Good day, fellow Fast Charger ⚡⚡⚡

Another month is in the books, and we’re still waiting for the kind of consistent DCFC deployments that would make 2026 another record year for fast-charging in North America.

Although April started with a flurry of activity, we’re still awaiting spring surges from sleeping giants like IONNA, which added only 5 new locations last month, and others with regional potential, such as Applegreen Electric, which will electrify many service plazas this year but added just a single location in April.

However, hope springs eternal in the form of Walmart EV Charging, which kicked into gear with 11 new sites, and Tesla’s now largely public Supercharger network, which leads activations every week and now has Supercharger for Business sites to further increase its numbers.

Here are the latest EV infrastructure developments across the US and Canada ⤵️

News - Although the first quarter of 2026 lagged the previous year’s Q1 station activations by more than 100 sites, the first full month of spring showed signs that this year could still deliver record DCFC growth in the US and Canada. A unique mix of new entrants, NEVI progress, and hardware competition heating up appears to be aligning for a spring surge that promises rapid expansion in the US, with Canada starting to see targeted expansions that build on its firm foundation of utility-led networks.

Numbers - The US added more than 700 DCFC sites in Q1 2025, but could only just surpass 600 in a frigid first quarter of 2026. Canada typically adds between 150 and 200 new locations in a quarter, and maintains that steady pace in Q1 2026. The most promising numbers come when we include April, with Walmart opening 48 new locations so far in 2026 and promising hundreds more for the remainder of the year. 23 sites from Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program also offer a ray of hope, though around half are upgrades to existing sites rather than brand-new locations.

Nuance - Competition among hardware OEMs is brewing, which could, in turn, bring more EV charging entrepreneurs into the mix this year. Walmart EV Charging’s two remaining equipment suppliers, ABB and Alpitronic, sum this up: a longstanding name (ABB) that underpinned 12% of all DCFC sites in 2025, now challenged by a new entrant (Alpitronic) with its hardware present at 10% of sites added so far in 2026, according to our analysis in an upcoming report on fast-charging hardware distribution.

Beyond those two names, Tesla’s Supercharger for Business has empowered industry veterans to strike out on their own, adding cost transparency and building into sites that Tesla might not have considered. Tapping Kempower has helped launch Get Charged EVs in New York and build out MN Power sites in Minnesota, and may also open a new wave of expansion for industry veteran Blink. And AUTEL equipment is becoming a common sight across some parts of the US, thanks in no small part to Red E’s success.

Next Up - Our report on the past year of DC Fast Charging hardware in the US/Canada is released later this month. Share your feedback below on the importance of covering hardware OEM developments (and to get the report, for those indicating interest).

News - Mercedes-Benz High Power Charging will hold its latest “Driver Dialogues” event this week, on our doorstep here in Greater Boston at the network’s Braintree, MA location.

Numbers - 90 sites are now open across the US (26 states) and Canada (one province). The network exceeded 800 ports in April and averages about 9 stalls per site. The average price is $0.45 per kWh, reflecting the midpoint between the network’s standard price of $0.50 per kWh and the $0.40 per kWh rate that Mercedes-Benz offers at select locations, such as newly opened sites, in many cases.

Nuance - Mercedes-Benz is now in an intriguing position serving North American EV drivers, as the company is also one of eight automakers behind the growing IONNA network. Having just passed 100 sites and 1,000 ports, IONNA is only slightly ahead of MB-HPC but has hundreds more sites in the pipeline, from contracted to under construction. With IONNA’s recent takeover of Circle K’s US DCFC sites, reported in edition 67, overlap between the automaker-backed networks (same hardware, similar pricing, commitment to quality) has many pondering if the two will eventually join forces.

Next Up - MB-HPC has 13 more “coming soon” sites on its map, which would bring the network up to 103 sites and put it close to, or possibly past, the 1,000-port milestone. To sign up for the Braintree event, use this link. Hope to see some of you there!

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News - Another relatively strong week for AC charging additions, although Canadian installations again remain limited to the country’s primary EV markets (BC/ON/QC), and the US relies on a large residential site deployment in Texas to keep the port count up.

Numbers - 612 L2 charging ports added to the Alternative Fuels Data Center this week, spread across 28 states and 3 Canadian provinces.

Notable New L2 + AFDC Additions:

◾ Blink eclipsed its quiet previous week’s port count of 12, with 130 port activations at 9 sites in as many states over the past 7 days. The RESI EV site in Austin, TX, alone accounts for two-thirds of that total, with 86 L2 ports added at the Waterline, a new-build multi-use complex near the Colorado River. Other notable locations include 16 ports for visitors to the Wilmington Hospital in Delaware, and destination charging now available to guests at the Loews Hotel in Kansas City, MO.

