Electrify America charging network can Plug&Charge

Electrify America has now officially started the introduction of Plug&Charge at all charging stations in the USA. This means that drivers of compatible electric cars can now use the automated charging and payment process after online registration.

++ This article has been updated. Kindly continue reading below. ++

Electrify America has partnered with Hubject to introduce Plug&Charge in North America. The two companies had already signed a strategic cooperation agreement in January 2019.

Now the implementation is completed. As Electrify America explains, from now on, activation and payment can be made automatically during the charging process. The charger communicates with the vehicle under the ISO 15118 standard to identify, authenticate and authorise the customer’s registered account and invoice the charging process. While the number of Plug&Charge capable electric vehicles is still small, Electrify America says that more Plug&Charge capable electric vehicles are expected to be launched in the coming months, including the 2021 models of the Porsche Taycan, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Lucid Air.

Just a few days ago, the Volkswagen subsidiary announced that it had installed its 500th charging location in the United States. According to the company, the rapid charging network comprises around 2,200 DC charging points with a charging capacity of between 150 and 350 kW. By the end of 2021, the Electrify America rapid charging network will be expanded to around 800 locations with around 3,500 charging points. Since the first rapid charging station was opened in May 2018, the VW subsidiary has thus opened an average of almost four stations per week.

“We are investing in customer-focused technologies like Plug&Charge to make the charging experience easier than filling up at a gas pump,” said Cliff Fietzek, Senior Director of Technology at Electrify America. “We are proud to be the first public charging network to ensure drivers of Plug&Charge-capable vehicles, regardless of manufacturer, can benefit from this simple payment technology”. Electrify America was founded in 2017 in the wake of the Volkswagen diesel scandal. In the following settlement, Volkswagen pledged to invest two billion US dollars in developing a charging network for electric cars.

Update 17 June 2021: After Electrify America launched Plug&Charge at all charging stations in the USA as above, Volkswagen’s Canadian offshoot Electrify Canada is now following suit.

All Plug&Charge-enabled electric cars can now be activated and automatically be billed at all Electrify Canada charging stations.

insideevs.com, electrifyamerica.com, electrify-canada.ca (update 17 June)