RESTON, Va. -- Electrify America has restarted all its fast-charging electric vehicle (EV) charging stations after potential issues with the chargers’ power cables forced most of them offline. The charging station network partners with convenience-store chains including Sheetz, Kum & Go, Casey’s General Stores and Global Partners LP’s Alltown.
On Jan. 25, Electrify America announced it was shutting down most of its 150 kW-350 kW CCS charging locations to investigate “a potential safety issue” with the stations’ liquid-cooled cables at the recommendation of their manufacturer, Huber+Suhner. The cable manufacturer issued the recommendation to all customers after experiencing an issue with an early prototype of its liquid-cooled cable at a test facility in Europe.
After getting the all-clear from Huber+Suhner, Electrify America restored power to all charging stations.
“The safety of our customers is our highest priority. Extensive testing throughout the weekend and Monday showed that the cables have met all industry standards for use and, as a result, we are bringing our entire network back to full capacity,” said Giovanni Palazzo, president and CEO of Electrify America, on Jan. 29.
Despite shutting down the 150 kW-350 kW chargers, Electrify America kept all of its 89 charging locations operational because the safety issue did not affect its 50-kW CCS and Level 2 chargers.
Electrify America is a Reston, Va.-based subsidiary of Volkswagen, created as part of the German automaker’s diesel-emissions settlement with the United States government to invest $2 billion over the next decade in zero-emission-vehicle infrastructure and consumer education.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.