Electrify America continues its long march across the United States. Most recently, it announced a partnership with Meijer, a major supercenter retail chain in the Midwest. It will be installing 36 ultrafast charging stations at 9 stores. The stores are located in the Chicago area and Michigan.
One of these new stations is already operational (in Bloomingdale, Illinois), and the others are supposed to be on by early 2021 at the latest. The full list of locations is here.
“Meijer customers will be able to take advantage of the fastest charging technology available, as Electrify America chargers range in power from 150 kilowatt (kW) to 350kW, depending on the location,” the company writes. “An EV capable of accepting a 350kW charge can add about 20 miles of range per minute of charging, making it more efficient than ever for customers to charge up while shopping at a Meijer store.”
However, the cars also have to be capable of charging at such a rate, and almost none are at this point. A max charge of about 100 kW or lower is more common for non-Tesla electric vehicles. But models keep improving in terms of charging capability, and that 150–350 kW will become more and more useful as time goes on. Better to have future-proofed stations than ones that need updated!
So far, Electrify America has 2,100 chargers installed at 480 charging stations, and it has chargers in development at 100+ sites. By the end of next year, the company plans to have 3,500 fast chargers installed or in development at 800 charging stations.
You can look for stations on www.electrifyamerica.com/locate-charger or on the Electrify America app.
In case you’re new to the market, Electrify America was formed as part of the penalties set up for Volkswagen Group in the United States in response to years of cheating on emissions tests. It is investing $2 billion over 10 years into EV charging infrastructure as well as educational materials and access improvements.
“The investment will enable millions of Americans to discover the benefits of electric driving and support the build-out of a nationwide network of workplace, community and highway chargers that are convenient and reliable.”
Images courtesy Electrify America
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