The renewal cycle at electric vehicle charging stations is in full swing.
Electrify America has announced plans to upgrade 600 chargers in 130 cities in California according to its latest “Cycle 4” regional investment plan. This seems to be a significant step for Electrify America, which is behind the Tesla Supercharger, Charge Point, and EVgo in JD Power’s 2023 Customer Satisfaction Index for charging experience and recognizes the need for improvement.
Electrify America installed the first tranche of charging stations in 2018 during what the company’s expansion plans called Cycle 1 and Cycle 2. These chargers are now nearing the end of their useful life in 2023. The company will try to solve this problem by investing $ 172 million in charging infrastructure in California.
80 million USD of the 172 million USD investment will be spent for the improvement and maintenance of existing facilities, while 92 million USD will be spent for network expansion.
In addition, company officials mentioned that the company’s 4th generation chargers are being “specially redesigned” with an improved human-machine interface (HMI) display, 5.5-metre cables, and enhanced remote diagnostic capabilities. However, no further information was shared about the timetable for the completion of the replacement process or the roadmap for the replacement of charging stations across the US.
The company had 800 stations distributing 173 gigawatt hours of electricity across the US in 2022.
