The Weekly 1.21⚡ (EVI News #43) - Wyoming's Wild NEVI Swing. Toronto's L2 Parking Expansion. Solid State Transformers for Fleets. IONNA Opens Largest Sites Yet.

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The upcoming winter could be a season of missed milestones for DC fast charging in North America, but it should also set the stage for a banner year for EV infrastructure.

For everyone tracking DCFC deployments across the continent, the combination of unshackled federal funds, rising regional providers, and established organizations with hundreds of locations in the planning pipeline has moved from wrestling an octopus to confronting a Kraken.

Even if a handful of projects falter, the sheer number and scope of their competitors mean we’re well on the way to putting charging anxiety behind us as a barrier for EV adoption.

Here’s your rundown of this week’s EV infrastructure developments across the United States and Canada ⤵️

📢 Wyoming Exemplifies the Shifting Sands of NEVI Plans

News - In what it amusingly terms a “monumental achievement”, Wyoming confirmed this week it has achieved “Fully Built Out“ (FBO) status under the NEVI program. Dig deeper, and we find that the state’s latest NEVI plan counts not only low-power DCFC sites, but also seems to view L2 locations, intended primarily for long-stay destination charging, as counting towards its FBO status.

Numbers - 0. That’s both the number of stations that Wyoming has activated with NEVI funding and the amount of dollars the state has obligated under the program. 800 is also relevant, as it’s the number of registered electric vehicles in Wyoming in 2024, cited as a reason the state declined to advance its NEVI plans at the time.

Nuance - For a state that only one year ago proclaimed that charging stations weren’t needed, Wyoming’s assertion that the private sector has delivered “monumental” results on its primary travel routes is rich, as well as wrong. It’s fair to say that the progress of Pilot-Flying J has made the state’s southern travel corridors much easier to traverse in an EV, but the route I took in 2024 along I-90 was the only part of a cross-country journey that felt like a true charging desert. A sole 62.5kW DC charger at a Jeep dealer in Sheridan, WY, was (and remains today) the only public option. A NEVI station here would have turned a two-hour charging siesta into the kind of quick 30-minute pit stop that the original program requirements were designed to deliver.

Next Up - Four years not being enough time for the state to formulate a suitable NEVI RFP process first time around, Wyoming will once again take “several months” to incorporate new guidance into its solicitation. Although the intent to actually use NEVI funds is a step in the right direction, the reality-bending nature of this announcement, given the state’s remaining charging deserts and laggard status on electrification, is remarkable.

🔍 Charging Vendor Spotlight: Universal EV

News - Maryland’s second round of NEVI funding raised several talking points, including 75% of the 12 awards going to accommodation-based site hosts, such as hotel chains and inns. Universal EV has experience working with this site type and was awarded eight of the locations from this round of funding.

Numbers - 47 fast charging locations in five states, with the vast majority in Illinois. As a network, Universal EV is predominantly focused on accommodation-based site hosts, with more than 90% of its 184 ports at hotels, motels, and inns.

Nuance - 77% of Universal EV’s locations so far are in the state of Illinois, making funding wins in states like Maryland a major win for the company’s expansion plans. A history of building out with accommodation chains marks a growing trend in both NEVI awards and the wider world of EV charging, as locations convenient to major travel corridors are snapped up. Despite L2 charging arguably being a better fit for this type of site host, the locations win out to meet NEVI’s requirements for proximity to exits along AFCs.

Next Up - Universal EV has other NEVI wins spread across 10 states which, taken together with the latest awards in Maryland, will double the size of the network once complete.

🔌AC/DC: Green P Celebrates 500 Parking Space Chargers in Ontario

News: A trio of Toronto partners marked the 500th charger activated under the Green P initiative, which brings EV charging to parking spaces across Ontario’s largest city and the Greater Toronto area.

Numbers: 500 chargers means that the Green P network represents more than 16% of the city’s charging options. Although a handful of locations offer fast-charging ports, more than 90% of the chargers are AC options, which are suitable for the longer dwell times associated with city parking.

Nuance: Toronto Hydro started the project with its first EV charger installation back in 2020, handing the Green P effort to Toronto Parking Authority in 2023. The City of Toronto is the third partner of the trio, which leverages charging hardware from FLO and ChargePoint. Around 100 of the chargers are curbside options, with the remainder serving off-street locations.

Next Up: EV charging is a part of the wider TransformTO strategy to reduce citywide emissions. Achieving 30% electrification of vehicles on the road by 2030 is a key milestone for the plan, which subsequently aims for net-zero emissions by 2040.

