Good day, fellow EV observer,

This is one of those wonderful weeks in which more stories emerge than can be crammed into a single edition. I’m almost certain we’ll have overlooked an impactful story or exciting new charging location in this one, so hit reply if you see any glaring omissions.

By the way, you’ll notice that this edition dropped into your inbox a little earlier than previous weeks. I’d love to know if that’s a good or bad thing, so take a second to tap your preference below before proceeding to this week’s news…

You can also add any suggestions/feedback for the newsletter as a whole. Thank you kindly!

And now, on to your weekly digest of the freshest EV infrastructure developments across the US and Canada ⤵️

News - Australian company Jolt, which manages EV charging and out-of-home (OOH) advertising assets in its home country, has acquired a “substantial portion” of the Volta network, which was bought by Shell in 2023. As reported in edition 31, Shell had announced plans to dismantle the network, but many Volta locations will now be saved.

Numbers - Jolt will acquire “a strategic selection of Volta assets”, with the only confirmed numbers citing 64 designated marketing areas across 34 states. This means that Jolt’s team will use its OOH expertise to cherry pick sites it knows are in valuable advertising markets, while leaving Shell to foot the bill to remove underperforming locations.

Nuance - Volta was always a strange fit for Shell, acting as a bolt-on network to the already haphazard US rollout of the Shell Recharge brand. Expensive stations in unpredictable locations alongside the lower power Volta locations, predictable but rooted in the ad-supported free charging model. Jolt looks like a much more natural owner that can leverage the aspect that makes Volta unique: vibrant displays in prominent locations that reach customers far beyond the EV driver segment.

Next Up - The agreement is expected to close on January 1st, 2026, subject to satisfaction of closing conditions. Jolt says it then plans to move into major US markets throughout the year, using selected Volta locations as a foundation for further expansion.

News - Tesla Charging this week joined Electrify America as one the few remaining charging vendors to add live location availability to Google Maps. This brings the number of stalls available at any given Supercharger into the personal devices and routing systems of non-Tesla owners, who previously had to check the Tesla app to view the real-time status of Tesla charging locations.

Numbers - The invaluable supercharge.info currently shows more than 3,000 Supercharger locations across the United States and Canada, with 2,883 in the US, and another 264 north of the border.

Nuance - While not all locations are open to non-Tesla models, the Supercharger network still represents the most ubiquitous option for almost every EV (only BMW still awaiting NACS Partner access, after VW enters the fray this week). Adding availability to their most widely used mapping application will make route planning easier, especially on the go. But Tesla Charging’s Max de Zegher challenged Google and third-party vendors to step up their efforts, positioning Tesla’s wait predictions, availability algorithm, and dynamic re-routing based on those inputs as the next step for such providers.

Next Up - As EV Pin’s Maythem Alsodani succinctly put it on Linkedin this week, “the closed network model is dead.” No serious business with a physical location would ignore its Google Maps listing, and the same is quickly becoming true for EV charging vendors. All of the major players now send a near-real-time location feed to Google Maps (EVgo and ChargePoint already showed availability, and Electrify America joined a few weeks ago). Any network failing to do so heading into the rapidly maturing charging landscape without sharing such data risks being invisible to a large swathe of EV drivers.

News: Curbside charging pioneer it’s electric, which currently offers the only bring your own cable (BYOC) charging solution in the US, has added Los Angeles to the list of city curbs it will electrify this year.

Numbers: LADOT selected the company to install 90 of its charging posts (which currently offer a single socket, so one post = one port). The first three locations will be active in the Koreatown neighborhood of the city, with more to follow in 2026.

Nuance: Part of the promise of the it’s electric solution lies in SAE J3068, the standard underpinning BYOC, that was made available by the shift to the NACS connector type. Here’s a helpful J3068 video primer from industry expert Ned Funnell on what’s happening in the wiring, and why the entrance of this tech will be a big boost (73%, to be precise) to some fleet charging solutions.

Next Up: it’s electric now has agreements to deploy in major cities on both coasts, as well as locations in Michigan. Adding Los Angeles to the mix, along with existing San Francisco locations, 44% of which the company says are in use 24/7, effectively inserts it’s electric into the conversation for curbside charging in the state that needs it most. Read more insights like that from co-founder Tiya Gordon’s conversation with Patrick George, for the always-excellent Route Zero newsletter.

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News - A solid week for Canada this week, at least in terms of AFDC additions in its most EV-friendly provinces, while NEVI sites took the approach of London buses and all appeared in one morning. Walmart Energy’s arrival in Arizona with ABB hardware is also worthy of note, as big box retail’s role in DC fast charging begins to loom large.

