - 100 stations for NEVI across 16 states, with almost 10x that number awarded. However, with some state programs still paused due to the shifting priorities in Washington DC, not all awarded sites will see the light of day. However, 65 new locations in California got the green light this week, with around $36.9M awarded to 8 applicants. Along with Washington and Oregon’s plans to press on, this significantly boosts NEVI’s future on the West Coast.

Nuance - California’s awards feature the familiar and the fresh, with EVgo and Tesla getting a handful of sites, while iONNA (5), Electric Era (16), and EV Gateway (33) walked away with the majority of awards. This haul more than doubles EV Gateway’s NEVI wins in one swoop, with 26 sites in eight states awarded prior to California announcing its latest results.

Next Up - With the largest EV market in the US starting to distribute its funds, a NEVI program that many had left for dead suddenly looks very much alive. Passing 100 would have happened months ago without the FHWA’s pause, but the milestone is now in the rearview - and 100+ more stations in California alone, with only a fraction of its $384M allocation awarded - 500 or perhaps even 1,000 federally-funded locations would not be out of the question.

🔍 Charging Vendor Spotlight: Electrify America (EA)

News - A recent Ask Me Anything (AMA) session with EA Sales & Marketing Director Rachel Moses on Reddit shared various aspects of future planning for one of the largest fast charging networks in the United States.

Numbers - 4,909 fast charging ports at 1,052 locations in 47 states and the District of Columbia. The vast majority of sites offer power up to 350kW, though two pilot sites using Alpitronic hardware (including NACS/J3400 connectors) are capable of delivering as much as 400kW. Those are located in Connecticut and Florida, with no indications yet that the pilot is being expanded.

Nuance - Approximately 16% of Electrify America locations also have battery energy storage systems (BESS) onsite, Moses shared via the AMA. The station in Baker, CA, which is a flagship EA site in its own right, is one of the first US fast charging stations where interconnection size is less than its charger load, as BESS fills the power gap.

Next Up - Electrify America will only deploy sites with 10 stalls or more from now on. Sites already in planning may yield the more common 4-6 stall setup, but EA acknowledges that smaller formats won’t cut it as EV adoption rises. In terms of network expansion, the organization’s final year of mandated investment under the Dieselgate consent decree comes to an end in December 2026. Until then, expect Electrify America to consolidate its existing locations with upgrades, build new stations where partnerships permit (utilities like NYPA, APS, and RMP, or commercial partners like IKEA and Costco), and gear the network to become a self-sustaining entity in 2027 and beyond.

🔌AC/DC: Largest NY Charging Center Comes to Queens

News: New Tech Energy, in conjunction with Con Edison, has installed the largest charging center in New York state. The multi-use Flushing Commons complex in the NYC borough of Queens now hosts hundreds of chargers for tenants and public use.

Numbers: 424 level 2 chargers serving a complex with 148 apartments, 92 stores/restaurants, and office space. Around one-quarter of the complex’s residents currently drive electric vehicles, leaving plenty of room for future EV owners and the public.

Nuance: The chargers are deployed in part via ConEd’s “PowerReady” program, which offsets 80% of eligible installation costs. The utility’s “SmartCharge Commercial” initiative will also be in effect, providing cash payments to the station operator when off-peak charging habits are incentivized and applied.

Next Up: With the involvement of Con Edison, the site at Flushing Commons was prepped for future installation of DC fast chargers, if visitor demand for shorter charge sessions is evident. Zooming out to New York City, new hubs for both AC and DC charging are in the pipeline, from another L2 location in Queens at Springfield Gardens, to fast charging hubs from New York Power Authority at La Guardia airport and Bronx locations.

🛣️ On the Road: This Week in DCFC

News - A relatively quiet week in the AFDC listings, with some listings cleanup underway but not a huge amount of new locations entering the database in either US or Canada.

Numbers - 122 DC charging ports at 39 charging locations in 22 states and provinces added to AFDC this week.

Notable New Stations + AFDC Additions:

⚡ In addition to its full flagship opening of the LAX Gigahub, bp pulse energized three other stations this week, two in Florida and another in New Jersey. The Floridian sites are Thornton’s convenience stores, one of which brings eight new stalls to St. Petersburg.

🟢 Electrify America had a slower week than recent form suggests, but it did include the 100th NEVI site referenced above, which EA activated in partnership with Rocky Mountain Power. Other partnerships also yielded new stations, with an EVolve New York site in Camillus, NY and IKEA Pittsburgh, PA gaining four and six stalls, respectively.

💎 Jule celebrated the opening of a new four stall fast charging site in Scarborough, ON, with a ribbon cutting at the Toyota HQ that will serve as site host. A public charging location, the ceremony was attended by executives from the Japanese automaker, Ontario-based Jule, Mitsui Canada, and the Deputy Mayor of Toronto.

🛌 ChargeSmart EV opened up a multi-use site at Embassy Suites by Hilton in Syracuse, NY, with eight fast charging spaces joining the 14 AC plugs that might be a better fit for overnight guests. For those short on time (or filling up a 100+ kWh EV heavyweight, perhaps), the fast chargers will be the more favorable option.

🔶 Rivian opened a new Adventure Network location that’s open to all in Durango, CO. Eight stalls, including a pull-through space for trailers, brings adventure vehicle fast charging to the southwest of the state.

📆 On a note close to home, Pilot-Flying J finally found a transformer in the Northeast and were able to activate the network’s first site in Massachusetts. The other hardware at Sturbridge, MA’s Pilot travel center has been in the ground since Fall 2024, but every season I swung through, the transformer pad sat empty. Fast forward almost one year and the big green box is in place, lighting up one of the few truly high power charging sites on this stretch of I-84, which carries a lot of traffic to and from Connecticut.

