Good day, fellow Charge Champion 💪⚡

After a period of relative calm, the headlines came thick and fast throughout this week, with EVgo and Ford dominating the discussions. We’ll have plenty of the former for you in this edition, so let’s focus on Ford for a second.

New models don’t typically feature in these pages, but the overlap of the Ford Fathom reveal with the automaker’s wider EV push, including charging infrastructure, can’t be overlooked. The dedicated Ford Charge network at dealerships started the year as a top 10 CPO, but has since been displaced by another automaker-backed network, IONNA.

What started as a bold step on the road to electrification has slowed to a crawl, as Ford resets its strategy to more affordable, accessible models that also embrace hybrids. Does an expensive charging program fit into this approach? On-the-ground activity at EV-friendly Ford dealerships will be worth watching as the Fathom arrives, to assess whether charging plays any role in their sales pitch for the automaker’s latest foray into BEVs.

Here’s a summary of North American EVI developments for the past 7 days ⤵️

News - As the leading pure play CPO publicly listed, EVgo’s quarterly reports are required reading for the charging sector. And while a pivot to use Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program stole the spotlight this week, there were several other nuggets to report from EVgo’s Q226 earnings report.

Numbers - To cover every aspect of EVgo’s news this week, 500 is the number we have to focus on here. That’s how many more stalls the network will add via an expanded partnership with Brixmor, a property group that has hosted EVgo chargers for 10 years in some locations. The long-term number is 17,000, which is the upper end of the stall count EVgo projects it will operate by 2030.

Nuance - “Vintage sites” was a turn of phrase peppered throughout EVgo CEO Badar Khan’s earnings presentation, but it didn’t apply to a question that keeps cropping up: what are EVgo’s plans for the approximately 20-30% of its network that falls into the “legacy vintage” category of sub-100kW sites? Alongside opaque pricing, these dated, often failing sites represent a drag factor on the company’s reputation, occupying prime sites with outdated hardware that still charges a premium to use. The long-running ReNew program has addressed some of these spots, but could they be in line for a Francis-esque rip-and-replace campaign using SfB? Co-location with existing Superchargers at many of these legacy sites shows how intricate the deployment of EVgo-branded Superchargers could become.

Next Up - As always, EVgo gives the industry a lot to chew on and provides a window into the tightrope that even large CPOs are walking, as they navigate suppressed US EV adoption on the road to the long-term electrification of transportation. EVgo Superchargers are expected to be up and running by the end of the year, while every site from “vintage” 2023 onwards will offer some form of NACS-J3400 handle within the next two years.

📊 Sunday Stat: 75% more gross profit on 24.5% lower revenue. Those are defining numbers from Blink Charging’s Q226 earnings report, signaling a company deep in the throes of pruning out low-margin contracts and service lines, such as divesting Envoy car sharing. Meanwhile, Blink is reallocating resources to areas most likely to make it money in the long term. Adjusted EBIDTA loss down 72% YOY and breakeven aims by 2027 suggest it’s working.

A push into energy management services is where the company appears to be heading, which Michael Greenberg of Voltra also highlighted as a potentially lucrative path for EVgo, following its Q226 report.

News - With so many news items around the network and expansion initiatives expected in the second half of 2026, we couldn’t really land anywhere other than EVgo for this week’s spotlight.

Numbers - 5,234 stalls at 1,205 locations across the entire network, though separating the Pilot-Flying J locations trims that number to 3,911 stalls at 896 locations. An important caveat is that almost 30% of those EVgo-owned and operated locations are sub-100kW sites that are starting to age out and become a slight drag factor on the wider network’s reputation, which is broadly reliable and convenient, if somewhat expensive off-plan.

