welcom to America today with a new article about electrify america charging stations
Explore the largest public fast charging network in the U.S. — letting you charge in as little as 30 minutes
Electrify America, LLC is electric vehicle DC fast-charging network in the United States, with more than 850 stations and over 3,700 connectors as of December 2023. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America, established in late 2016 by the automaker as part of its efforts to offset emissions in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.
Volkswagen, as part of its settlement following the “Dieselgate” emissions scandal, invested $2 billion in creating Electrify America. In June 2022, Siemens became a minority shareholder of the company. Electrify America supports the CCS and CHAdeMO connector types with plans to add NACS connectors starting in 2025. Electrify America has been the target of significant criticism for the perceived lack of reliability and maintenance of its stations.
Electrify America
Charge in as little as 30 minutes on the nation’s largest public DC fast charging network. The Electrify America app lets you find a charging station nearby, charge your EV, and manage your charging session. (Level 2 chargers also available at some locations).
When you sign up for a free Electrify America Pass membership, you can use this app to:
• Check the availability of a charger in real-time and get notified when a charger becomes available
• See charger details and save your favorite charging stations
• Start and stop your charging session from your phone
• Track your charging status easily while you shop or dine nearby
• Get notified when your compatible EV reaches your desired state of charge
• Pay contact-free from your phone
• See your charge history and email a receipt
Visit a charging station often? Consider our Pass+ plan, which gives you all the benefits above, plus reduced costs for charging. (Monthly Fees Apply; Check App and the Electrify America Terms of Use for Details)
Electrify America’s powerful DC fast charging stations support all CCS (SAE Combo) and CHAdeMO-compatible EVs. You can also use the app to find Electrify America’s Level 2 chargers (with J1772 connectors).
That means you can charge just about any electric vehicle on the road with us, including:
• Audi e-tron
• Volkswagen ID.4
• Volkswagen e-Golf
• Harley-Davidson LiveWire
• Hyundai Kona Electric
• BMW i3
• Mini Cooper SE Electric
• Nissan Leaf
• Nissan Leaf Plus
• Chevrolet Volt
• Chevrolet Bolt EV
• Kia Niro EV
• Kia Soul EV
• Porsche Taycan
• Tesla Model 3 (requires separate adapter)
• Tesla Model S (requires separate adapter)
• Tesla Model X (requires separate adapter)
• Tesla Model Y (requires separate adapter)
GET THE APP HERE FOR IOS Electrify America
Electrify America Charging Stations
The primary objectives of the work at hand are to design updated charging stations that are able to serve a great number of electric vehicles with emphasis on the growing popularity of the plug-in hybrid. The stations are to be designed such that they are cost effective, user friendly, and low maintenance to ensure long term viability.
With these goals, there are many aspects to consider in the design and construction of the stations. The following documentation will cover a broad range of aspects for the design including the basics of charging station equipment, how they will be utilized in different environments, and what makes a station most effective in enabling electric fueling.
Charging stations are without a doubt a necessary feature of an electric vehicle as they are the only source of fuel for the vehicle. As it currently stands, the current image of a charging station is a very simple setup. Usually a black box storing the necessary electrical equipment to transmit the electricity to the car and a power cord.
Sometimes there is a customized enclosure for the equipment to make it more aesthetically pleasing and possibly protection from weather. This outdated image is what Electrify America plans to improve upon. With an ongoing increase of electric vehicles, having infrastructure to accommodate for them is critical.
Introduction
California alone had counted over 515,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids sold by the end of 2016. As the infrastructure increases, so will the viability of electric vehicles to the point where it will become the dominant vehicle type. By this time, the infrastructure that Electrify America aims to build will have already proven to be useful for the number of EVs by serving as an alternative form of parking at facilities such as workplaces and shopping centers.
These updated charging stations would also serve to accommodate the increase of plug-in hybrids. The planned infrastructure would likely be able to support the typical short commute of a plug-in hybrid by providing level 2 chargers at various multi-unit dwellings. The overall goal of the updated infrastructure is to provide electric vehicle fueling solutions that are more convenient and similar to that of a traditional gas station.
This will in turn attract consumers to purchase electric vehicles as it would be a simpler transition from standard petroleum fueling. This is important because the more customers Electrify America can attract to electric fueling, the more cost effective the infrastructure investments will become. This all leading to a clean energy future for electric vehicles and an ultimate attainment of the initiative goal to mitigate air pollution.
Electrify America is an organization which was established to focus on the issue of electric vehicles (EVs) and their current limitations. The company is a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America, and as a result of the diesel emissions scandal involving Volkswagen, Electrify America emerged from a settlement creating an enormous investment in zero emissions technology. This involves $2 billion over the span of 10 years in which the money will be divided equally to be invested in the United States.