⚡ FLO offset some of the negatives from last week’s restructuring news by adding three new stations, one in Frog Lake, Alberta, and two new locations in Ontario.

🔴 In addition to the 80 Superchargers energized at the Tesla Diner, which you can take a tour of in this edition’s charge site of the week video below, Tesla added 112 new charging stalls across 7 states and one province: California (x3), New Jersey, Indiana, Connecticut, Colorado, and Utah all have new Supercharger locations, as does Langley in British Columbia.

⭕ As well as winning three site awards in California’s second round of NEVI solicitations, Red-E Charging opened new locations in Longmont, CO and Livonia, MI this week.

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

 📝In the Pipeline - New Sites Planned/Permitted

🚧 iONNA confirmed the familiar “fences up!” phrasing for new locations in Festus, MO, Beaver, UT, and Janesville, WI. New permits were also spotted by AlejandroEV66 for Palm Desert and Santa Ana (home of ROVE Charging) in California.

🔶 Rivian added a slew of new sites to the Adventure Network “coming soon” map, with long-overlooked Utah the big winner. For years, Rivian owners have opined that the state with skiing, Arches and Canyonlands National Parks should have at least one RAN station. Well, now it has six on the map, covering most of the main sites and thoroughfares.

🔴 New US Tesla stations are confirmed in permitting by MarcoRP1, with Superchargers slated for Conway, SC and Estero, FL. Confirmed under construction are Superchargers in Richburg, SC, Puyallup, WA, and a much-needed charging option in Minot, ND, in the remote north of the state.

💲DCFC Pricing: Summer Pricing Remains Steady After Pre-Holiday Hikes

News - Average DC charging prices in the US maintained broadly the same levels as the new highs registered before the July 4th holiday weekend, with no new discounts in sight.

Numbers - The national average stays at $0.54 per kWh, while the Southeast is still the least expensive region in which to fast charge, at $0.50 per kWh. The West Coast, driven most notably by California’s peak prices, pulls away as the most expensive region at $0.58 per kWh.

Nuance - Prices rose across the board from June to July, primarily driven by rates ticking up at three-quarters of the Superchargers monitored. Holiday discounts did provide brief respite to EV drivers, bringing rates as low as $0.25 per kWh and dragging the average back down to previous levels. Unfortunately for drivers, the hikes from June held up, keeping averages at the highest we’ve seen since beginning this index in 2024.

Next Up - Other than promotional offers for newly opened locations, we’re unlikely to see network-wide discounts again this summer until perhaps Labor Day. If early summer promotions proved to be effective, we can expect to see similarly compelling offers to July 4th and Memorial Day. But if drivers weren’t particularly swayed by reduced pricing and simply chose the most convenient locations for their travel plans, better options for budget-conscious EV drivers might require shifting itineraries to take advantage of cheaper time-of-use rates.

🚛 Fleet Focus: Zūm Wins Transportation Contract for Fresno Schools

News - Fresno Unified School District has entered into a five-year partnership with technology-led, sustainable transportation company Zūm. The company will begin with providing the school district access to its proprietary platform this year, then move on to specific areas from 2026, with the combined goals of improving transportation safety, reliability, and equity for students across the district.

Numbers - Fresno is California’s fourth-largest unified school district, serving 73,000+ students across 106 schools.

Nuance - At the start of the last school year, Zum celebrated helping Oakland become the first all-electric school bus fleet in the United States. Signing with Fresno Unified delivers another long-term contract in California, which provides further opportunities to bring cleaner vehicles and more efficient transportation to the state’s school routes.

Next Up - Fresno Unified will begin using Zum's platform next month, to manage and monitor all district-operated general education bus routes for the upcoming school year. Starting in August 2026, Zūm will oversee all special education routes and use data from its first year operating in the district to streamline processes and optimize routes.

🎧 For Your Listening Pleasure

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

This week’s offering comes from The Future of Convenience podcast, the audio wing of the always-engaging Global Convenience Store Focus (GCSF). With the direction of personal transportation heading towards electrification, GCSF is naturally covering more and more of the EV charging world.

🎧 ROVE’s Bill Reid on Pioneering Charging Hubs in America’s Top EV Market⚡

This episode brings the UK-based outlet to the leading US market for EVs, California. ROVE’s first charging hub in Santa Ana, CA was shortlisted for the Best EV Charging Hub by GCSF earlier this year. In this podcast, CEO Bill Reid explains the vision for ROVE stations, as well as the company’s expansion across California and beyond.

🔋💯 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:

Quebec brings back electric truck rebate program with expanded budget

OEM joint venture ChargeScape pilots EV load reduction with PSEG Long Island

Blink partners with Universal Media for “EV Totem” advanced charger displays

Applications open for Municipal Electric Vehicle Initiative in Saskatchewan (up to $75,000 [CAD] for 50% of L2 + L3 charging infrastructure costs)

Charge Up New Jersey has opened applications for its latest round of several incentives, including Clean Fleet and MUD EV charging programs

Nova Scotia’s CHARGED program is now accepting applications for up to 50% of funding for L2 and DC fast charging projects

The application period for California’s FCCP incentives program opens next month (window: 8/5/25 to 10/29/25)

CEC’s Communities In Charge wave 4 funding for L2 connectors ($8,500 per plug - up to 40) coming soon (window opens August 5th, 2025)

The City of Lodi, CA issued an RFP for assistance expanding DCFC via public-private partnership (deadline August 22nd, 2025)

If you found this edition useful, share the love by passing it on to a friend, colleague, or family member with an interest in electrification.

See you next week, and remember,

Cheers,

Steve / Plug & Play EV

🔔 Essential EV Follow - Dan Munford

📍Charging Site of the Week: Tesla Diner (Hollywood, CA)