Good day, fellow cabin preconditioner 🥶⚡🔥🥵

Rising fast-charging networks are the ones to watch as we close out the year, with both Mercedes-Benz HPC and (this week) IONNA reaching 50 locations in early December. Each of the networks also has that number again in the planning pipeline, meaning it won’t be long before we see both operators hit 100.

Further back, Walmart Energy is still clearing the runway, but the retail giant’s ambitions are clear: reliable and convenient DC fast charging at thousands of its stores by 2030.

With the charging landscape showing remarkable resilience after a turbulent year, here’s your digest of this week’s EVI developments across the US and Canada ⤵️

News - Early reports from Tesla confirm what many expected to see this holiday season: more electric vehicles sold this year means more hitting the road for Thanksgiving peak in the US. With Superchargers now open to almost every major automaker as well as Tesla models, Tesla Charging confirmed all-time records set from Wednesday-Sunday (11/26 to 11/30/25). Paren also recorded Saturday as the busiest day for utilization, though Sunday at 3PM (Eastern) was their recorded peak.

Numbers - Tesla’s prompt reporting confirms the most conclusive records, with more than two million charging sessions and 70+ GWh of energy delivered, 22% of which occurred on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. That’s 11.4 sessions per stall per day, with the average per session hitting 35 kWh, where previous quarters saw highs of 33kWh. Tesla also confirmed less than 1% of EV drivers experienced a wait, demonstrating widespread success on routing management, which represents a potential pitfall of utilization spikes.

Nuance - Away from Superchargers, which clearly remain the backbone for long-distance EV travel in the United States, other expanding networks helped soak up some of the pressure that could have added to busy Tesla locations. For example, during our Thanksgiving 2025 travel swinging through a Flying-J location in central Pennsylvania, four of the five EVs that swung through in the time we visited could have used the nearby Tesla Supercharger. That was at 50% capacity as we plugged in, emphasizing the value of densification when it comes to multiple EV charging options at one exit.

Next Up - The Christmas travel period is less intense than the focused driving days pre- and post-Thanksgiving, but it provides an extended opportunity for charging vendors to gauge the current level of utilization and test their offering with new EV drivers. Inclement weather, low light, and cold temperatures curtailing range/power all make EV trips about as complicated as it gets at this time of year. All vendors want to emerge with the kind of report Tesla offers here: utilization up, wait times low, and reliability concerns a thing of the past. Watch for our continued reporting as the holiday season progresses ❄️👀

News - Nayax acquired EV charging platform Lynkwell this week, aligning one of the leading payment systems with a growing charging solutions provider that spans property, fleet, government, and public charging applications.

Numbers - $25.9 million is the purchase price for Nayax, though 93 might be the more pertinent number for US EV drivers. That’s the combined total of sites under the umbrella of Lynkwell’s ViaLynk fast charging network and those listed under Nayax Energy. ViaLynk also has more than 600 L2 charging sites under management across a wide portfolio of clients, showing one of the many reasons for Nayax’s interest.

Nuance - From a charging network perspective, the addition of ViaLynk to the Nayax portfolio adds a strong East Coast presence, with fast charging clustered in the Northeast (Lynkwell is based in New York state) and L2 stretching through the Mid-Atlantic and down as far as Florida. From a systems perspective, the acquisition builds in EV charging management features that will broaden Nayax’s offering in the space.

Next Up - Watch for future news on the emergence of Nayax Energy as a player in both fleet charging and public deployments across the L2 and DCFC landscape. Fleets hold particular potential, given the need to closely monitor costs and deliver seamless transactions for professional drivers and their employers, for whom time is money.

News: it’s electric celebrated passing a notable transaction milestone this week, emphasizing the early days of progress for curbside charging in a handful of US cities.

Numbers: 5,000+ transactions from 23 ports in what is effectively the company’s first year with multiple locations in operation.

Nuance: EV drivers in densely populated areas are eagerly awaiting new solutions, as the limited charging options for renters who can’t charge and those who park on the street are frequently fully utilized.

Next Up: The most recent announcement from it’s electric will bring 90 of its curbside posts to Los Angeles, 15 of which should be going live in Koreatown this month. The map above will surely start emanating some fairly large circles once the company arrives in one of the largest markets for electric vehicles in the United States.

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News - A data drop from Shell Recharge juices Canadian additions to the AFDC this week, with 46 charging locations that didn’t previously appear in the listings north of the border. Although many of these were in operation before December, the drop takes Shell’s site count up significantly in one fell swoop. Other notable additions from bp pulse, IONNA, Tesla, and Walmart Energy catching up on its data entry duties with sites in three states.