Nuance - Pricing is key. EVgo Superchargers are aimed at one thing: attracting Tesla owners to use the network. While appearing reliably in Tesla’s navigation is a critical first step, it doesn’t guarantee utilization. That’s down to two things: 1) navigation filters and 2) pricing. As we’ve seen, Tesla has added an option to remove Superchargers where it doesn’t directly set the price. As easily as a third-party operator can slide in, it’s equally easy for a Tesla driver to filter them out again. Then there’s the potential price gap. Tesla owner/member rates currently average out at $0.433/kWh, according to DCFCtracker, whereas EVgo averages $0.643/kWh, plus a $0.99 session fee. Membership plans can bring that down, and EVgo might not leverage session fees at its Supercharger locations, but a significant delta remains between the two. That could limit the appeal of EVgo Superchargers, unless they are intentionally placed in areas where no Tesla-owned option exists nearby.

Next Up - This week’s news sets up a fascinating end to the year for EVgo. The first Superchargers will be energized in that period, and permit spotting for Tesla-backed sites is next level, so we should have a much clearer picture of where EVgo sees SfB delivering the most value. On the other hand, the company is developing next-generation hardware in-house with Delta Electronics, and has productive partnerships with several automakers outside of Tesla. The balance and distribution of these two hardware plays will become much clearer in the final quarter.

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News - A steady week for AC additions, with activity across all of the usual charging providers on both sides of the border.

In related news, New York City is expanding its highly successful curbside charging program, with an additional 600 street-level L2 ports across NYC. The expansion is supported by a $15M grant from the CFI program, which was approved in 2024, after initial deployments logged utilization rates of more than 70%. At some locations, round-the-clock use is not uncommon, hence the need for hundreds more plugs.

Numbers - 454 L2 charging ports added to the Alternative Fuels Data Center this week, covering 26 states and 5 Canadian provinces.

Notable New L2 + AFDC Additions:

🟠 ChargePoint added 309 ports across the United States and Canada (68% of the week’s total), including 20+ ports at Oxnard College in California, and 12 ports across multiple sites for the Town of Palmer, CO.

◾ Blink Charging added 23 ports at 6 US locations across 5 states this week, including 5 more at Jester Park Cabins in Granger, IA, which add to an existing Blink installation at the nearby Nature Center.

💲With a $25,000 contribution from Honda, Adopt-a-Charger has installed a bank of AC chargers at the Glen Helen Nature Preserve in Yellow Springs, OH.

🔷 FLO added 17 ports across 4 locations in Canada and one in the United States. Among the Canadian sites are 9 L2 ports at a couple of sites in Montreal, QC, and the valuable addition of 2 more ports in Mount Stewart, PE, at the Community Center. The US site brings 2 ports to South State Commons in Ann Arbor, MI.

⭕ Red E energized 18 AC ports at 2 locations, with the most notable opened at the Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, MA. The other brings 2 ports to Triple City Collision, in the company’s hometown of Detroit, MI.

⚡ SynergEV listed 6 new ports at 2 locations, one serving the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa (4 ports), the other at the Stadium Shopping Center in Gresham, OR (2 ports).

🗽 ViaLynk added 17 L2 ports at 6 locations in 3 states, none of which are the company’s home state of New York. That’s a rarity for this section, but Colorado is the largest beneficiary of the increased distribution this week, with 9 ports added at multiple locations serving the Village of Cypress residential community in Thornton, CO.

🔷 Circuit électrique added 12 ports at 2 locations in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, QC.

News - Installations took a back seat to earnings calls this week, but there were plenty of notable locations, as usual, and even a milestone or two for your reading pleasure.

Numbers - 235 DC charging ports at 45 charging locations were added to the AFDC, covering 19 states and 4 Canadian provinces.

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

Notable New Locations + AFDC Additions:

🍏 Applegreen Electric added 4 new locations in 2 states, all at the service plazas that folks in the Northeast and Midwest have come to associate with the brand. Adjacent stations for the eastbound/westbound sides of the Sideling Hill Travel Plaza on the PA Turnpike get 4 ports each, via 2 Alpitronic HYC400s. The third location is also at a service area at Lawn, PA, while a fourth in New Jersey brings HYC400s to the Judy Blume Service Plaza, expanding access to DCFC on the Garden State Parkway.

