CHANTILLY, Va. — EVgo has flipped the switch on its 800th electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging location, at a Sheetz site in Chantilly, Va.
The fast-charging location has four 150-kW charging stations, which can charge an EV battery to 80% capacity in about 30 minutes. It was built in partnership with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality as part of the Drive Electric Virginia initiative. In 2018, Virginia announced plans to invest $14 million over three years to install fast-charging stations along major interstates and highways, and it contracted with EVgo to develop the network. The locations will be built over three one-year investment cycles.
In 2019, EVgo opened 75 fast-charging locations in the United States, or more than one station per week. In California, which has the highest share of EVs, EVgo manages more than 300 fast-charging locations and 750 fast-charging stations. This puts more than 80% of state residents within a 15-minute drive of one of its fast chargers. EVgo grew its network in California by 40% in 2019. In total, EVgo has EV charging locations in 66 markets in 34 states.
"With the opening of our 800th fast-charging location, EVgo is continuing to lead the industry in making it easier for Americans to go electric," said Cathy Zoi, CEO of EVgo. "Today, with over 100 million people living within a 15-minute drive of an EVgo fast charger, EVgo and its customers and partners are helping to clean up the air and tackle climate change."
EVgo estimates that more than 200,000 customers use one of its EV charging stations, which can charge vehicle models such as Tesla Models 3, X and S; Nissan Leaf Plus; Chevy Bolt; and Kia Niro. In 2019, EVgo partnered with another charging station network—ChargePoint—to give customers access to more than 30,000 public chargers on both networks, with the ability to pay for the charging sessions with one app and with no roaming fees.
EVgo was reportedly the first public fast-charging network in the United States to be powered by 100% renewable energy, and the first to offer integrated connectors for Tesla model EVs on its owned and operated charging stations.
Sheetz Inc., Altoona, Pa., has more than 600 sites in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina. It is No. 14 on CSP’s2019 Top 202 ranking of c-store chains by size. Sheetz began installing EV charging stations in 2014 with five locations in Pennsylvania between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Sheetz began talks with Tesla on hosting its Supercharger fast-charging sites in 2016 and installed the first sites that same year. Today, it has more than 20 Tesla Supercharger locations, putting it in the same field as Wawa, Wawa, Pa., which aims to more than double its Tesla Supercharger locations to 32 in 2020.
Other fuel retailers with EVgo sites include Chevron, which began installing more than a dozen fast-charging sites in California in 2019.
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