Numbers - 468 DC charging ports at 91 charging locations added to the Alternative Fuels Data Center this week, spread across 21 states and provinces.

Notable New Stations + AFDC Additions:

🍁 Where else to start but Shell’s surge in Canada, which covers six provinces and a wide variety of charging locations. We’ll dig deeper in a vendor spotlight later this month, encompassing these additions and the pending impact of Shell selling hundreds of former Volta locations to JOLT Charge, but the data drop brings the network back above 200 active fast-charging sites in North America. The additions break out at Shell properties across five provinces as follows: BC - 19 sites / ON - 18 sites / AB - 5 / SK - 3 / MB - 1. Many appear to have new NACS connectors, which could be what prompted the update.

✈️ bp pulse continued the network’s addition trend of small site count/big stall count, with just two locations adding more than 50 stalls to bp’s US charging map. The Gigahub in Des Plaines, IL, will justifiably take all the headlines, serving O’Hare airport at a time of year infamous for frozen Tesla Superchargers. The Gigahub adds 40 stalls for Chicagoland EV drivers, while another site at a TA in Brunswick, GA, is another valuable addition with 12 x 400kW stalls right off I-95.

🔴 A relatively quiet week for Tesla, despite two solid Supercharger additions in Canada (Parry Sound, ON, and Rivière-du-Loup, QC). Those locations deliver 28 new stalls north of the border, while another four sites in as many states add 52 more stalls, for a total of 80 this week in North America. Anchorage, AK, is a notable add, while Jessup, MD, is the state’s second NEVI-funded location to open.

🔷 EVgo opened more locations in partnership with California’s Ethan Conrad Properties this week, with 12 stalls in Folsom and 10 in Salinas. Another site in Houston, TX, rounds out a rare week with no Pilot-Flying J additions, with the third EVgo owned/operated location bringing six 350kW stalls to the Parkway Village retail complex.

🛒 With a little bit of catch-up admin, Walmart Energy added four known sites to the AFDC listings at Supercenters in Arizona, Florida, and Texas. Three of the four feature ABB’s latest A400 all-in-one DC unit, as the nation’s largest retailer spreads its partner hardware more evenly between ABB and Alpitronic.

🟠 IONNA held an info day in North Carolina last week (great summary from Patrick and Liv at The Electric Duo below), during which they moved from 45 to 49 Rechargeries open. This week’s new additions are in Orlando, FL, Forest Park, GA, Brooklyn Park, MN, and Ashland, VA. Subsequent PlugShare activity shows Rechargery # 50 stirring at a Wawa in Richmond, IN, which will add another puzzle piece on the cross-country route via I-70.

🔶 Rivian opened a new RAN site in Monticello, UT. This one only adds four stalls to the network, but the location is key, serving EV drivers with limited DCFC options on the remote route south of Moab, on the way to Colorado, Arizona, or New Mexico.

⭐ Mercedes-Benz High Power Charging continued its triumphant march toward the upper echelons of North American DC locations, with the site in Holyoke, MA, now online for winter trips up I-91. I stumbled across opening day after finishing up an enjoyable afternoon at DC Station in Northampton, MA, which has the potential to become a shining light of the Pioneer Valley’s fast charging landscape. Congratulations to Bruce and Greg on what promises to be a notable location.

⭕ Red E just keeps on rolling, with 22 new fast charging stalls across six locations in Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, and Vermont. The latter is a valuable local addition here in New England, sited in the scenic town of Woodstock, VT. Power is limited to 60kW per port on the ubiquitous AUTEL hardware but, given the town center location and nearby business on this remote route, the deployment matches the dwell time for most visitors.

⚡ Limited NEVI activations this week, although the aforementioned Tesla Supercharger at a Royal Farms in Jessup, MD, does bring the federally funded locations to 135 across 18 states. The Kwik Trip location in Fond du Lac, WI, is also showing up in the Kwik Charge app, which is typically a sign that activation is just days away.

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

📝 As IONNA hits 50 sites, fences are confirmed up at three new locations in Parkville, MO, and McHenry + Vernon Hills in Illinois. All will be Rechargeries @ Casey’s c-stores. Further back on the paper trail, AlejandroEV66 on X/Twitter identified IONNA permits filed for sites in Lodi, CA, plus two in Illinois (Hanover Park and Arlington Heights).