Numbers - 317 DC charging ports at 62 charging locations added to the Alternative Fuels Data Center this week, spread across 21 states and provinces.

Notable New Stations + AFDC Additions:

🛒 Walmart Energy opened its first charging locations in Arizona, which also feature the network debut of ABB’s sleek-looking A400 all-in-one charging hardware. Walmart Supercenter #3833 in Mesa, and #4451 in Queen Creek, are happy homes to the first eight A400 dispensers (possibly first in the US, though Canada’s On the Run Charging beat them to the punch north of the border). Like the Hyperchargers at Walmart’s earlier sites, at each location 4 x A400s serve eight stalls at 400kW maximum/200kW shared.

🌊 BC Hydro continued its expansion to all corners of the province, with new fast-charging locations added at the Wire Cache Rest Area (2 x CCS/CHAdeMO and 1 x J1772 plug) and at the ominously-named Shot in the Dark restaurant in Woss, BC (same setup) on Vancouver Island.

⚡ New NEVI sites for two of the leading states keep things interesting at the top, with Ohio finally back on the activation trail with an EVgo site in West Chester, OH, and Pennsylvania punching back immediately with an opening for Francis Energy in Breezewood, PA. The new locations put Ohio on 20 open NEVI sites and its eastern neighbor on 21, but PA has far more sites under construction, which should maintain its lead well into 2026. Not long after, Tesla opened PA’s 22nd site under the program 👇🏻

🔴 Never one to be left out of the action, Tesla energized the long-awaited Shrewsbury Supercharger in Pennsylvania to make it 125 NEVI stations open across the country. Naturallly, there was much more happening outside of the Midwest, with 183 stalls at 12 new Superchargers in 10 states. 39 stalls in West Palm Beach, FL, takes the plaudits for the largest Tesla site of the week, but it’s the Durango Supercharger pictured below, complete with pull-through stalls and Rocky Mountain backdrop, that wins most scenic site.

🔵 bp pulse added 18 new stalls to the board. Not at a single airport Gigahub, as seen in recent weeks, but at two TravelCenters of America locations in Hebron, OH (6 stalls), and El Paso, TX (12 stalls).

⚡ Pilot-Flying J opened one of its largest locations to date, an 8-stall (four dispenser) location with a full canopy in Elkton, MD. This is also Maryland’s second NEVI-funded site activated, with the first another P-FJ station up in more remote Grantsville, MD.

🔷 ZEFNET added new charging options in its home state of Minnesota, with some much-needed Kempower fast chargers in Duluth at Wild State Cider. The network also added two new locations in Quincy, IL, one at a Holiday Inn and another at the John Woods Community College.

⭕ Red E continued its streak of weekly openings across multiple states, with the now familiar sight of new charging sites in Michigan and Massachusetts joined by locations in Missouri and Georgia. The latter brings a public fast charging option above 100kW at I-95’s exit 109, for Port Wentworth, GA, which is always a worthy addition. Check out the first network tracking update for Red E above, courtesy of Dan the EV Man on YouTube.

🔶 Rivian opened new Adventure Network locations in Waco, TX, and Valley Stream, NY, which serves travelers on Long Island. The automaker is also closing in on making the RAN fully publicly accessible, with more than 90% of the network now upgraded to gen. 1.5 hardware, which is open to any CCS1 vehicle (and others, if they have the right adapter). Spokane, WA, and Burley, ID, are the latest Rivian chargers to be upgraded, according to Rivian Roamer.

🟠 After a week of 16-stall site openings, IONNA opened two new small-format charging sites in Carlin, NV, and here on our Greater Boston doorstep in Reading, MA. No photos of the former yet, but our first local Rechargery keeps things pretty basic, with no canopies and only sit-down restaurants in the corresponding lot. A short walk hits Starbucks and a grocery store, however, so visitors have walkable options (at least until it snows 🥶). Check out our site visit video above to see what a session looks like.

🔌Electric Circuit added four new fast charging ports in Sainte-Adèle, QC, adding more DCFC options for travelers heading north of Montreal on route 117.

⚫ Blink Charging opened two new dealership charging locations, one at a Ford location in North Rich, TX, and the other at a CJDR lot in Mount Orab, OH.