🔷 FLO added 21 AC ports across 7 locations, including 5 stalls at the Metropolis @ Metrotown in Burnaby, BC. South of the border, destination charging is proving to be a popular amenity at the Summerfields property in Franklin Township, NJ, with FLO adding 4 more stalls for residents to join the site’s existing ports.

🟠 ChargePoint added 154 ports across the United States and Canada. Our pick of the public bunch would be the 6 stalls added at the Anythink Nature Library in Thornton, CO, which looks like a very pleasant place to while away a few hours with education and electrons.

⚡ Vialynk dropped an impressive batch of L2 data, with 115 ports showing up across 23 locations. Unclear if these are all brand new installations or a wider update that has been awaiting upload, but all are at educational facilities across New York state, except for the 12 ports added to the Vermella property in East Brunswick, NJ.

⭕ Red E reported 6 ports across two municipal sites in Shelby, MI, and Batavia, NY. The latter appears to be a rehabilitated former Enel X site at the City Church.

☀️ 58 of this week’s ports are under the unexpected banner of Electrify America, which only typically shows up in the next section. All appear to be sites in California that use the iconic yet uncommon BEAM solar canopies, which have been around for several years and are, presumably, a part of some wider data cleansing for this update.

News - Not a spectacular week for DC charging additions in its own right, but the combined total ports for the US and Canada did pass a notable milestone this week. More than 80,000 fast-charging ports are now listed in the Alternative Fuels Data Center, with the more notable goal of six figures achievable by summer 2027, if current deployment rates hold.

Numbers - For the week, 256 DC charging ports at 49 charging locations were added to the AFDC, covering 19 states and 3 Canadian provinces.

Check out the DCFCtracker.com site to see a map of the latest AFDC additions, which can also be filtered down to the past week or month.

Notable New Locations + AFDC Additions:

🩶 Mercedes-Benz High Power Charging lit up a debut location in Ohio, as well as adding another two to its tally in Florida. The Copley, OH, site is notable for bridging the network’s limited presence in the Midwest and its more prolific coverage along the East Coast. Meanwhile, two new locations in Orlando bring the MB-HPC Florida site count to 11, putting the state just behind Georgia (13) and leader Texas (16) as the network’s favorite place to deploy.

📍 Red E added two more FasCharge locations to its presence in Arizona, bringing the total to 6 in the state, making the partnership two-thirds of the network’s footprint there. New activations in Mesa, AZ, and Chandler, AZ, pump the numbers this week, with additional sites in Red E’s larger markets, Michigan and New York, also opened.

⚡ Pilot-Flying J opened four new travel center charging locations under the EVgo eXtend partnership, the largest of which brings 6 stalls to Salt Lake City, UT. 4 stalls in Satsuma, AL, also bring welcome DCFC to an underserved stretch of I-65 in the South.

🟢 A slower week for Electrify America after several site activations with 10+ stalls in recent weeks, but new sites energized in Thornton, CO, and Philadelphia, PA, keep things ticking over for the #3 network in the US, by site count. The Colorado site is wrapped in a fetching red P66 wrap, rather than the usual white and green/blue of EA, indicating that this is one of the first few sites owned by Phillips 66 and operated under the Electrify Commercial arm of EA.

⚡ Pennsylvania enters its Electric Era, with a new NEVI site opened by the network at a Giant Eagle grocery store in Pittsburgh. The location features the familiar form of SK Signet’s P400K chargers, which are common across the state thanks to several Francis Energy installations, and paired with Electric Era’s battery-supported system to offset demand charges and balance power delivery.

🔴 A typically productive week for Tesla Charging, with a total of 131 new stalls across 11 sites, 4 of which are Supercharger for Business (SfB) locations. Of the Tesla-owned and operated sites, 24 stalls in Citrus Heights, CA, is the largest, while Greensboro, GA, becomes the latest true V4 Supercharger, capable of up to 500kW power delivery. North of the border, 8 stalls at the Discovery Harbour Shopping Center arrive with one of two new Superchargers in British Columbia.

⚪ Of the white-labeled SfB locations, which are owned by a third party but managed by Tesla, several continue expansions of the program in Florida. Wesley Chapel is home to the second site for Suncoast Charging, while Hialeah Gardens adds another Wawa-owned Supercharger to the map. The third is technically an upgraded location, as Francis Energy continues to replace aging hardware with Tesla’s kit, this time in Shawnee, OK.

⚡ One final special mention on the SfB side, as ChargedEV Hubs gets its debut site up and running in Norcross, GA. Pictured above, the site brings 8 stalls and up to 250kW at a location where the nearest competitor offers only half of the power and just 2 stalls. The clear winner is the neighboring Waffle House, which will benefit from the business of drivers seeking out any of these stalls.