🪙 IONNA appears to be back as a fixture at the top of the weekly listings, thanks to a productive mix of brand new Rechargeries and overhauling existing Circle K locations to replace old 180kW hardware with the reassuring sight of Alpitronic HYC400s. That’s the case again this week, with 5 locations energized, 3 of which are CK stores in the Southeast and 2 new standalone Rechargery Relays. The latter are in Houston, TX, which adds an impressive 14 stalls to the city, and a smaller 8-stall location in Homestead, FL.

🔴 Tesla Charging energized 124 stalls at 11 of its own locations across 8 states. The largest brings 24 stalls to Ontario, CA, while the most powerful/productive goes to St Clair, MO, with a true V4 Supercharger delivering up to 500kW on a stretch of I-44 with limited DCFC, let alone a peak that no EVs on US roads can currently hit.

📍 Walmart EV Charging started the month with two new locations that put the network over the 100 sites mark, with Supercenter 1557 in Fishers, IN, appearing to take the rising network into triple digits. Another location at Supercenter 5672 in Lucas, TX, brings the network’s total in the Lone Star State, where everything began in earnest a little over a year ago, to 25 active sites.

⚪ In addition to adding the notable name of EVgo to its future client list this week, Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program put a new location and site owner on the active map in Houston, TX. The curiously-named Stealth Group, listed as the site owner, turns out to be little more than a Texas-based property developer with a flair for a mildly intriguing moniker.

💸 In less encouraging SfB news, a site that we reported open just a few months ago in Gorham, NH, could close before the end of the year unless its utility or state lawmakers step in with assistance. This was first shared on Twitter/X by user Brandon. The site owner signed up under the expectation that his 4-stall Supercharger site would be covered by a special EV rate schedule piloted by Eversource, but which unfortunately ended before the site was activated. Similar concerns have been raised by entrepreneurs tapping SfB in Idaho and Kansas, both rural locations with limited utilization. Both Tesla and the site owner are exploring potential solutions with the state and Dept. of Energy, which we’ll update on in a future edition.

🍁 Fresh from the impressive expansion plans reported in edition 82, BC Hydro was back at work making good on the promise to more than triple its network over the next decade. 8 new stalls at 2 locations across the province - Campbell River and Salt Spring Island - stick to the familiar shape of 180kW ABB hardware that offers all three connector types so that no modern EV owners are left out.

🟢 Electrify America added locations on both coasts, with an 8-stall site in Riverside, CA, representing the West Coast, and another 8 stalls at an EVolve New York site in Brooklyn, NY, showing up for the Eastern Seaboard. The latter is New York Power Authority’s first in the borough, with Queens taking the lion’s share of NYPA sites in NYC to date (airports help). A third site for EA at a Target in Greensboro, NC, adds 12 ports and offers a reminder that Walmart isn’t the only big box retailer that can deploy sites with a solid stall count.

⭕ Red E opened just the one site this week, adding 4 ports at a Jack Flash c-store in Centralia, IL. The site is so freshly baked that it hasn’t even made it into PlugShare yet, so you’ll just have to use your imagination on this one.

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

📝 In Tesla permitting, new Supercharger filings identified by MarcoRPi1 for Rancho Mirage, CA, Nampa, ID, Oldsmar, FL, and Alpena, MI.

⚪ Other activity on the Tesla Supercharger for Business side shows SfB locations coming to Aurora, CO (EVIO), and Houston, TX (Maxan), as well as the latest Francis Energy site upgrade in Oklahoma City.

🟦 In non-Tesla permitting, The EV Infrastructure Report found filings for a new Rivian Adventure Network location in Jacksonville, FL.

🛒 For the latest on the Walmart EV Charging (WEVC) coming soon pipeline, we turn as usual to the Arkansas eTraveler/Wattmart: 356 known locations across 35 states, with 235 in the permitting stage and 115 under construction. Of the latter, much of the recent permit action centers on California, and ABB A400 units in the ground at Neighborhood Market 2689 suggests that Fresno could be the network’s debut site in the Golden State.

