#stateofcharging

As of April 29, 2019, PlugShare reports that North Carolina currently has a total of 45 DC Fast Charging sites, with 64 DC Fast charging dispensers in operation provided by ChargePoint (5), EVgo (22), Greenlots (16), and Electrify America (21). By July 1, we should have 54 sites with 92 dispensers, the bulk of these from Electrify America. 

ChargePoint

ChargePoint is the smallest player in the state with only 5 DC fast stations deployed, most are 25kW (Raleigh Land Rover, Durham BMW, Greensboro Land Rover) with two 50kW in Wallace and Lenoir. As of this writing, only the station in Lenoir is technically in operation. Greensboro Land Rover has locked their stations down so no one can activate them, the Wallace station has an Error 39 with a service call reported, Durham BMW has a broken CCS connector, and Raleigh’s Land Rover hasn’t turned theirs on yet.

EVgo

EVgo is the current leader in DC Fast in NC. They operate 22 dispensers at 22 sites across the state: 2 in Asheville at the outlet mall & Biltmore Park, Charlotte has 9 total, 6 at BP station deployments: Ballantyne Commons Pkwy, Walker Branch Road, Steele Creek Rd, Mt Holly-Huntersville Rd, Vinnie's Way, and Cambridge Commons Dr. And 3 more at The Shoppes at Highland Creek, Thomas Ave Public Lot, and SouthPark Mall. Mooresville has one at a BP, Durham has 2 at The Hyatt and South Square, Cary has a lone station, as does Morrisville. Raleigh has 3 located at The Marriott, a Sheetz, and AAA New Hope Rd. Wake Forest has one at the AAA, Mint Hill’s lone charger at Earp’s Express, and Matthews has a BP. As of this writing, it seems that all stations are operational.

Greenlots

Is the #3 player in NC. They have two in Asheville at Biltmore Ave Parking Deck and Asheville Public Works, and the only other city with two deployments is Charlotte: AAA South End and AAA on Flat River Dr. All other locations have a single dispenser: Cherokee, Waynesville, Dallas, Salisbury, Matthews, Wadesboro, Greensboro, Hillsborough, Durham, Chapel Hill, Leland, and Calabash. Cherokee, Hillsborough, and Salisbury are all out of order as of this writing. Greenlots has the worst maintenance record in this area, because the company only provides account management. Any repairs are the station owner’s responsibility, where the other operators handle the maintenance along with account management. 

Electrify America

The new kid on the block who is going to be a superstar. They currently have 5 sites open: Asheville (4 dispensers), Raleigh (6), Wake Forest (3), Rocky Mount (4), and Henderson (4). These sites represent 21 dispensers - 1 less than the current leader. They have 6 more sites under construction: Greensboro (8), Charlotte (4), Durham (4), Cary (4), Smithfield (4), and Lumberton (4). These 6 sites will add 28 more dispensers in the state, solidifying their lead as the #1 DC Fast Charging operator with 49 dispensers. As of this writing, ground is broken on all these sites. Greensboro should be open any day now as it’s construction has been complete for months. I have it on good authority that there are more sites coming to NC, and that one should keep checking PlugShare for more coming soon markers.

How fast has Electrify America been building out their network? According to Plug-in NC:

Walmart Supercenter in Henderson opened December 17, 2018

Walmart Supercenter in Wake Forest opened March 1, 2019

Sheetz convenience store in Rocky Mount opened February 4, 2019

Sam’s Club in Asheville opened April 3, 2019

Pleasant Valley Promenade in Raleigh opened March 7, 2019

My wedding ceremony was November 24, 2018. The week leading up to Thanksgiving and my wedding, only Henderson was “coming soon.” By the day of my wedding, Greensboro, Asheville, Rocky Mount, and Raleigh were announced. You can see that they’ve opened all these sites within 5 months time. This is just phase 1, folks. Phase 2 starts July 1...

How does it compare to Tesla?

Tesla has 13 sites in NC: Asheville, Hickory, Charlotte, Greensboro, Burlington, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Plymouth, Fayetteville, Warsaw, Lumberton, Wallace, and Wilmington. They have a total of 112 dispensers across these sites, with two sites in Nagshead and Durham opening “soon.” They are currently the largest DC fast network, hands down, with the caveat that they are only for their cars. I have a serious issue with Tesla not adopting the CCS standard that everyone else uses (and even Nissan seems to agree it’s the future). 

My Prediction for 2021

The charging race is on. EVgo and ChargePoint are behind the game, and Tesla is cash strapped and not completing their build out as fast as promised. Electrify America, which is the fully independent charging infrastructure entity Volkswagen of America had to start up as part of their Diesel Emission Settlement, has no shortage of funding and has been working for two years to secure sites with partners Target, Sheetz, and Walmart -- among others. While their sites were largely unreliable, the v2.0 firmware (displays an idle/not in use screen saver promoting the mobile app and the membership benefits, this firmware also shows a charge % complete screen saver during a charging session) pushed out in the last two or three weeks has made them reliable 90% of the time. How do I know? I use them 3-5 times per week, every week. I believe that Electrify America will come out swinging in late 2020 with TV, radio, and online ads for their network. I expect claims of we’re larger and faster than Tesla. I anticipate Porsche and Audi to offer 350kW charging options for their cars, so they can claim they can traverse long distances faster than Tesla. Why do I say that? Well, the Tesla V3 Supercharger caps out at 250kW and only the Model 3 supports that rate of charge. Even if Audi’s eTron only goes 205 miles before needing a charge, the Electrify America Network (which Audi owners get 1000 free kWh from with purchase of their car) will provide the Audi with a shorter charge stop than Tesla. Porsche has already said “Getting into a car and doing 0-to-60 mph in less than three seconds—can you really differentiate yourself if you do it in 2.8 seconds, and the other can do it in 2.7?," said Klaus Zellmer, the head of Porsche Cars North America. “There are other factors that will gain importance, such as charging time.” And they’re currently in the lead there and the media is taking notice.