The overall goal of the settlement and investment is to create a reduced amount of air pollution and mitigate the high levels of pollutants in the air which result in serious health problems. The provisions will be in the form of vehicle infrastructure and awareness. Phase 1 of the investment involves the 30 month Cycle 1 (A1) which began in the middle of 2017. This phase involves the design and construction of the infrastructure and the ZEV awareness program. The initial phase will provide the primary foundational steps for the remaining investments and aims.
Overview of Electrify America
The project aims to develop a charging system utilizing the latest technology in charging systems for electric vehicles by utilizing the hardware offered by Electrify America. Electrify America has a comprehensive and mission-based system for increasing the ZEV adoption rate across the United States and to increase awareness and exposure of ZEV for the general public.
The system provides a method for monitoring ZEV adoption rates and how it correlates to the amount of charging sessions completed and ZEV vehicles on the road. This is done through the use of data reporting with the system that allows administrators to track charging sessions and view valuable session data.
This will be an effective method for monitoring ZEV and infrastructural growth across the United States in areas where there are available charging stations. The primary mission of increasing ZEV adoption aligns with our team’s objective of promoting a sustainable alternative to traditional fossil fuel vehicles and ensuring that there are methods of long-distance travel for ZEV owners.
The availability of charging stations will be beneficial for ZEV owners who do not have a permanent place of residence or method of charging their vehicle. This can include apartment owners or students who may not have access to personal charging stations. With the growing infrastructure provided by Electrify America’s initiative, those who rely on ZEV as a form of transportation will have access to a larger selection of charging stations including those in the workplace, multi-unit dwellings, and places of public interest. Finally, the ability to track ZEV adoption rates and correlate this with charging session frequency will provide a measurable method of progression for the team’s objectives and allow for future recommendations and systems of improvement.
Importance of Charging Stations
One of the critical needs for establishing the infrastructure is to have a comprehensive charging station network. Users have expressed that they would be much more likely to purchase an electric vehicle (EV) if they knew they had the ability to recharge the battery away from home. The approximate 50-80 mile range on the battery is suitable for a large percentage of consumers, but the availability of charging when needed would provide the confidence and convenience of refueling.
This need for confidence of refueling is a concept referred to as “refueling assurance” and can be paralleled to the need for fueling a gasoline vehicle near the end of its fuel range or immediately before a long trip. A well-planned and widely distributed charging infrastructure would also augment the value of EVs, as it would mitigate the risk of a stranded vehicle with a depleted battery. Emissions-free mobility is also a requirement for some state regulations and mandates for sustainable transportation.
This includes California zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) program, which requires large volume manufacturers to offer zero-emission vehicles in the state. Penalty credits are issued for each ZEV sold, which can be used to satisfy the state’s conventional vehicle emissions requirements. Earned credits are also a tradable commodity in the state emissions market. This effectively raises the value of ZEVs, and with the increased credit value, manufacturers will seek to sell more ZEVs to effectively meet the state mandate. The value of a ZEV is often tied to its production and access to charging. Assuming the battery is the fuel source, abundant refueling opportunities with cheap and convenient fuel will help realize the value.
Electricity is recognized as one of the alternative fuel sources, offering benefits to both the customers and the environment. It is convenient for the customers, cheap, and creates less pollution on the road, which is beneficial to the environment. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has established a vision for the United States to be the leader in the transformation to alternative fuel vehicles, and they see electrification as a key enabler to achieve that vision.
The DOE and the U.S. Council for Automotive Research have identified that for electricity to become a viable transportation fuel, a comprehensive infrastructure must be developed so customers have convenient access to electricity as a transportation fuel and are accustomed to the fueling experience.
Objectives of the Work
The third objective is to create a model that mimics the progression of EVs. This is supposed to be an agent-based model where different customers acting as agents have a decision-making process to choose what kind of EV, when to plug it in, and how long to charge it. This model should be able to simulate customers at any given station. A market for the different EV types and the cost of overall ownership will also be created, taking information from current data from the real world on EV trends.
The second objective is to determine the highest revenue-providing station. A game theory model will be produced where the game will be between different players, but as a side note, the players will be simulated. The game is based on picking the amount of charger types to put at a location, essentially determining a strategy. This model will compare Nash Equilibrium points for all players and decide the best strategy for each player given the different types of implemented strategies.
The primary objective of the work is to develop solutions for the expansion of the four types of the Electrify America charging stations. A model will be developed to locate the best spots for a station, taking into consideration the range of the EVs and the location of the support infrastructures such as substations. The model will progress from a NP-hard discrete model to initially a mixed-continuous model that will determine the number of each charger type to build at a location and when it is best to add a new charger as time progresses.