Tesla’s recent withdrawal of Supercharger operations does not appear to affect plans for Ionna, a charging network in the US and Canada sponsored directly by seven automakers.
Charging Network on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to building a network of more than 30,000 high-capacity urban and highway fast charging connectors, and suggested that work was already well underway on the first network as expected. US charging stations will open in 2024
First announced in July 2023, with support from BMW Group, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis, Ionna officially begins operations (and has a name) in July. 2. It has now begun to emerge from its period of invisibility.
North America, described in the Ionna EV charging network announcement
With today’s announcement, the charging network established its headquarters in Durham, North Carolina and confirmed several core executives: Derek Rush as Chief Financial Officer, previously CFO of BP Pulse, Ricardo Stamatti as chief product officer, formerly a top executive at Stellantis Energy, and Shankar Muthukumar as COO, formerly with construction and development company Mortenson. CEO Seth Cutler was announced in February.
Ionna noted during its initial conception that they would be “focused on delivering an enhanced customer experience,” so expect a high level of attention to interface, uptime, and overall reliability — as well as amenities at charging stops. It’s fair to say that remote corners of the parking lots of major retail stores will no longer be enough.
The network has also confirmed that it will be powered by renewable energy, with intelligent route planning and booking capabilities, along with full support for Plug & Charge technology from the start, meaning less More demand for credit card swipes and app handshakes. They have also confirmed that 350kw connectors will be the starting point for their experience, although they confirm that they intend to have “the best charging power available on the market and the most advanced charging technology anytime”.
ionity charging in France
For North America, this is probably the closest equivalent Ionity fast charging network Ford, VW and Audi launched in the European market in 2017; That network is credited with helping accelerate the European electric vehicle market past America’s at a time when it was trailing it. Electrify America, created as part of a fine related to the company’s diesel scandal, is entirely a VW operation, except for the Siemens investment; But it has a plan increase 25% by 2024.
Some Ionna sites could be competing for federal NEVI funding alongside other networks — or could compete with the Tesla Supercharger network, depending on whether Tesla reactivates construction Its Supercharger or not.
A lot has happened to the charging business since Ionna was first announced, EV charging reliability has become a hot topic and the industry has committed to moving on Tesla-based NACS connector in future electric vehicles—which means more brands will soon be able to charge at Tesla’s Supercharger network, giving Tesla an additional revenue stream. Meanwhile, Tesla last month eliminated most of its Supercharger fleet, throwing future network growth into chaos.
Hyundai at the Tesla supercharger
Ionna officials have yet to reveal details about whether their charging hardware will use a connector or an adapter, but they did confirm to Green Car Reports that the network will make the hardware available Ready to charge electric vehicles using one of two charging ports.
“We are committed to both,” product manager Stamatti confirmed to Green Car Reports, noting that even with the arrival of NACS, more electric vehicles with CCS ports will continue to be built—in addition to all the vehicle has been used. “It’s open to everyone and we’ll do both form factors.”
