VW’s Electrify America chooses infrastructure providers

Electrify America, Volkswagen’s outlet to do penance for the diesel fraud, has chosen its “partners in crime” to set up the demanded charging infrastructure. Four companies will help to install more than 2,000 DC charging stations across the States.

Electrify America has turned to ABB, BTC Power, Efacec and Signet for the delivery of charging stations with some able to cater for ultra-fast charging. Power will vary from 50 to 350 kW, that is high power charging with cooled cables. The chargers have been custom-designed for Electrify America.

In total, the partners and Electrify America will spread more than 2,000 chargers across 484 stations in the USA. All charging stations will offer a CHAdeMO (50kW) connector, plus additional dual-handle chargers with CCS1 (50 to 150kW or 350 kW) connectors. An L2 AC charger will also be offered at a majority of metro DC fast charging stations to accommodate plug-in hybrids and non-DC-charge capable EVs.

The network will be operated by Electrify America using technology by Greenlots that acts as a “virtual command center”. This will enable VW to build, operate and manage its high-power charging network by providing real-time charger status, utilisation data, dynamic pricing capabilities and predictive analytics to identify future maintenance.

At the same time, Electrify America also announced plans to install 150 to 350 kW DC chargers at more than 100 Walmart locations by June 2019. This will more than double the current number of charging stations present at Walmart locations in the USA.

Overall, Electrify America has to invest 2 billion dollars over the next 10 years in EV infrastructure and awareness. The company is currently implementing Cycle 1 of its investment plan, an initial investment of 500 million dollars, that calls for over 2,000 chargers in California and 38 other states.

greencarcongress.com, electrifyamerica.com, greencarcongress.com (Walmart), electrek.com