🪙 On the NEVI side, construction is underway at Virginia’s next site with federal funding, as Tesla progresses a new Supercharger location in Front Royal, VA. Over in Kentucky, PlugShare veteran Rob H. has an exemplary update on the Love’s NEVI site in Calvert City, KY, with full photos and confirmation that fences are down and Love’s team members onsite.

🚧 Construction is underway at new 500kW Supercharger sites, with full V4 soon to be an option for EV drivers in Centerville, VA, and Norwalk, CT.

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 - Energy and charging management solutions provider PowerFlex, backed by EDF and Manulife Investments, has acquired The Mobility House North America via a share exchange transaction that positions the latter as a minority shareholder in the new entity.

Numbers - In June, The Mobility House NA confirmed it had passed 100 megawatts in capacity under management, spread across clients with public EV fleets, including electric school buses, municipalities, and regional transit providers. No financial terms were disclosed as part of this announcement.

Nuance - With vehicle-to-grid (V2G) utility programs running in California and Massachusetts, the V2G capabilities of The Mobility House NA make for an interesting facet of this move. From significant energy under management milestones to V2G assets, adding this team and portfolio gives PowerFlex a utility-grade fleet aggregation platform to go with the company’s commercial solar and battery storage resources.

Next Up - PowerFlex's commercial fleet focus now adds the public fleet customer base to its portfolio, aiming to create a trusted presence in both markets. How the two gel together under one team will be worth watching, as the duty cycles and procurement processes for a school district compared to a commercial EV fleet are meaningfully different.

News - In the ongoing drive to find compelling pricing models to attract EV owners to DCFC sites, Mercedes-Benz has introduced “Power Hours” rates at select locations.

Numbers - 22 locations across 10 states and provinces get the Power Hours treatment at launch, with British Columbia (5 sites), Georgia (5), and Texas (4), the biggest early beneficiaries. Pricing ranges from $0.19/kWh on the low end (North Charleston, SC) to $0.35/kWh on the upper end (South Windsor, CT). All rates are in effect during off-peak hours, typically starting between 9-11PM at night and running through to 8AM the next day.

Nuance - TOU rates and off-peak charging hours are nothing new, but some of these price points undercut even Tesla’s off-peak member rates at TOU Superchargers, which are among the lowest in the industry. The difference here is that “Power Hours” rates apply to everyone, regardless of model or membership. Travelers might not have the flexibility to take advantage, but rideshare drivers and locals already using the many dining/retail options near MB-HPC sites could be pulled in by search ads, like the one pictured above.

Next Up - Mercedes-Benz HPC is deploying high-quality sites with appealing amenities and a foothold in the Canadian market before other US-focused CPOs arrive there. The network will soon pass 100 locations and covers multiple markets, but utilization is the name of the game as competition increases. These price experiments represent not just a network but an entire sector trying to find its feet, balancing the not insignificant costs of selling electrons as a primary business model with the need to do so at a price point that prompts more drivers to plug in and keep coming back.

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:

PennDOT team recognized for nation-leading NEVI deployment

New Brunswick to invest CAD $6M in DCFC infrastructure

Foreseeson partners with SWTCH to enhance charging solutions in Canada

Wawa tops Electric Era’s first Retail EV Charging Index

Verdek fast-tracks Supercharger deployment via GSA with approval listing

Virginia DOT shared details on the state’s upcoming phase 2 NEVI funds

Oklahoma has opened its $30M round 2 NEVI solicitation (deadline: 8/25/26)

CalEVIP confirms next two windows for Fast Charge California Project (FCCP)

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

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

Colorado’s latest round of Fleet-ZERO charging grants is open

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

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: TJ’s Cold Pressed Lemon-Ginger-Cayenne Juice}

🎵 ^{Spinning this Sunday: The Joy Formidable - Whirring}

^{📺 Watching this Week: The Expanse}

📖 ^{Reading this Week: Slow Gods}