Good day, fellow GOM Gambler 🪫🎲

If you headed out in your EV for a Memorial Day weekend trip, you can’t have missed the disparity between DC fast charging rates and the eye-watering prices of liquid fuel. A single charge session at IONNA’s weekend-long promotional rate of $0.20/kWh costs less than 3 gallons of regular gas in most locations, a price that many homeowners could lock in for local driving simply by transitioning to an EV and charging it at home.

It’s a reminder that every aspect of EV charging is important, with each new AC charger at a workplace or apartment complex, and every fast charger in a location that locals already use, potentially enabling an EV-curious driver to make the switch. And that’s why it’s so encouraging to report on this stuff across the US and Canada every Sunday.

To wit, here are this week’s latest EV infrastructure developments ⤵️

News - Urban charging hub developer Revel and fleet charging provider Voltera will join forces as a single entity, continuing operations under the Voltera brand. The new organization will be led by Revel CEO Frank Reig.

Numbers - Revel has 7 sites open in its core metro markets of New York City and San Francisco. Combined, the companies will eventually operate 1,000+ DCFC stalls across 11 US metropolitan areas, under the Voltera brand name. It’s important to note that this figure includes sites both operational and in the pipeline, so even the joint organization will remain a mid-level player in terms of coverage.

Nuance - Revel is barely a year into a pivot away from operating an electric rideshare fleet to focus on building charging hubs. Clearly, that business has been made more challenging by a passenger EV sales plateau and rampant competition in the EV charging space, as many Tesla Superchargers open up to other models and ambitious players like IONNA and bp pulse set their sights on metro area charging hubs. For Voltera, which is well-backed by private equity, the opportunity to snap up prime charging locations in dense urban areas, serving many different use cases across the electric fleet ecosystem, seems like a smart addition.

Next Up - An open question for the future lies in autonomous vehicles: how long will operators like Voltera have to wait to see the focus on charging for robotaxis and other autonomous fleet vehicles pay off? AV deployment timelines have a habit of slipping, meaning operations building towards that use case rely on rideshare driver charging choices and commercial fleet agreements to carry them through to the age of autonomy. Will that be enough? If it isn’t, expect to see more mergers, pivots, and further consolidation until utilization reaches sufficient levels.

📊 Sunday Stat: Last week, we focused on DCFC at fast food joints, but grocery stores see 3x higher utilization than quick service restaurants (QSR) that host fast chargers. Analysis by the team at Electric Era finds that grocery chains take the crown for the highest utilization among retail-adjacent fast-charging sites. Grocery stores saw 41.9 sessions per day (median) in the study of Paren data, while QSRs logged 13.7, despite comprising more than half of the sites analyzed.

News - Veteran charging provider Blink shared plans to expand its DCFC site mix, with multiple new locations that will primarily expand on the East Coast of the US.

Numbers - 14 new locations are planned in total, two of which are either open (Lafayette, CO) or close to completion (Idaho Falls, ID). Neither meet the East Coast qualifier, but there are clearly more to come. With its wider DCFC network, Blink operates more than 600 locations in 46 states, putting it among the top 10 North American fast-charging operators.

Nuance - Although Blink’s US fast-charging coverage is extensive, almost 500 locations (81% of the network) are hosted by auto dealers. As any EV owner will attest, that’s not a location you typically want to charge at while on the road or attempting to get things done as a local. Properties like the fitness center in Colorado, which hosts the first of these 14 sites, offer a path to get the Blink brand in front of EV drivers where they need it: places they already visit and park. And with the minimal footprint/granular power delivery of hardware partner Kempower’s Satellite system, metro sites, small c-stores, and other mixed-use retail lots are a natural fit for this expansion.

Next Up - Keep an eye on the remaining locations of this expansion to see what kinds of site hosts Blink has lined up. 14 new spots won’t make a huge dent in dealerships' overall dominance across the network, but they could indicate the types of locations Blink sees as most promising for diversifying its site mix.

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News - AC charging additions just keep ticking along, with unspectacular numbers again this week, despite unusually wide-ranging coverage of Canadian provinces.

Numbers - 382 L2 charging ports added to the Alternative Fuels Data Center this week, spread across 22 states and 5 Canadian provinces.

Notable New L2 + AFDC Additions:

🟠 ChargePoint added 257 ports across the United States and Canada, with 4 ports at the Holiday Inn in Overland Park, KS, a useful addition for anyone traveling through the state this summer. North of the border, 4 ports at 12kW each will serve visitors to the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve in North Vancouver, BC.