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🛣️ On the Road: This Week in DCFC

News - A notable week for Canada when it comes to AFDC additions, with more than double the locations it logged in recent weeks. IONNA also opened its largest Rechargeries to date, while Tesla posted yet another week with hundreds of new stalls.

Numbers - 237 DC charging ports at 68 charging locations added to the Alternative Fuels Data Center this week., spread across 31 states and provinces.

Notable New Stations + AFDC Additions:

🔵 Pilot-Flying J continued to add to EVgo’s stall count ahead of the charging network’s quarterly results announcement next week, opening new eXtend locations at P-FJ sites in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wyoming.

🔷 Not to be left behind, EVgo opened three new locations under its own banner, with a total of 18 stalls added at sites in Ridgecrest, CA, Southfield, MI, and Kenmore, WA.

🟠 IONNA closed the month of October on a high, with back-to-back openings for new Rechargeries in Cordele, GA, and Janesville, WI. Both locations deploy eight HYC400 dispensers (with all-important racing stripes) to serve 16 sheltered stalls. These are the network’s largest stations yet, though they will eventually be eclipsed by IONNA’s Beacon flagship sites. Janesville also offers pull-through spaces, only the network’s third location to do so, and a great fit for EV drivers towing boats around the Great Lakes region.

⚡ Electrify America got back on the activation trail with two new six-stall locations this week, one in Tampa, FL, and the other at a Simon Properties retail center in Cedar Park, TX. For an update on how an EA flagship site in San Francisco stands up to competition on Harrison St, take a look at this short video tour from Michael Greenberg.

🌊 BC Hydro opened six locations across the expanses of British Columbia, with rest areas in Ashcroft and Valemount among them to serve travel charging needs across the province. Some sites also include L2 charging for long-stay visitors, such as the location in Mount Robson, which serves both short-stay visitors to the provincial park’s welcome center and those staying at nearby campgrounds, or eating at the adjacent cafe.

🔴 Tesla didn’t add to AFDC listings this week, but did confirm 194 stalls energized at 14 new Superchargers across 11 states this week. As usual, the list is too long to include in a summary, but notable locations in Stamford, CT (24 stalls), Midvale, UT (16 stalls), and Anaheim, CA (20 stalls) all stand out. California alone added 38 new stalls at three sites, continuing to push beyond the milestone of 10,000 stalls that Tesla smashed past last month with the latest Baker Supercharger. Watch that progress unfold in map form via the video below from John Baker, who helps maintain the invaluable supercharge.info.

🛒 Walmart Energy opened a new format location in Westworth City, TX, on the western side of the D-FW metro area. It is the first full Walmart-operated charging site to include pull-through spaces, serving eight stalls from four Alpitronic HYC400s. For a comprehensive look at Walmart Energy’s progress and pricing, check out this season finale I joined with The Arkansas eTraveler channel.

⭕ Red E is now an ever-present in our weekly updates, continuing an impressive streak that started in Q3 and shows no signs of letting up in the final quarter of the year. 18 new stalls across four locations this week, with two in Northeast Massachusetts and one each for Detroit, MI, and Dunkirk, NY, freshly added to the network’s map.

⭐ Graviti Energy added three locations in Texas, serving Corpus Christi, Houston, and Refugio. The latter is the most notable, bringing four 160kW fast charging ports to the Refugio Travel Center in the south of the state, on an underserved stretch of US-77.

⚫ Blink Charging opened three new charging locations in as many states (MI, NH, and TN), all of them at auto dealerships. The pick of the bunch is an eight-stall site at Fox Ford Lincoln in Traverse City, MI, which also adds a neat awning to protect the hardware and identify the charging spaces for EV drivers.

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, or Under Construction

🐧 Kempower equipment graces this section for the second week in a row, with some potentially impressive new sites in the pipeline for the Southeastern US, courtesy of PowerUp America. The first location is expected to be in Manchester, KY, with Kempower’s minimalist satellite system creating plenty of space for a full canopy, pull-through charging stalls, along with both CCS1 and NACS/J3400 connectors.

🚨 IONNA also delivered positive news in the pipeline phase this week, confirming three more locations officially underway across the Southeast. Locations in Brunswick, GA, Concord, NC, and Rock Hill, SC, all add to the network’s burgeoning presence in the region. The permit-spotting talents of AlejandroEV66 also uncovered upcoming Rechargeries in Quartzsite, AZ, and Covington, WA.

