The Weekly 1.21⚡(EVI News #35) - Tesla's Supercharger Twofer. Beyond Curbside Charging Pilots. Fleet Forward in New Jersey.

Good day, fellow charge finder ⚡🔍

The final fast charge sessions of summer trips give way to the comfortable convenience of home charging this week, as North America returns to work and routine. There’s some overlap with European schedules as well, with Hubject’s icnc25 kickstarting conference season in Berlin, and IAA Mobility on deck next week down in Munich.

With several years of development between Western Europe and the current state of EV charging in the US and Canada, let’s hope those from our shores who attend these events come back with takeaways to catalyze our slowly maturing market.

Returning to the current state of affairs, here’s your weekly run-down of EV infrastructure developments across North America ⤵️

📢 Tesla Opens at Wawa Travel Centers + Unveils Superchargers for Business

News - Shortly after cutting the ribbon on a new Supercharger at Wawa’s first travel center, Tesla launched its new “Supercharger for Business” offering. The company positions it as an “owned by you, managed by Tesla” way to provide fast charging, rather than a site host simply giving Tesla space to be the owner/operator of charging hardware.

Numbers - 70,000+ Superchargers globally, with around half of that number in North America alone. But the vast majority are owned and operated by Tesla, making them more of a cost center than a direct revenue stream in most cases.

Nuance - This isn’t the first move by Tesla to have other businesses jump aboard the Supercharger network, but the company will hope it proves more productive than previous attempts. A partnership with bp to purchase Tesla hardware for $100M, announced two years ago, has yet to yield any bp pulse-branded Superchargers, even as the network expands with Tritium and Alpitronic hardware at key sites. Reliability is always a draw, but new players with trusted track records in Europe can also offer display screens and higher power, at least until Tesla deploys true V4 Superchargers with 1,000V cabinets.

Next Up - No early deal announcements are included, so we have only Tesla’s info page and clear desire to spread the Supercharger network as a private offering to go on, at this stage. Success overseas with the UK convenience chain EG on the Move shows that the arrangement can work, but many of the North American players have already established their fast charging plans, underpinned by a wide variety of hardware manufacturers.

🔍 Charging Vendor Spotlight: Hyperfuel

News - Dallas-based Hyperfuel focuses on high-power DC charging. Personalized pricing and easy activation for drivers are two further promises that the company intends to focus on, as it expands beyond its home markets in Texas.

Numbers - 70 fast charging ports (up to 400 kW) at 11 stations, primarily in Texas metro areas. The one Hyperfuel location outside of the Lone Star State is in Carson City, NV.

Nuance - Although the network footprint is too small to gauge performance at this point, Hyperfuel’s strategic focus on price sensitivity and real-time alerts is not something we often see. Connecting drivers to price drops and charging-related offers is an underutilized avenue to drive increased utilization, making Hyperfuel an interesting new entrant to watch.

Next Up - Three new locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metro areas are under construction. At the latest sites, four dispensers serving eight pull-in stalls have become the norm, indicating higher utilization expectations than those of other fast-charging newcomers.

🔌AC/DC: it’s electric Plans Beyond Pilots

News: Curbside charging startup it’s electric confirmed new activations and future installations, as the bring-your-own-cable L2 provider looks past proof of concept, to scaling the solution for cities across the United States.

Numbers: 30 it’s electric charging posts have now been installed in six cities: Boston, Detroit, Newburgh (NY), New York City, Portland (ME), and San Francisco. Pricing ranges from $0.39-0.40/kWh at Boston and NYC locations, all the way down to free on weekdays (albeit restricted access) up in Portland, ME (or $0.22/kWh on weekends).

Nuance: Even though the latest installations continue to appear, primarily, around cities in which it’s electric has agreed pilot projects, there are signs of wider expansion. The latest sites confirmed around NYC take it’s electric beyond the five boroughs, while a location in Newburgh, NY, brings its curbside solution to the streets of smaller cities.

Next Up: it’s electric shared that Washington DC will soon join the list of cities above, as well as the Tri-State area getting additional suburban locations in Yonkers, NY, and Jersey City, NJ. Here in Massachusetts, the company is a part of the “Recharge Boston” initiative, which aims to install hundreds of curbside EV chargers so that every city resident is within a five-minute walk of a destination charging option by 2030.

🛣️ On the Road: This Week in DCFC

News - A limited week after the holiday weekend, with infrastructure just starting to shake off the end-of-summer lull. Nonetheless, AFDC’s fast charging station count passed the 16,000 mark, and a few interesting locations entered the database last week.

Numbers - 107 DC charging ports at 27 charging locations in 16 states and provinces added to AFDC this week.

Notable New Stations + AFDC Additions:

🌄 A fascinating new ChargePoint location for coastal Maine brings relatively low power but impressive stall count to a key location just north of Acadia National Park. Eight stalls with CCS1 at 62.5kW wouldn’t be celebrated on an interstate, but the appropriately-named Acadia Gateway Center brings a valuable option for a top-up before heading up Cadillac Mountain.

🔴 Even Tesla had a slow week, relative to its usual fast pace, opening just five Supercharger locations across five states (AR, GA, KS, MS, UT) this week. That does add 68 new stalls to some important parts of the US charging map, such as Horn Lake, MS, and Alma, AR.

⚡ Pilot-Flying J added a second location serving the city of San Antonio in Texas, serving I-10 east of the metro area. The existing location is just south of the city, covering I-37 on the route to Corpus Christi.

🛒 Costco added another location to its EV charging portfolio, with 10 new Electrify America stalls at its Lincoln Park store in Chicago, IL. As usual, pricing is set by the wholesale retail giant rather than the charging provider. In this case, it’s a very affordable $0.43/kWh flat fee, which is 23% cheaper than the nearby EA station at Bank of America.