🟠 IONNA opened its only location of the past few weeks, with the Sacramento Rechargery in California now online for charging at $0.20 per kWh during its 1st week.

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

🔶 Rivian agreed to an expansion of its partnership with Caruso Properties in Southern California, which will bring both showrooms and new fast-charging locations to the Los Angeles area and beyond. 150+ new Adventure Network chargers at retail locations set the stage for around 15-20 new RAN sites, with the network closing in on 150 sites and 1,000 ports at the time of writing.

📝 In permitting news, we have new Superchargers identified by MarcoRP1 for Anaheim, CA, Orlando, FL, and at a Buc-ee’s in San Marcos, TX. On the third-party charging side, a new Supercharger for Business is slated for Sunset Beach, CA, coming via Pay Energy and including a mix of ABB hardware alongside the Tesla units. This would be the first known SfB location with another OEM on-site with the Tesla kit.

✅ On the non-Tesla side, IONNA permits were spotted by EV Infrastructure Report for Austin, TX, to add to Noblesville, IN, and Pasadena, TX, which the account unearthed a week earlier. Walmart also has a whole new update from permitting to planned construction, with several updates from the same source in the video you’ll find at the end of this section.

🚧 Moving on to construction, progress at the second Pilot Travel Center with DCFC in New England has been much faster than the first, with Chicopee, MA, getting its transformer sooner than the Sturbridge site we monitored last year. The spaces appear to be undergoing rework, but it looks like we can expect to enjoy a rest stop at this newly built Pilot facility in time for summer travel.

⚪ Hot on the heels of the debut ChargedEV Hubs site in Georgia, detailed in the previous section, a second location in Morrisville, NC, is expected to open by summer.

🛒 At the most advanced end of Walmart EV Charging construction, look for new sites in Colorado Springs, CO, Lutz, FL, Bloomingdale, IL, and Lake St Louis, MO, to be energized any moment in May.

Is there an upcoming site in your area that the EV community needs to know about?

Reply to this email with the location and charging provider (if known) and we’ll add it to the next edition 🙌🏻

News - In the same week that the automaker confirmed the first Tesla Semi has rolled off the production line, Tesla also unveiled its Basecharger. Distinct from the full power Semicharger, the Basecharger is described as a “home charging” - or depot-based solution - for keeping electric trucks charged during extended downtime.

Numbers - 125kW doesn’t sound like a lot of power by today’s DC standards, especially for an electric truck with up to 900kWh of battery to fill, but it makes sense in the context of locations with a longer dwell time. An overnight charge of 8-10 hours is sufficient to fill even the long-range Semi, with Tesla citing “60% in 4 hours” as its target for Basecharger.

Nuance - The full extent of the Tesla Charging side of the business is becoming clear, as Megachargers and Basechargers now line up neatly under the “Semi Charging for Business” section of Tesla.com. They join Supercharger for Business and Wall Connector for Business, giving the company a range that spans everything from destination charging to corridor fast charging for every class of electric vehicle. With large names like TravelCenters of America and Pilot-Flying J already set to host Megachargers, expect the lower cost and proven reliability of Tesla’s system to attract plenty of interest in its fleet charging solutions.

Next Up - Basecharger deliveries are slated to begin in early 2027, according to Tesla Charging. The first Megachargers outside of the company’s production facilities and a debut site in Ontario, CA, are expected to open this summer.

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:

Virginia approves “Right to Charge” legislation for multi-family dwellings

Voltpost awarded District of Columbia grant for curbside charging installations

Sierra Club report shows federal charging programs moving but behind schedule

RocSys shares multi-bay Robotaxi charging solution

EVerged shares details on Zero-Cost EV Charging program

Electric Vehicle Association is accepting award nominations to May 8th, 2026

PlugShare officially launches Sponsored Pins for enhanced charging site visibility

Minnesota’s 3rd round NEVI RFI is open (through 4/30/26) for 74 DCFC sites.

Maryland’s round 3 NEVI solicitation is open for applications (through 6/24/26)

TxDOT confirmed applications for phase 2 of the Texas NEVI program are due 6/12/26

Efficiency Maine is seeking qualified bidders for L2 charging (up to $120K per site)

Pennsylvania offers $100M for community EV charging projects, with different 2026 NOFO windows across the state. Start with the Interested Organizations Survey here.

$10 million available for hotel charging sites via NJ EV Tourism Corridor Charging

The latest round of Colorado’s DCFC Plazas Program ($17M) opens 5/18/26 to 7/10/26

Oregon will open round 3 NEVI solicitations this summer

If you found this edition useful, pass it on to a friend, colleague, or family member interested in electrification.

See you next week ⚡

Cheers,

Steve / Plug & Play EV

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