Electrify America sets up interoperability alliance
The Volkswagen subsidiary founded to build charging infrastructure as a consequence of the diesel scandal has struck deals with the infrastructure providers EV Connect, Greenlots and SemaConnect to set up network interoperability.
The roaming contracts allow EV drivers in the USA a unified access to a network of around 12,500 charging stations across the USA owned by the providers, starting on the 30th of July, 2019. The public charging stations can be found at shopping centres, gas stations, shops, offices and apartment buildings.
Vice president of Electrify America, Brendan Jones, said: “Drivers will now be able to roam between charging
networks without the need for additional cards or accounts. It will be seamless for EV owners that you can charge when you need one – comparable to getting cash at an ATM machine even when it’s not your bank.”
Electrify America will invest a total of about 2 billion dollars over a ten year period in the development and construction of charging infrastructure for Zero Emission Vehicles across the USA. The company also plans to focus on education and accessibility solutions to help customers adjust to e-mobility. The investments will take place over four investment cycles of 30 months, each. The first phase, which will see 2,000 charging stations built, will likely cost about 500 million dollars by it’s end in June, 2019. Electrify America plans to set up more than 500 charging locations with more than 2,800 level 2 charging stations. A large part of the infrastructure investment will take place in California.
This is not the first instance where Electrify America is working with Greenlots, as the company had previously made an agreement to utilize Greenlots operating system Sky.
Next to infrastructure investment, Electrify America is also involved in a variety of other e-mobility oriented initiatives, including a car sharing initiative in Sacramento and infomercial campaigns to promote electrification.
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