US tops 80,000 fast-charging ports as new chargers get ever more powerful
Operators added 4,106 fast-charging ports in the third quarter. Some 73 percent of new ports deliver at least 250 kilowatts, data provider Paren found.
Symbolic image · Photo: G. Edward Johnson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The United States now has 80,964 public fast-charging ports at 14,614 locations, according to the quarterly report by charging data provider Paren, as reported by Electrek. From July to September, operators added 4,106 ports at 664 stations, down from 4,618 in the previous quarter. Year to date, port additions are about 9 percent lower and station openings about 20 percent lower than a year earlier.
The network is becoming more capable, however: 73 percent of new ports deliver at least 250 kilowatts, up from 60 percent a year earlier. Outside Tesla's network, just over a third of new ports offered 400 kilowatts or more. New stations are also getting bigger. Tesla added the most ports, 1,287, followed by network operator IONNA and retailer Walmart.
Usage is growing: Paren counted 50.4 million charging sessions, up 26 percent year on year. The national reliability score reached 93.9 out of 100. Fast charging cost an average of 54 cents per kilowatt-hour, up 2.7 percent, which Paren attributes mainly to Tesla price increases. Nine in ten new stations opened in urban markets.