[Road Trip]

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The seven OEM’s are BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis.

Originally Posted by AutoNews

EV charging network run by 7 major automakers reveals CEO, company name

Seth Cutler, former president and COO of EV Connect, will lead the Ionna EV charging network.

February 09, 2024 12:00 PM

UPDATED 7 MINUTES AGO
HANNAH LUTZ

Seth Cutler, former president and COO of EV Connect, a charging services management company, will lead Ionna.

An electric vehicle charging network formed by seven major automakers has hired its chief executive and started operations, the new company, called Ionna, said Friday. Seth Cutler, former president and COO of EV Connect, a charging services management company, will lead Ionna. The network, unveiled in July, is a joint venture between BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis.

Ionna aims to become an accessible and reliable fast-charging network that enables long-distance travel across North America, the company said. It plans to install at least 30,000 chargers beginning in the U.S. this year. Canadian installations will follow.

Establishing and expanding reliable charging infrastructure has been a priority for an industry faced with flagging EV sales growth. Eighteen percent of public charging attempts failed as of December, according to J.D. Power. Some of those failures were driven by functionality issues. Other failed attempts were driven by limited availability of chargers and long wait times that turned drivers away. The joint venture is designed to broaden the charging network, and it gives automakers more influence on the customer charging experience.

EVs of any brand can use Ionna chargers. The network supports vehicles equipped with either NACS or CCS connectors.

Each charging station will be equipped with amenities, such as restrooms, food service and nearby or on-site retail stores, Ionna said. The network will integrate with participating automakers' in-vehicle systems and mobile apps for reservations, route planning and navigation, payments, energy management and more, Ionna said.

https://www.autonews.com/mobility-re...=hero-headline

[timesone]

More like “I own… nah”

[ChanF15]

Originally Posted by timesone

More like “I own… nah”

More like “I own yah…” lol

[JJacksonIII]

Originally Posted by M2siast

Was this written by AI?
I thought Ionna was the name of the network, but apparently it talks and makes promises.

I hope that's AI. If it's not, the person that wrote that should be fired on the spot. Man, I hate the way the world is headed. And I'm not talking about electric cars.

[Quadruple VANOS]

The EV moneypit keeps getting deeper for these automakers.

[sahajesh]

Any link with Ionity in Europe?

[yousefnjr]

Couple of these companies still struggle to understand cupholders, I hope they don’t get a say in food service

[sittingmongoose]

I don’t understand why? Why reinvent the wheel. Just invest in the supercharger network. It’s the only one that has been reliable thus far.

[Blau]

Originally Posted by JJacksonIII

I hope that's AI. If it's not, the person that wrote that should be fired on the spot. Man, I hate the way the world is headed. And I'm not talking about electric cars.

Cry more. Or... Do something great enough for ppl to follow your ideas.

[JJacksonIII]

Originally Posted by Blau

Cry more. Or... Do something great enough for ppl to follow your ideas.

Nothing in between?
You're upset that I think the AI used to "write" that release is ass?

[26theone]

"EVs of any brand can use Ionna chargers." None of which exist. From 0 to 30k chargers this year. Got it.

[JMD]

They need to be on this like hot on grits,...as this needs to be an around the clock operation!

And Lord we hope it's more reliable than Electric America's charging network.

[Bmwno6]

web site if not seen already

https://ionna.com

[sor]

Originally Posted by 26theone

"EVs of any brand can use Ionna chargers." None of which exist. From 0 to 30k chargers this year. Got it.

Yeah it reads awkwardly but I don’t think they meant 30k this year. Just that the buildout is starting this year.

The timing is interesting because nobody is planning to use NACS until 2025. I think they will promote their own network with free charging and try to avoid any subservience to Tesla. Obviously their customers will be able to use the SC network but it won’t be the promoted option.

I mean, it’s the only option. They can’t all allow themselves to be completely dependent on one competitor.

[LuisBoston]

Originally Posted by sittingmongoose

I don’t understand why? Why reinvent the wheel. Just invest in the supercharger network. It’s the only one that has been reliable thus far.

More competition is always better.

Especially with Elon on the other end.

[NomoTesla]

Originally Posted by sittingmongoose

I don’t understand why? Why reinvent the wheel. Just invest in the supercharger network. It’s the only one that has been reliable thus far.

