The Weekly 1.21⚡(EVI News #31) - Shell Vanishes Volta. GOEV Indiana Site Awards. Steady As She EVgo(es). Rivian Hits the Hamptons.

Good day, fellow runner of joules ⚡🚘

The “visionary” days of early EV charging startups give way to the cold reality of turning a profit this week, as Volta Media is shuttered by Shell and EVgo outlines a much more pragmatic strategy to make money from fast charging.

Whatever your take on the future of EV charging, there’s little doubt that we’ve entered a period of realignment from which not all the current players will emerge. And we’ll be here to cover the peaks, troughs, and everything in between.

Coffee in hand and voltage matched, here’s your weekly tour of EV infrastructure developments across North America ⤵️

📢 Shell Shutters Volta Media, Leaving Thousands of EV Chargers in Question

News - Shell, which acquired ad-driven charging network Volta a little over two years ago, will lay off the remaining 190 employees and close down the company by November. The shift comes as the Shell Recharge brand moves to focus on fast charging.

Numbers - CSP Daily reports via AdExchanger that more than 2,000 charge stations will be removed as part of the move, most likely before the end of this year.

Nuance - Admittedly, offering a network based on free charging was always going to be an uphill battle for Volta. Acquisition in 2023 provided the potential to reimagine the business model, but it was always going to be a long shot with its new owner. The Shell Recharge brand in North America lacks the strategic direction of established energy competitors, such as bp pulse, and Volta’s primarily destination charging offering was always an odd fit. With overpriced and frequently unreliable stations to date, Shell has a long way to go before EV drivers will trust its locations for habitual fast charging, with or without Volta locations.

Next Up - For AC-focused charging vendors, Shell’s shuttering of former Volta stations represents an opportunity. Although the oil giant may not see the value in third-party site hosts at locations with medium to long dwell times, plenty of companies in the charging space are actively seeking compelling retail, grocery, and entertainment spots as site hosts. Here’s a list of Shell-Volta locations by site type, if that’s you 🔍

🔍 Charging Vendor Spotlight: EV Gateway

News - EV Gateway won big in the second round of California’s NEVI site awards, scooping 33 sites and almost $15M to fund them. The diverse vendor is increasingly partnering with hotels as site hosts.

Numbers - 93 active DC charging stations in 26 states, with a sizeable level 2 presence at some Californian locations, such as USC Keck Hospital in Los Angeles and the Intercommunity Hospital in Covina, CA.

Nuance - While it is prominently listed as a distinct network in platforms like PlugShare and the Alternative Fuels Data Center, other vendors are involved with the operation of many EV Gateway locations. For example, a new provider in New York, HondoGo, is building out its nascent network with EV Gateway. Tellus Power is another name interlinked with the network, both through existing sites and the expected deployment of Tellus hardware at the aforementioned NEVI sites in California.

Next Up - Much of EV Gateway’s visible growth plans appear to be intertwined with the successful reboot of the NEVI program. In addition to the 33 sites in California, the company has a further 26 conditional awards across eight states. These awards are worth almost $9 million and hold the potential to make EV Gateway a more familiar name to EV drivers traveling across the United States.

🔌AC/DC: L2 Installed at the “World’s Longest Beach”

News: Destination charging at the longest (peninsula) beach in the world is bolstered by a significant new installation, funded by a grant from the Washington State Dept. of Ecology.

Numbers: 10 new ChargePoint CP6000 AC stations at 80 amps, delivering up to 13.4kW for EV models capable of accepting that much power.

Nuance: Evergreen Charging Solutions installed the stations in partnership with the City of Long Beach, after securing $100,000 in grants to support the project towards the end of 2024. The city’s addition of higher-power AC charging and stall counts 5x larger than its previous installations demonstrates the need to go beyond the basic two port, 6-7kW installs that have become the norm.

Next Up: Available AC charging has become a compelling reason for EV drivers to choose a specific hotel or resort, and municipalities are also taking note. “Long Beach would like to invite visitors to a rural community that can provide the amenities necessary for a comfortable stay,” the city stated in its grant application. Expect state-level funding to be a lifeline for small, local destination charging projects across the US as federal support falters.

🛣️ On the Road: This Week in DCFC

News - The gradual expansion of North American fast charging continues at a steady clip this week, led by Tesla but with notable new additions from IONNA, Francis Energy, and Rivian’s latest Charging Outpost serving summer visitors to the Hamptons.

Numbers - 334 DC charging ports at 54 charging locations in 24 states and provinces added to AFDC this week.

Notable New Stations + AFDC Additions:

🔴 Tesla opened eight Supercharger locations across six states and one province this week, adding more than 150 new ports to the charging landscape. 48 stalls at one location in Stamford, CT take the cake for most significant addition, while two site activations in Ontario (Mississauga and Beamsville) together add another 44 stalls.

