By all accounts, the public EV charging experience is pretty dismal. Every day we read reports from drivers about poorly designed and/or maintained charging sites with chargers that seem to work about half the time, at best. So it’s encouraging to see that EVgo, one of the US’s largest charging networks, is taking steps to address the issues.
The industry’s reliability problems are not new, and they affect all the major charging networks, so we’re sure the folks at EVgo will forgive us for sounding a note of skepticism. We’re not sure if the measures the company has announced represent a major increase in the maintenance budget or merely the continuation of existing policies, but the project has a name: EVgo ReNew, and it’s billed as “an enhanced and comprehensive maintenance program designed to ensure stations across EVgo’s charging network meet its quality and technology standards.”
EVgo says it plans to replace, upgrade, or in some cases retire, hundreds of stations over the coming year. It also aims to increase the number of in-person preventive health checks of chargers, and to improve system monitoring, diagnostic and recovery tools.
Through the first three quarters of 2022, EVgo upgraded, replaced or removed 125 charging stalls.
EVgo evaluates sites based on historical performance, current and forecast user demand, technical capacity at the location, and proximity to other fast charging stations. Where possible, EVgo will install new chargers with power levels up to 350 kW. Based on the company’s market analysis, some sites may be decommissioned.
“The EVgo ReNew program represents our ongoing dedication to reliability as we proactively modernize legacy infrastructure and work to deliver the consistent, high-quality charging experience customers expect across our network,” said Cathy Zoi, CEO at EVgo.
Source: EVgo