Giving money to the devil is probably not a sustainable strategy. The more networks the better, otherwise we have what is called a monopoly. There need to be multiple networks so that we have competition and pricing comes down. Charging 40¢ or more per kWh is going to do little to move people to EVs when it's now cheaper to fuel one's car with gasoline for equivalent miles driven.

[sittingmongoose]

Originally Posted by NomoTesla

Giving money to the devil is probably not a sustainable strategy. The more networks the better, otherwise we have what is called a monopoly. There need to be multiple networks so that we have competition and pricing comes down. Charging 40¢ or more per kWh is going to do little to move people to EVs when it's now cheaper to fuel one's car with gasoline for equivalent miles driven.

This is an infrastructure. We tried competing networks and now it’s a shit show. 1 standard is what we need. Multiple apps, multiple chargers, makes a very bad experience. You have no idea what to expect when you arrive at a charger.
Again, I want to repeat in case it is not clear. We tried competition, and it made the EV charging network unreliable unless you have a Tesla.

[darylp310]

Originally Posted by sittingmongoose

This is an infrastructure. We tried competing networks and now it’s a shit show. 1 standard is what we need. Multiple apps, multiple chargers, makes a very bad experience. You have no idea what to expect when you arrive at a charger.
Again, I want to repeat in case it is not clear. We tried competition, and it made the EV charging network unreliable unless you have a Tesla.

We want one standard but lots of competitors like we currently have for gas stations. Please don’t confuse a “network” with a “plug type”. I think we’re all saying the same thing but using different semantics!

[sittingmongoose]

Originally Posted by darylp310

We want one standard but lots of competitors like we currently have for gas stations. Please don’t confuse a “network” with a “plug type”. I think we’re all saying the same thing but using different semantics!

No im referring to network. All gas pumps provide the same experience. But when you have all these different chargers, they provide wildly different experiences. Some charge fast, some charge slow, many are broken. You can’t have an infrastructure that is inconsistent. On top of that, you need a variety of different apps to handle them all. Which is a huge pain in the ass.
None of these problems exist with gas stations.

If bmw came out and said, we are going to build out the supercharger network, but use the existing chargers but they run it and such, that would be similar to the way gas works.

[NomoTesla]

Originally Posted by sittingmongoose

No im referring to network. All gas pumps provide the same experience. But when you have all these different chargers, they provide wildly different experiences. Some charge fast, some charge slow, many are broken. You can’t have an infrastructure that is inconsistent. On top of that, you need a variety of different apps to handle them all. Which is a huge pain in the ass.
None of these problems exist with gas stations.

If bmw came out and said, we are going to build out the supercharger network, but use the existing chargers but they run it and such, that would be similar to the way gas works.

BMW cannot "build out the supercharger network" because it is not BMW's network to build out. It belongs to Tesla. We have lots of gas stations and consumers are able to choose where to fill up based on pricing and whatever other criteria one has. If a charging network is slow or broken, that's why we need competition so that everyone uses the good ones.

You cannot have one company (Tesla) owning the entire nation's charging infrastructure. The more networks the better, let the market decide. The shit show to this point has been the difference in connector standards, but with the entire NA market consolidating around NACS this will no longer be an issue.

[sittingmongoose]

Originally Posted by NomoTesla

BMW cannot "build out the supercharger network" because it is not BMW's network to build out. It belongs to Tesla. We have lots of gas stations and consumers are able to choose where to fill up based on pricing and whatever other criteria one has. If a charging network is slow or broken, that's why we need competition so that everyone uses the good ones.

You cannot have one company (Tesla) owning the entire nation's charging infrastructure. The more networks the better, let the market decide. The shit show to this point has been the difference in connector standards, but with the entire NA market consolidating around NACS this will no longer be an issue.

The issue has been when you arrive at a charger that is not a supercharger, you have a 50% chance of it not working.
I understand Tesla owns the network, my point was they need to be using the same machines. The market did decide on which was best. Teslas machine were clearly superior.

[jmack123]

Originally Posted by sittingmongoose

The issue has been when you arrive at a charger that is not a supercharger, you have a 50% chance of it not working.
I understand Tesla owns the network, my point was they need to be using the same machines. The market did decide on which was best. Teslas machine were clearly superior.

We’ll have to wait and see if Superchargers are as reliable when interacting with third-party automakers.

A lot easier when interoperability isn’t much of an issue. That said, as the other poster said, more competition is a good thing and will continue to push Tesla to innovate and improve their Supercharger tech. A win-win in my book.