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

🚧 IONNA posted a “fences up” notice covering two known permitted locations for new Rechargeries in Las Vegas, as well as a third in Boerne, Texas. The latter is a previously unidentified location on I-10, a little north of San Antonio. The network will also host what it’s calling a “Grand Tour” of California this week, featuring groundbreaking ceremonies and site previews at future locations throughout the state.

🔴 New Tesla locations in Vacaville, CA, Waldorf, MD, & Gatlinburg, TN, were identified in permitting by MarcoRP on X. Meanwhile, an update from Jacob/AP1 in New Mexico confirms the Carlsbad Supercharger, pictured below, is pending activation, awaiting a meter from Xcel Energy. Stay tuned for our Coast-to-Coast EVs podcast this week for various updates from Jacob on EV infrastructure progress in the desert southwest.

🪙 More NEVI sites are under construction in multiple states, including leader Pennsylvania, rapidly progressing Utah and Wisconsin, and the slower burn of states in the Southeast. Progress in Kentucky and Georgia is an especially welcome sight, as the early acceleration of states in the Midwest and Northeast begins to creep down the coast. Watch new station activations and in-progress sites pop up every week here on our NEVI site tracking map.

☀️ Suncoast Charging hinted at a November 20th opening for its first location - and the first Supercharger for Business (third-party-owned, Tesla-operated) site - in the US. A placeholder calendar date on a post about design shows a ribbon-cutting for The Hub at Bexley at 11AM in Land O’Lakes, FL, which aligns with the expected November open date (given the following week is Thanksgiving).

News - Tesla confirmed on Friday that its live pricing pilot, which began at a handful of locations in California earlier this year, is now live at Superchargers across Florida, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey.

Numbers - 550 new locations were added to the pricing pilot across the four new states, adding to the early pilot sites located in California.

Nuance - The dynamic pricing model adjusts peak and off-peak Supercharger prices based on live utilization at the site, rather than estimated usage. Tesla says this corrects off-peak pricing during times of congestion, as well as the potential for peak use pricing when Superchargers are underutilized. The price is displayed dynamically in the Tesla app (or vehicle display, for Tesla owners) before a session begins, and is fixed at that rate for the duration of the charge session.

Next Up - The significantly expanded rollout indicates that Tesla got enough data from the California pilot sites to suggest live pricing is an effective way to manage congestion. Expect to see another 3-6 months for this wider experiment to deliver enough data for analysis, at which point we could see this pricing approach become the norm at busy Supercharger sites in 2026.

News - Fleet charging solutions provider Terawatt Infrastructure celebrated the launch of its latest California hub in Rialto, CA, serving the I-10 corridor into Los Angeles.

Numbers - A total of 73 charging bays, with 18 x 350kW pull-through stalls and 55 pull-in/bobtail bays, with gated access that includes 24/7 security and sitewide cameras.

Nuance - The 350 kW is supplied by Delta Electronics, using the same hardware familiar to passenger EV drivers at Pilot-Flying J truck stops and other EVgo charging locations. It caters to larger electric fleet models, including Class 6-8 commercial trucks. Given the potentially high value of cargo moving through the facility, operational security and verified access to the hub have been prioritized by the Terawatt team.

Next Up - Back in April, Terawatt confirmed participation in a charging coalition that includes IKEA, Maersk, Microsoft, DHL, and other large players in commercial freight. Electrification is on the agenda of these companies, with deep pockets and California’s aggressive electrification targets set to continue driving key fleet charging hubs like this one well into 2026.

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

This week, it’s back to one of my personal favorites, the Volts podcast with David Roberts, to talk flexible energy with one of the leaders in my native UK, Octopus Energy.

🎧Octopus Energy US CEO Nick Chaset talks flexible energy for US residents🐙

Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus in the United States, joins David to discuss the company’s offerings and how they translate to the broader market across different states. His approach includes acting as a retail provider in competitive states like Texas and partnering with regulated utilities elsewhere to provide "flexibility as a service", driven by Octopus's Kraken platform, to deliver customer savings and help utilities stabilize the grid.

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:

NYC curbside charging pilot reports on utilization success/maintenance stumbles

Volkswagen owners to gain access to North American Superchargers this week

EVision Solutions to host 12/3 ride & drive event for local Georgia fleet operators

Autonomous electric trucking operator Einride goes public via SPAC

Rangeway taps ChargeMate, HyWatts, WattsUp for tech/support functions

SparkCharge launches SparkAI for commercial fleet off-grid charger monitoring

Illinois announces a new $20M funding opportunity for multi-level EVSE installs

Oregon’s latest round of funding for L2 charging opened this past week

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: 1/16/26)

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