⭐ Texas-based Hyperfuel added three new sites to AFDC, with locations in Dallas, Euless, and Houston all bringing 400kW charging to these metro areas.

🍁Flo opened the only Canadian addition to the AFDC listings this week, with a new location in Stonewall, Manitoba, around 20 miles north of Winnipeg.

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

🚧 All eyes on Texas for NEVI progress over the next couple of weeks, where no fewer than nine new fast charging locations are slated to “Open Summer 2025”, according to a mid-summer update from TxDOT. Of particular interest are four stations underway at Love’s Travel Stops in Encinal, Natalia, Three Rivers, and Van, one of which will become the chain’s first owned and operated EV charging site in the state.

🚨 IONNA confirmed fences up at three new locations, all in conjunction with Wawa. Largo and Fort Pierce in Florida will both soon be charging at IONNA speed, while Ashland, VA, is another on-deck and likely to be the first Rechargery to open in Virginia. In permitting, Rechargeries for Riverside, CA, Pensacola, FL, and New Hope, MN, were spotted by AlejandroEV66.

🔴 New US Tesla stations are confirmed in permitting by MarcoRP1, with Superchargers slated for Atlanta, GA, Eden Prairie, MN, Lorton, VA, and several locations in California. Of the latter, a 59-stall site in Milpitas is the largest, while a smaller location in Campbell could become the first “true V4” Supercharger, with 1,000V cabinets delivering power up to 500kW, according to Tesla.

🚛 Pre-permits have also been filed for the first known “Semicharger” in the US, designed to accommodate the Tesla Semi electric haulage vehicle. Eight Semi charging stalls are planned at a Flying-J in San Antonio, TX, which coincidentally just opened four new CCS1 stalls via P-FJ’s partnership with EVgo eXtend this week.

💲Pricing: Francis Energy Prices Hit New Highs

News - The unfortunate swing of DCFC rates in the wrong direction continues for some charging networks, with Francis Energy the latest to break into the price peaks.

Numbers - $0.84 per kWh. That’s now the going rate at a Francis station in Truth or Consequences, NM. This location opened less than two months ago at an already eye-watering $0.74 per kWh, marking a 13.5% increase for a site that received $789,731 in federal funding under the NEVI program.

Nuance - The continuing trend of a handful of networks nudging rates into the $0.70+ per kWh is putting long-distance EV drivers on high alert, with the likes of Rivian, Francis, Blink, and Shell Recharge all coming under scrutiny this summer for pricing that some deem excessive. As the leading anticipated recipient of federal funds for EV infrastructure, with almost $100M awarded, Francis Energy could bear the brunt of criticism if prices continue to peak at levels that make EV road trips 2-3x more expensive than gas.

Next Up - Watch for details on our September EV Charging Price Index (EVCPI), later this month, to monitor how Francis Energy’s rates are holding up against other nationwide charging networks.

🚛 Fleet Focus: NYC Fleet Leader Heads Industry Event in New Jersey

News - New York City’s first Chief Fleet Officer, Keith Kerman, will join other industry leaders intent on electrification at this week’s Fleet Forward Tour event in Somerset, NJ.

Numbers - More than 28,000 fleet units operate across NYC’s 50 agencies, including NYPD and FDNY, including 1,000+ medium-heavy duty electric vehicles. Kerman’s seminar leans into this depth of experience with a session on deploying electric trucks at scale.

Nuance - Fleet electrification experts from across the space, including organizations such as CALSTART, Holman, and Essential Utilities, Inc., will speak on topics ranging from shifting EV incentives and the surrounding policy landscape to cost control and fleet optimization. Ride & drive opportunities in fleet EVs will also be available.

Next Up - Qualified fleet operators can sign up to attend the Fleet Forward Tour at no cost. The event happens this Tuesday, 9th September, at the Delta Hotels by Marriott in Somerset, NJ.

🎧 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’re actually sharing episodes, plural, as the good folks at Field Advantage dropped several excellent EV charging interviews with their new pod, “Field Frequency”:

🎧 Field Frequency #1 w/ Anup Parikh (Pangea Charging) | #2 w/ Chris Kaiser (PlugIn)

As the podcast is newly launched, several episodes dropped at once and there’s a lot to dig into. Host Jason Cortes has wide-ranging experience in the world of EV infrastructure, which helps him ask the perfect questions for experts like Anup (L2 charging) and Chris (DCFC). Check out one or both, depending on which end of the industry you occupy.

🔋💯 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:

Mercedes-Benz HPC will bring Alpitronic’s HYC1000 hardware to North America

On the Run debuts new EV charging loyalty program in Canada

Blink Charging to accept cryptocurrency payments before end of the year

Walmart Energy heads east with permits in Pennsylvania and Florida

California’s Hybrid/ZEV Truck & Bus Voucher Incentive Program (HVIP) is refreshed and open for applications from September 9th, 2025 this week

Latest round of Charge Ahead Colorado grant applications is open next week

$609,500 available for public EV charging project in DC (deadline: 9/22/25)

Clean Corridor Coalition (C3) issues RFI for $249M M-HDEV infrastructure grant on I-95 (CT/DE/MD/NJ areas) - deadline: 9/30/25

California’s FCCP incentives program is open for applications (deadline: 10/29/25)

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 ⚡

Cheers,

Steve / Plug & Play EV

p.s. If you’re of the YouTube EV nerd persuasion, our biweekly/fortnightly livestream on electric vehicles and infrastructure, Coast-to-Coast EVs, returns this Wednesday.

🔔 Essential EV Follow - Jacob Espinoza (AP1)

📍Charging Site of the Week: Tesla Supercharger (@ Wawa’s First Travel Center!) | Hope Mills, NC