◾ Blink Charging added 13 new L2 ports at 3 locations, with 2 in Florida and 1 in Nebraska. The pick of the bunch is 6 ports at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando, FL, which add to 6 Tesla Destination chargers already at this location.

🌎 Earthlight Technologies confirmed installation of 20 AUTEL chargers at the Government Garage in Stamford, CT.

⚡ More commonly seen in the fast-charging section, EVCS shows up for L2 today by adding 10 ports at the Van Wig Elementary School in West Puente Valley, CA.

⭕ Red E energized 6 ports in Connecticut, with 4 at the Hilltop Inn & Suites in North Stonington, and 2 at the Town Hall in Willimantic.

🔷 FLO added 4 AC ports across 2 locations in Ontario, including 2 for students, faculty, and visitors at the University of Waterloo.

🔴 Last week, Tesla Charging provided an update for its April/May Wall Connector for Business deployments, which includes 480 AC ports across 69 sites in the US and one in Canada. Apartments, hotels, and retail centers across the US are all featured in this batch.

News - A stronger week for DC charging additions to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, as Walmart’s latest surge makes it into the listings and Canada posts stronger numbers to close out the month of May.

Numbers - For the week, 310 DC charging ports at 57 charging locations were added to the AFDC, covering 25 states and 4 Canadian provinces.

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

Notable New Locations + AFDC Additions:

🔴 Tesla Charging maintained its usual industry-leading pace, with 132 stalls deployed across 12 sites, one of which is in Canada (Burlington, ON). No full V4 Superchargers this week, but 20 stalls at a Cracker Barrel in Walterboro, SC, adds the largest location of the pack. Another Francis Energy upgraded site is among that number as a Supercharger for Business entry, in Norman, OK, which is the only SfB location logged this week.

🛣️ The travel center category is represented well by Love’s this week, which added new locations in Kentucky and Texas. Shepherdsville, KY, is the third of 7 sites that the company won from the state’s rapidly progressing NEVI deployment. A location in Van, TX, also adds to the options along a stretch of I-20 that is lacking truly high power charging, with up to 280kW available, under a full canopy and with NACS vehicles served via ChargePoint’s OmniPort system.

🛒 Walmart EV Charging almost kept pace with Tesla, adding 72 stalls at 9 locations across 4 states to AFDC listings. Subsequent openings occurred too late to make the retailer’s weekly upload, but added new locations in Washington State that mark the network’s first in the Pacific Northwest. Bellingham opened midweek alongside the aptly named Battle Ground, WA, which could easily describe the posture of rising players across the US fast-charging landscape. Another site in Ellenwood, GA, also helped WEVC push past 500 charging bays, leaving the network with 512 stalls at 61 locations in 15 states at the end of May.

📍 Pilot-Flying J also got in on the travel center action, with 4 stalls now available right off I-5 at the exit to Arlington, WA. The P-FJ network is quickly closing in on 300 sites.

⚡Reports of IONNA’s largest charging hub opening last week proved to be premature, as the Seffner Rechargery flickered into life only briefly before going dark again for some finishing touches. The network did still add to its presence of the opposite coast, however, with the opening of the Daly City Rechargery, south of San Francisco, CA.

🍁 3 new FLO stations add to Canada’s DCFC deployment numbers this week, all at dealership locations. Alberta, Ontario, and Newfoundland & Labrador all get new fast-charging options, although with a maturing market, the need to move on from auto dealer charging as a primary public option is beginning to become clear.

🟦 EVgo continued building on its Midwest partnership with regional grocery favorite Meijer, opening a new 12-stall site in Rochester Hills, MI.

🔶 Rivian dropped 2 new sites, one at the automaker’s service center in Rocklin, CA, another that follows RAN’s NACS-J3400 only trend of several recent openings. The latter is in Independence, MO, at a retail center next to the intersection of I-470 and I-70.

🟢 Electrify America completed activation of a site trio we’ve been watching here in Massachusetts, owned by WS Development and opened/operated under Electrify Commercial. Chestnut Hill and Millbury, MA, are now charging vehicles, with price the only potential concern, reaching up to $0.69/kWh at the former location, and with EA’s Pass+ discounts unlikely to apply, unless the site host allows them. Elsewhere, another 6 stalls were energized in Towson, MD, as a result of EA’s Royal Farms partnership.