🔶 Rivian officially opened its latest Charging Outpost, which is distinct from the company’s regular Adventure Network locations. What started in Joshua Tree, CA late last year jumps to the East Coast this week, with a dedicated charging spot in Southampton, NY offering six 300kW dispensers, a pull-through stall, 24/7 access to restrooms, lounge with complimentary coffee, and an activity area for children. If you’re in the area this weekend, charging is also free through August 10th, 2025. Check out a site tour and early charging experience from the launch event at the end of this week’s edition.

🍁 Petro Canada continued its hardware upgrades to ChargePoint Express Plus, this time with two new dispensers at the company’s location on the Patricia Bay Highway in Victoria, BC.

🟢 Electrify America added four new locations with a wide range of stalls, from four at the latest EVolve New York NEVI site energized in Henrietta, NY, to 20 new stalls serving the busy Santa Monica metro area near Los Angeles, CA.

🏁 IONNA energized its first Rechargery Relay in partnership with Wawa, at the iconic Daytona Beach down in Florida. The most appropriate location to date for hosting the network’s racing-striped dispensers, of which there are five to serve 10 stalls at this location. Better yet? It’s right across the street from the International Speedway 🏎️

⚡ Francis Energy continued its Great Lakes expansion, with another two NEVI sites energized in Wisconsin. One at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Sheboygan, WI fills that role literally, providing a place to stay and charge just two miles from the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

👑 FLO continues to emphasize its value in lesser-served communities, bringing the only fast-charging options in Prince Edward, ON and Chardon, OH this week. Only three ports across the two sites, but when there was nothing to choose from before these activations, the value to EV drivers visiting these smaller towns is clear.

🔋 This week’s spotlight vendor EV Gateway added three new locations spanning the breadth of the US, with four ports at the Firebaugh Travel Plaza in California, the same number at an Arts Center in Pueblo, CO, and a new site in collaboration with HondoGO at Beer World in Kingston, NY.

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

🚧 Construction is underway at several NEVI sites across Pennsylvania, with the latest being a new Francis Energy site at a Pizza Hut in Breezewood. An upgraded V2 Tesla Supercharger location in Somerset, PA should also be available soon for travelers on the PA Turnpike, although the addition of Applegreen-branded Alpitronic Hyperchargers alongside the existing Superchargers at the North and South Somerset service plazas means there’s an option for everyone to charge without getting off the Interstate.

💰 Indiana’s EVI funding may be paused at the federal level, but the state is spurring DC fast charging with its own GOEVIN program, which awarded almost $3.2M for 18 DCFC locations across the state. With 44% of the site awards, Pilot Travel Centers was the state’s biggest winner. As with the federal NEVI program, all sites will be within one mile of the exit from a designated roadway and come with a five-year maintenance requirement. Power and port requirements are lower than NEVI, however, at just two stalls and 100kW continuous per port. Stations are projected to be energized by 12/31/26.

🔶 A new Rivian Adventure Network location is permitted at Hammock Landing in West Melbourne, FL. This will join a Tesla Supercharger and EVgo station already at the retail center, but will not have any pull-through stalls in this instance. NACS/J3400 handles are also starting to appear at existing Rivian stations, with Joshua Tree and the new Southampton Charging Outposts the first to mix NACS with the existing CCS1 handles.

🔴 New US Tesla stations are confirmed in permitting by MarcoRP1, with Superchargers slated for Beaverton, OR, Torrey, UT, and Farmington, NM. Also of interest is the Frito Lay fleet charging facility in Rosenberg, TX, which features 8 charging stalls for Tesla Semi electric trucks and a 960kW solar array alongside the warehouse facility.

💲DCFC Pricing: Index Expansion Underway!

News - Our regular charger pricing index (EVCPI) tracking DC fast charging rates across the United States is getting an overhaul!

Numbers - 10 days. That’s when we’ll share the first analysis of the new EVCPI, including any shifts from the existing index, which started tracking 200+ sample sites one year ago.

Nuance - Pricing is a niche that demands deeper analysis but we know it doesn’t interest all readers. If you’d value a separate email track dedicated to pricing developments, reply to this edition with “Charger Pricing” in the subject or body text. If there’s sufficient demand, we’ll get it up and running.

Next Up - Next week’s edition will include the latest EVCPI in its current format (here’s the July 2025 summary). Then, we’ll shift to the expanded index on Wednesday, August 20th, 2025.

📊 Data Dive: EVgo’s Quarterly Earnings Report Also Plots a (Profitable) Course to 2029

As shared later in this edition, EVgo stock popped this week on the back of another quarter showing strong revenue growth. But beyond the quarterly numbers, it’s EVgo’s defined strategy for sustainable expansion that really struck a chord.

