Electrify America charging network must navigate patchwork of utility rates, government regulations
If Jigar Shah doesn’t do his job correctly, the company with the second-highest number of fast-charging electric vehicle plugs could lose money or EV owners could have to pay more to fill up
If Jigar Shah doesn't do his job correctly, the company with the second-highest number of fast-charging electric vehicle plugs could lose money or EV owners could have to pay more to fill up.
As director of energy services at Electrify America, Shah is in charge of navigating a wide range of rates charged by more than 200 electric utilities in areas where the company has stations.
Electrify America, a subsidiary of Volkswagen formed as part of the settlement for its diesel emissions cheating scandal, has more than 3,600 fast-charging plugs in the U.S. and Canada. It's second only to Tesla with more than 22,000 ports.
Shah talked about the cost of charging and regulations that vary by state and local government. His comments are edited for length and clarity.
Q: Fast-charging stations often need line extensions, transformers and other things because they use a lot of electricity. How do you work all of this out?
A: We have relationships with utilities to go through the line-extension process. We make capacity requests to say we’re putting in four chargers with approximately a megawatt worth of demand, and how long is it going to be and how much would it cost. So there’s definitely this matching game that happens between assessing how difficult from a timing and cost perspective it is to get utility infrastructure in that area versus pivoting to another location that may be more grid-friendly or already has infrastructure nearby that may be more cost-effective. I’m responsible for everything after the point that the site is live and
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