⭕ Red E opened one truly new location at a Marathon fuel stop in Fountain Inn, SC, with the network’s two other sites following its pattern of taking over existing chargers in other states. These are good locations, however, adding east and westbound I-90 service plazas near Rolling Prairie, IN, to the company’s portfolio, which were formerly under the auspices of EV Connect.

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

📝 Starting with Tesla permitting, new Supercharger filings identified by MarcoRPi1 for Orlando, FL, Asheville, NC, and Brooklyn, NY. Another Megacharger for Tesla Semi charging is also in the pipeline for North Edwards, CA.

⚪ Increased activity for Tesla Supercharger for Business clients as well, with a new SfB location planned by Green Water & Power for Mamaroneck, NY and construction underway at one from ROAM Energy in Statesville, NC.

🔶 In the week it opened a new location in Missouri, Rivian has a new Adventure Network site planned further down the Mississippi River in Louisiana. This site is expected to bring 8 stalls to Metairie, LA, reports RANtracker.

🟠 We also got an official location drop from IONNA, which is welcome given the relatively slow pace of activations so far in Q2. New Rechargeries have started construction in Newark, CA, Rockville, MD, and Houston, TX, while AlejandroEV66 also highlighted 3 new upcoming locations in New Jersey this week.

🛒 The Walmart EV Charging (WEVC) coming soon pipeline remains much the same this week: 316 known locations across 34 states, with 176 in the permit stage and 140 now under construction. This week’s notable location is Supercenter #1703 in Wild, Wonderful, and Woefully short of DCFC, West Virginia. Construction is underway at the store in Martinsburg, WV, which will join Tesla as the only non-dealership fast-charging in the area. As usual, view the Wattmart site to see progress by area, hardware, or a specific part of the pipeline.

🟢 A permit highlighted by EV Infrastructure Report shows a new Electrify America site in the works for Gibsonton, FL. No word on stall count, but we know it will have a minimum of 10 charging spaces if it holds to EA’s new network minimum.

⚡ Several full V4 Superchargers have been under construction for a few months now, meaning we might expect to see them in action this summer. Watch for powerful new Tesla sites in Garden Grove and Pinole, CA, and Meridian, ID, as the Supercharger network slowly transitions to 1,000V DCFC.

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 - As the Walmart EV Charging project moves from rising regional option to nationwide DCFC provider, pricing is coming into focus and payment options are expanding. As reported by The Arkansas eTraveler this week, Walmart has confirmed that it will add payment card readers to all of its WEVC sites, going forward.

Numbers - $0.47/kWh is the average price at WEVC‘s 61 locations so far, although time-of-use (TOU) rates do also apply at some locations. Excluding TOU, the most affordable rate on the network so far is $0.39/kWh, which matches IONNA’s highest rate and can be found at two Walmart locations: Freehold, NJ, and Draper, UT. The priciest sites are set at $0.58/kWh, all of which are in Arizona.

Nuance - Walmart+ members can receive a 10% discount on EV charging, which until recently was limited to select sites. In the same wide-ranging report, Landon at The Arkansas eTraveler confirmed with the project’s general manager, Adam Happel, that the discount is now nationwide, slicing between 4 and 6 cents per kWh off the price of charging, depending on the location.

Next Up - The video above gives you everything you’ll need to know about the potentially mind-boggling scope of Walmart’s ascent in the DCFC space. “We’re probably going bigger than you even realize yet…” is the kind of statement that reverberates around an industry when it comes from the world’s largest retailer, and one that has the property footprint to reach more than 90% of people in the United States.

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:

PositivEnergy expands City of Philadelphia partnership for DC and AC charging

California announces availability of $55.2M in new EV infrastructure funding

Clockwork launches ROI Calculator for charging site developers + fleet operators

GM selects top 10 US fast-charging destinations for summer EV road trips

Realtors report EV charging as a value add for San Francisco homes for sale

California Clean Fuel Reward (CCFR) opens enrollment for M-HDEV rebates

A fresh round of Colorado’s DCFC Plazas Program ($17M) is now open (due: 7/10/26)

Michigan will issue its round 3 NEVI RFP soon, with applications due in July

TxDOT has applications for phase 2 of the Texas NEVI program due by 6/12/26

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

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

Oregon will open round 3 NEVI solicitations this summer

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

See you next week ⚡

Cheers,

Steve / Plug & Play EV

🍺 ^{This edition fueled by: Fiddlehead IPA}

🎵 ^{Spinning this Sunday: British Sea Power - Please Stand Up}

^{📺 Watching this Week: Feasting on $50 in Boston, MA}