This data dive starts with a couple of interesting quarterly takeaways, before drawing out the nuances of EVgo’s expansion strategy for the rest of the decade.

➡️ Average daily throughput rose by 51kWh per stall, up 22% from Q224 and a whopping 151% compared to the same quarter in 2023. 88GWh total public throughput in Q2, which excludes the popular Pilot-Flying J locations, represents a 35% increase over the previous year’s Q2 throughput.

☀️ Although utilization measured in session minutes decreased by 2% compared to Q1 2025, this reflects the seasonality identified in Paren’s latest State of EV Charging report . DC charging takes longer in the winter months due to colder battery packs, which keeps some EVs plugged in for longer to deliver the same amount of energy.

📍 The network currently stands at 4,350 stalls across more than 1,000 charging stations, including almost 200 Pilot-Flying J locations and a smaller number of dedicated fleet sites. The total represents a 27% increase over the stall count at the end of Q2 2024.

📶 With revenue up 47% and throughput increasing, EVgo is projecting a gradual path to profitability through targeted growth in key markets including California, Texas, and cities along the East Coast. Metro areas in these markets are the primary focus for the network’s owned and operated stations, while locations with Pilot-Flying J expand its brand presence on travel corridors.

⚡Three years ago, 12% of EVgo locations offered 350kW charging hardware. By Q2 2025, that number jumps to 57%, thanks in no small part to the Pilot-Flying J partnership. All of the travel center stations deploy 350kW Delta Electronics units, with only a handful of sites including the shorter 100kW unit that is more common at EVgo’s own sites.

🔌 30 NACS/J3400 cables installed (retrofitted) as of this month, with 100 (0.02% of stalls) targeted by the end of 2025. Dedicated NACS handles will start to appear on stations in 2026. An instructive comment on the earnings call emphasizes the balancing act that all CPOs are facing: “we don’t want to pull out a productive CCS connector unless we’re confident it will become a more productive NACS connector.” As more models gain a native NACS charge port, expect that calculus to shift in favor of more handles at new stations.

🔮 EVgo’s five-year forecast through mid-2029 puts its owned and operated network growth at 4x, which delivers revenue growth at 9x the level in 2024. On the high end, that equates to more than 14,000 fast charging stalls, delivering almost $1,500,000M in revenue and average daily throughput of 500kWh per stall.

As the EV charging industry faces a decline in support at the federal level and bets on business models that appear unlikely to pay off, EVgo’s quarterly reports continue to act as a steadying influence.

Although Tesla remains way out in front in terms of coverage and stall count, while new networks attract headlines for high power and ambitious build plans, having an established public network like EVgo sharing steady, consistent progress is arguably just as valuable.

Nothing is certain as the sector continues to navigate choppy waters in the United States, but investors and financial institutions alike seem to find a safe harbor in EVgo’s long-term strategy.

 🚌 Fleet Focus: Upstate New York District Electrified for the Upcoming School Year

News - Penfield school district outside Rochester, NY checked a crucial item off its supply list this week, with a new charging depot for its electric school bus fleet energized ahead of the 2025/26 school year.

Numbers - 33 dispensers from Zerova Technologies, charging at up to 60kW. While that might not sound like a huge number in the era of 400kW charging, reframe it as a DC destination charge and this facility becomes the equivalent of charging your electric car overnight at home.

Nuance - Penfield Schools started on the road to electrification three years ago, with a $250,000 grant from the state that helped the district purchase its first electric bus. The New York Bus Incentive Program (NYSBIP) allocates $500 million to help schools lower the upfront cost of electric school buses and charging infrastructure.

Next Up - An open house explaining Penfield’s electrification plans is scheduled for later this month. New York State has objectives in place to fully electrify school fleets by 2035.

🎧 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 head to the EV Geek Podcast and a guest appearance from Landon West, host of The Arkansas eTraveler channel.

🎧 EV Geek Pod - Update on Walmart Energy EV Charging Program⚡

With Walmart energizing new stations in Oklahoma and construction expected in Arizona, Florida, and other markets, keeping tabs on the progress, hardware choices, and pricing is no small feat. Get the latest on what happened in July with this quick listen, and stay tuned to subscribe to Landon’s YouTube channel for regular video updates.

🔋💯 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:

EVgo stock spikes following positive Q2 2025 earnings report

Carbon DC launches to bring DC charging to apartment buildings & hotels

SWTCH confirms $10M credit facility from National Bank of Canada

Mach-E Vlog rebrands as The Electric Duo for wider electrification sector content

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

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

California’s FCCP incentives program opens this week (window: 8/5/25 to 10/29/25)

CEC’s Communities In Charge wave 4 funding for L2 also opens this week

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 - Selinay Parlak, Bluedot

📍Charging Site of the Week: Rivian Charging Outpost (Southampton, NY)