The last time we checked in with Electrify America, the electric-car charging network from Volkswagen, it was slowly but surely building up DC fast-charging stations to rival Tesla. This week, the company announced a huge milestone: its first route that runs coast-to-coast across the U.S. is finally finished.
The cross-country route, which connects Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., is significant for two reasons: Unlike Tesla’s Supercharger network — which has been the only option for fast, road-trip worthy electric-vehicle charging in the country — Electrify America’s chargers are open to all EV cars; and this is the second, vital piece of the puzzle in EV adoption. Automakers can release as many electrified models as they want, if there aren’t enough places to charge, Americans won’t feel confident enough to make the change from gas guzzlers.
Now, Americans can rest assured with a Jaguar I-PACE or Audi e-tron in the garage, and it only goes up from here. By September of this year, Electrify America is planning on finishing its second cross-country route, this one connecting Jacksonville, Florida to San Diego, California. And for those on the coasts, there are already north-south corridors connecting Maine to Florida and Washington to California.
“Electrify America’s primary goal has always been to advance electric vehicle adoption in the U.S., and that starts by instilling feelings of confidence and freedom in consumers when it comes to EV ownership,” Anthony Lambkin, director of operations at Electrify America, said in a press release. “The completion of our first cross-country route is a significant step towards that goal – by making long-distance travel in an EV a reality, we hope to encourage more consumers to make the switch to electric.”
Unfortunately for people in the Dakotas and Wyoming, that doesn’t include you. As the map above shows, there are no chargers planned for those states (not to mention Alaska and Hawaii, which aren’t even included in the graphic). Of course, despite their name, it’s not Electrify America’s job to cover the entire country with fast-charging. And as charging station mapper PlugShare shows, other companies have built spots to plug-in in those states.
They just may not be DC fast-charging stations. Don’t know the difference between the different charging levels? Now’s the time to learn.
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