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Automaker EV Charging Network Branded Ionna, Seth Cutler Named CEO

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It’s no secret that public EV charging in North America is currently a pretty miserable experience for everyone not driving a Tesla. Whatever one may think of Tesla vehicles and the company’s CEO, the Supercharger network is vastly superior to anything currently offered by Electrify America, EVGo or other providers. Automakers have recognized this as a major barrier to their efforts to sell EVs and in summer 2023, seven of them announced a new joint venture to build another network aimed at providing a better experience. That venture is now operational under the name Ionna and has named Seth Cutler as its CEO.

Cutler was previously senior vice president of technical operations at EV Connect, a charger networking technology provider that was acquired by Schneider Electric in September 2023. EV Connect provides back end services and white label apps that enable charger management, payments and other functions for companies and businesses looking to deploy charging infrastructure.

Ionna is the brand that has been selected for the joint venture between BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis. Starting this year, Ionna will begin deploying a network of 30,000 DC fast chargers across the U.S. and Canada later this year. The launch of Ionna marks a turning point for automakers in North America.

Since the earliest days of the auto industry, manufacturers have steered clear of being energy/fuel distributors and focused on building and selling vehicles. At the turn of the 20th century there were relatively few vehicles and gasoline was distributed mostly through pharmacies. By the time vehicles became more commonplace following the Model T, gas stations had also begun to appear and since fueling was quick and easy, manufacturers didn’t really need to jump start the fuel distribution network.

EVs take much longer to charge and there is consumer uncertainty about what EVs can actually achieve in terms of range. More importantly, the complexity of charging compared to pumping liquid fuel means non-Tesla EV chargers have proven to be much less reliable than gas pumps. While automakers had hoped to just partner with EV charging operators, the poor reliability has caused many consumers to avoid EVs. Thus they grouped together to build a rival network with a goal of providing a better customer experience. The anti-trust regulatory review that was required prior to starting operations for the joint venture has now been completed.

Several of the members of this group are already part of a similar joint venture in Europe called Ionity that has been operational for several years. The first Ionna chargers are expected to be deployed in the U.S. before the end of 2024 with the full network completed before 2030. Each site will include multiple high-powered chargers. While Ionna hasn’t announced its plans for NACS connectors, now that the SAE J3400 standard has been completed, it seems likely that the new chargers will include both CCS and NACS connectors on most if not all chargers. Over time as the number of NACS equipped vehicles increases and CCS vehicles plateaus and eventually declines, it seems likely that many of the CCS connectors will be replaced by NACS.

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