📝 More permitting activity on the Supercharger side as well, as MarcoRP on X/Twitter shared details of new Tesla fast charging locations coming to Yuma, AZ, and California sites in Gridley, El Dorado Hills, and a third Supercharger for busy Campbell, CA.

🪙 Utah shared its latest NEVI details, including the fact that the state has used updated guidance to become another member of the “Fully Built Out” club of states. That means it can start deploying funds away from Alternative Fuels Corridors (AFCs), bringing EV charging to communities and more remote locations, away from primary travel routes. Construction is confirmed at seven locations across the state, all of which you can find on our ever-expanding NEVI map.

💲 Pricing: ChargeSmart EV Offers Charging Discounts for Driver Feedback

News - NY-based charging vendor ChargeSmart EV is offering drivers an extended discount for the rest of the year, in exchange for feedback on the network. 

Numbers - EV drivers can secure 10% off all charging sessions on the ChargeSmart network through December 31st, 2025, by completing a relatively short survey designed to inform the future development of the network.

Nuance - We’ve seen plenty of discounts built around specific holiday weekends and even EV drivers submitting user-generated content related to their charging experiences, but this is our first with a specific network soliciting feedback with extended savings as the incentive. ChargeSmart’s pricing has been on the higher end of the spectrum at the sites we’ve monitored, so the offer and questions around potential membership savings hint at changes to come in that area of network operations. As IONNA has shown, listening to customers builds goodwill, and we applaud ChargeSmart for this approach.

Next Up - The offer runs through the end of the year, so if you’re traveling around the Northeast this could be a welcome holiday travel discount on DC fast charging, or a level 2 overnight charge at one of ChargeSmart’s many hotel site hosts.

🚛🚖 Fleet Focus: WattEV Unveils Solid State Transformer to Speed Up Fleet MCS Deployment

News - HDEV fleet solutions provider WattEV announced its new medium voltage power conversion system, a solid-state transformer (SST) designed to hasten the rollout of Megawatt Charging System (MCS) electric truck chargers.

Numbers - The system is designed to bring multiple components required for megawatt charging into a single, integrated system. Direct conversion from 12KV-15KV to DC, with variable voltage and current, delivers true megawatt charging capacity at 1.2 to 3.8 MW.

Nuance - The product’s development was funded in part by the California Energy Commission (CEC), which awarded WattEV $75.6 million in early 2024 for the wider development of HDEV charging infrastructure. Megawatt levels of power for electric trucks with large batteries remain limited, in part due to the complexity and high upfront CapEx required for deployment. WattEV’s system promises to replace the need for a step-down transformer, switchgear, and low-voltage rectifiers, delivering more convenient and cost-effective megawatt charging installations.

Next Up - WattEV confirms it has completed its proprietary design for the new solid-state transformer system and is targeting 2026 for production-ready unit deployment.

🎧 Amped Up for Audio 🔌

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

This week, we pay a first visit to the Society of Automotive Engineers, better known as SAE, to unpack curbside charging on the organization’s Tomorrow Today podcast.

🎧 it’s electric founders on the promise + EVolution of US curbside charging 💡

Host Grayson Brulte is joined by Tiya Gordon and Nathan King, founders of it’s electric, a company often featured in these pages.

🔋💯 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:

Rangeway adds fractional CMO + shares “tourism corridor charging” vision

First Rivian Electric Delivery Vehicles enter Amazon’s Canadian fleet

Terawatt marks the opening of new fleet charging hub in Rialto, CA

Electric Era recognized as one of Linkedin’s top 3 Seattle-based startups

bp pulse celebrates Houston Hobby Gigahub opening with 1 cent charging event

Mercedes-Benz HPC announces “Chargegiving” driver event in Connecticut

Oregon’s latest round of funding for L2 charging opens this week (Info session one day prior, on Wed. 5th November - register here)

Colorado DCFC Plazas funding round open (deadline 12/5/25 @ 5PM)

MCPA Minnesota corridor DCFC grants opened this week with a $1.89M budget - Apply here (deadline: 12/9/25 @ 4PM)

Now in phase 2, Arizona is accepting bids for 34 NEVI stations (deadline: 1/16/25)

California’s FCCP incentives program application period has been extended into next year (new deadline: 1/29/26) — assistance with applications is available here

If you found this edition useful, please share the value 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

🔔 Essential EV Follow - Vartan Badalian (CSE)

📍Charging Site of the Week: bp pulse Gigahub @ Hobby Airport (Houston, TX)