When it comes to getting people to drive electric vehicles, having a widespread and functional charging infrastructure is critical. That’s why Tesla opening up its Supercharger network is such a big deal — and why keeping charging stations operational is vitally important. There’s also one more factor to keep in mind: even when fast charging a vehicle, drivers are going to need to spend more time doing so than they would when refilling a gas tank. How do you make that experience more pleasant?
IONNA, a joint venture from eight different automakers, is working on their own answer to that — and they just broke ground on the first location for a promising-looking charging station. Work is underway on building the first Rechargery in the town of Apex, North Carolina, located just west of Raleigh.
Compared to a decade ago, EV chargers are much more widespread: you can find them on city streets, in shopping mall parking lots and at chain establishments like Wawa, among others. One thing these lack, though, is having facilities where you can sit and wait while your vehicle gets charged. A notable exception is the regional chain Sheetz, which has the trifecta of being open 24/7, serving food and providing a place to sit and eat that food while your car or truck charges.
This Rechargery will contain 10 charging stations, as well as a lounge with bathrooms, coffee and outdoor facilities for people traveling with their pets. Based on the renderings shared on IONNA’s website, it resembles nothing quite so much as Tandem Coffee, a fantastic Portland, Maine-based establishment that’s housed in a former gas station. That’s a good thing, in my book: “cozy coffee shop” feels like an ideal aesthetic for a place where drivers can recharge alongside their vehicles of choice.
San Francisco Just Got a Game-Changing EV Charging Station
Electrify America recently opened the facilityIONNA is a joint venture from BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and Toyota, the last of whom linked up with the company earlier this year. The groundbreaking is one of two recent announcements that the company has made; they’ve also added Jackie Slope as the company’s CTO. Slope’s background includes plenty of customer experience work for a number of professional sports teams, which sounds like IONNA is thinking about both logistics and keeping customers comfortable. Hopefully the Rechargery’s proof of concept will be one drivers can embrace.
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