Remember a while back when Volkswagen was caught with illegal emissions-falsifying software? One of the agreements to come from that settlement was to spend $2 billion on building electric vehicle charge stations. We see the first step of that plan now with the newly created Electrify America organization. They announced recently that they will be starting their plan to add more than 2,800 Level 2 charge stations by June 2019.

Volkswagen has chosen 17 of the largest cities for this project. Electrify America is looking to increase accessibility for business and residential areas so that customers can charge their vehicle while at work or home. The expected ratio of near-an-office to near-homes is about 3:1.

Mark McNabb, CEO of Electrify America had this to say.

“One of the biggest barriers to the mass-market adoption of electric vehicles is access to chargers. Having chargers where people work–and live–will help them see that an electric vehicle can be their primary vehicle because charging is convenient and reliable at the places where they spend time.”


The first place to get the new stations will be (to no surprise) California, starting with Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. After that, Electrify America will begin development elsewhere. Some cities of notice are Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, Raleigh, Seattle and Washington, DC.

This is a great thing to see happening, and one that will help is reaching that electric future a little sooner. It's unfortunate that it had to happen under such circumstances.