7 Automakers Join to Create "Ionna" a Massive New U.S. EV Charging Network

[Cycliste]

How can be this be news? They announced this last July and spent 6 months working on the joint press release.

https://electrek.co/2023/07/26/auto...work-clean-energy-fast-charger-north-america/

That was First Announcement. This is Second Announcement.

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[Tahoe Man]

Tesla built out 6,000 stations in a decade, they didn't start at 1.6 a day either, but ramped up to probably 3 a day. Expecting this group to start at 1.5 a day would be silly to, but ramping up over time to a similar rate to tesla isn't ridiculous.

I work directly in electric distribution design and construction, so I get to see a lot of the issues up close and personal. Supply chain is improving a LOT, it does take 1-1.5 years to get a transformer, but Utilities haven't been blind to EV demand and have already purchased, or put in que thousands of transformers for these installs, and because the amount of revenue a charging station can generate for a utility, they like to move fast on ensuring road blocks get cleared to help get stations built. Most of these installs will use the same 8-10 transformers across the country so that helps with the supply side as well.

Beyond that, manufacturers want to diversify their revenue portfolio's with things like SAAS and they 100% see EV charging as a way for them to get a piece of the fuel market pie. Currently the USA spends $1.3billion on fuel a day. Longer term a lot of that spend will transition to EV charging stations, not 100% of it, but maybe 20% of it (lots of home charging still), @ 20% that's $91B a year of revenue that these manufacturers want a piece of (just in the USA, and prices will almost certainly increase between now and then, those are today's dollars).

Long and short, I think this will have a rocky start as most things do, but I truly believe 2 or so years from now they will start hitting rhythm and we will see the pace of fast charger installs increase rapidly.

There's no money in selling electricity. Nobody gets rich selling bottled water out of a vending machine.

If these manufacturers were serious about it, they'd lock up their charging network and make it proprietary, or form a consortium. Charge a high fee to make a decent profit at dcfc that only your brand or group of brands can use. Make sure they work well and are easy to use. But everyone thinks dcfc need to interoperate which is stupid.

 

[Zoidz]

How can be this be news? They announced this last July and spent 6 months working on the joint press release.

https://electrek.co/2023/07/26/auto...work-clean-energy-fast-charger-north-america/

I had forgotten about that announcement last July! Thanks for the refresher. It's been six months and so far the apparent progress is hiring an executive to run it. if this is how they will continue to make progress, we will see the first installation around 2027.

 

[emoore]

There's no money in selling electricity. Nobody gets rich selling bottled water out of a vending machine.

If these manufacturers were serious about it, they'd lock up their charging network and make it proprietary, or form a consortium. Charge a high fee to make a decent profit at dcfc that only your brand or group of brands can use. Make sure they work well and are easy to use. But everyone thinks dcfc need to interoperate which is stupid.

You keep saying this but even the biggest walled off automaker is going the other direction and letting others use it. I think we will see the end of closed off chargers when RAN opens up soon.

 

[HeyEllwood]

IMHO there needs to be full parking lots with 100-200 chargers in each to eventually keep up with the demand of EVs/consumers.

This 8-10 chargers per charging stop is pretty wild to me. Shell built that 258 stall lot in Shenzhen, China and that’s the way to go.

 

[emoore]

IMHO there needs to be full parking lots with 100-200 chargers in each to eventually keep up with the demand of EVs/consumers.

This 8-10 chargers per charging stop is pretty wild to me. Shell built that 258 stall lot in Shenzhen, China and that’s the way to go.

Especially at truck stops and other high traffic areas. Tesla has a few large ones. I just saw one that was 164 stalls in planning in CA. We need more those. I find it amazing that Pilot and Flying J are finally putting in chargers and they are installing 4?! That's worse than most new EA stations. Crazy.

 

[SDH]

7 different, self-interested parties giving each 6 other 'partners' to blame when things inevitably go to sh!t.

Sorry, I'll believe it when i see it and faultlessly charge from it.

 

[Tahoe Man]

You keep saying this but even the biggest walled off automaker is going the other direction and letting others use it. I think we will see the end of closed off chargers when RAN opens up soon.

But the Tesla system is closed, usage agreements were generated with the competing makers, which proves my point that open systems aren't sustainable. Essentially they created a rather large consortium, something I spoke of long ago.

Rivian should keep their system closed, price it for a decent profit with the notion that the charers and network will be kept in proper working order for their users.

 

[HaveBlue]

I wonder if station mean physical locations or if it means 30,000 charging connections to charge vehicles with 4-8 (?) charging connections at at each physical location?

Edit to answer my own question....

From the Ionna press release, I think they mean 30,000 individual chargers, not locations.

For comparison, there are about 145,000 gas stations/locations in the US. There are about 2000 Tesla supercharger locations. DOE estimates 80% of EV charging is done at home. Will be problem for renters and condo owners going forward, but expect this number to always be very high, given the cost, convenience and longer battery life assoc with level 2 charging.

So, Ionna means 30,000 chargers at a few thousand (3-6k?) locations, which could make sense.

So if 80% charging is done at home and there are 145,000 gas stations then we need 20% of that or about 29,000 locations, each having some number of connections like a gas station.

The percentage of apartments and condos that don't have either adjacent unit parking or a house meter to provide a Level 2 location(s) is very small; at least among the two dozen buildings I deal with.

Tesla has shown the the problems are solvable.

 

[emoore]

But the Tesla system is closed, usage agreements were generated with the competing makers, which proves my point that open systems aren't sustainable. Essentially they created a rather large consortium, something I spoke of long ago.

Rivian should keep their system closed, price it for a decent profit with the notion that the charers and network will be kept in proper working order for their users.

I disagree that it’s closed. But after this year. The majority will be able to use it.

 

[atebit]

Doesn't really apply here since it's more like one woman making 42 babies a month.

Sounds like a job for the Alien xenomorph queen.

 

[electrictaco]

The company announced Friday its CEO would be Seth Cutler, previously president and COO of the charge network EVgo, and a chief infrastructure engineer at Electrify America before that.

He wasn't the COO of EVGo, he was the COO of EV Connect according to his LinkedIn. Weird that Car and Driver got that wrong.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-cutler/

 

[Rad_ry]

Just goes to show how ahead of the pack Rivian is - they recognised years ago the importance of a good charging network.

 

[nc10]

So if 80% charging is done at home and there are 145,000 gas stations then we need 20% of that or about 29,000 locations, each having some number of connections like a gas station.

The percentage of apartments and condos that don't have either adjacent unit parking or a house meter to provide a Level 2 location(s) is very small

Agree, for a first approximation, admittedly making a lot of simplifying assumptions, takes longer to charge, only go from 20 to 80%, but some people will level 2 charge at hotels, malls, and restaurants when traveling, etc. Unfortunately, EV's probably won't be a majority of vehicles on the road for 15 or 20 years?

Seems like the lack of chargers at apartments/condos would be a rate limiting factor for EV adoption. I would not have gotten an EV if I lacked low cost charging at home (with no waiting in lines).

 

[Supratachophobia]

Just goes to show how ahead of the pack Rivian is - they recognised years ago the importance of a good charging network.

Rivian? You mean Tesla, who started over a decade ago.

Say what you will about Musk, and I'll say a lot; the Supercharger network was willed into existence out of absolute necessity. If an EV wrapped in a sexy body is the door, reliable L3 networks are the key that unlocked this whole EV revolution.

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