🚧 We have to stick with IONNA again for the construction segment, given the massive 900 charging bays reported under construction (and 3,600+ permitted/contracted, to add more work for Alejandro + permit spotters!) Even if the 30-40 locations identified as in the construction phase add 16 stalls each, that would still leave another 20-30 Rechargeries in progress. Given that many of these already date back several months and the network’s typical turnaround from fences up to activation is currently around 90 days, watch for a surge in openings throughout the winter months.

🔴 New Tesla permits spotted by MarcoRP on X/Twitter for Superchargers in Clearwater, FL, Rochelle Park, NJ, Orem, UT, Danville, VA, and Vancouver, WA.

🔶 Rivian has a couple of new Adventure Network locations permitted, in Santa Clarita, CA, and Boise, ID. RANtracker also shared spec details on the Gen 1.5 hardware that opens RAN to all models. Only 11 Rivian fast charging sites remain to be upgraded to this hardware before the network is 100% open to non-Rivian EVs.

News - Within a few weeks of extending significant charging credits to GM EV drivers approaching Thanksgiving, EVgo this week offered members with paid plans a further charging credit for January.

Numbers - $20 in charging credits will be available to EVgo members who have a paid plan, if they activate a charge session on the network in December and take in 5kWh or more. Plans cost $6.99/month for EVgo Plus, which delivers ~15% discount on normal charging rates, and $12.99/month for PlusMax, which ramps discounts to around 30%.

Nuance - EVgo’s offer is worth around one charging session at most locations and requires members to carry a plan into January 2026 to receive the credits. Although unconnected to the GM-specific credits, that offer reached a wide audience. Tied to another promotion that extends into the New Year, it’s a smart play to encourage members to upgrade their plan, or carry it for longer, to take advantage of credits.

Next Up - At a time when the charging landscape looks more competitive than ever, even before some of the networks with most potential have established a true nationwide presence, back-to-back promotions like this are designed to attract and keep drivers in the EVgo fold. Membership plans aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they unlock lower rates and make drivers more likely to stick with one provider. Publicly-traded EVgo will be looking to keep its utilization rising to report a strong fourth quarter early next year.

News - The US Postal Service (USPS) provided an update on its much-maligned efforts to electrify the operations of its delivery fleet.

Numbers - 8,500 battery-electric delivery vehicles are now on the road across the United States, representing 24.2% of the new vehicles added to USPS fleet operations as part of a $9.6 billion upgrade program. The plan aims to add 106,000 new vehicles by 2028, 42% of which will be next-gen electric delivery vehicles and another 20% representing “off-the-shelf” commercial BEV additions.

Nuance - To support the service’s gradual electrification, USPS acquired 14,000+ chargers to upgrade its facilities for regular EV charging. Although every federal electrification program appeared under threat in the early months of the new administration earlier in 2025, the USPS update provides only positive feedback on the new EVs from fleet managers and letter carriers alike.

Next Up - The future USPS fleet aims to integrate more than 45,000 battery-electric delivery vehicles specifically designed for the Postal Service, as well as some 21,000 production BEVs for other operational duties. The wider plan sets 2028 as the endpoint of its overall upgrade program.

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

This week, we check back with the eMobility Marketing Podcast from Nexxt Industry, for a look behind-the-scenes at the digital side of putting charger pins on the map.

🎧Ensuring Digital Visibility for EV Charging Stations w/ Arne Meusel📍

Host Theo Reichgelt is joined by Cirrantic’s Arne Meusel to explain why EV charging visibility can be a lot more complicated than it sounds, and what network operators and site hosts can do to make sure visibility oversights don’t destroy their charger utilization.

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:

ChargePoint partners with Dabaja Brothers to bring DC hubs to metro Detroit

Rangeway partners with Juice for advanced charging/payment activation

US Inside EV Charging Summit to feature experts from Samsung, Electric Era, ChargerHelp, Electrify America, AMPECO (Thurs. December 11th)

GM partners with PG&E on $4,500 home energy/charging system incentives

MB-HPC confirms latest locations as network passes 500 charging stalls

bp pulse $0.01 per kWh launch event at Chicago Gigahub on Thurs. Dec. 18th

Application period open for Rebuild Illinois funding opportunity (DCFC + L2)

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

NMDOT opened up the state’s third phase of NEVI funding (deadline: 12/31/25) - Full application details here.

Now in phase 2, Arizona is accepting bids for 34 NEVI stations (deadline: 1/16/26)

California’s FCCP incentives program application period remains open (deadline: 1/29/26) — assistance with applications is available here

Michigan’s DTE is now accepting applications for grants from its Emerging Technology Fund through January 31st, 2026

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 for all the latest EVI development in edition 49 of The Weekly 1.21⚡

Cheers,

Steve / Plug & Play EV