Electric vehicle (EV) reliability is improving, the size of the charging stations are growing, and the average use rates have reached 25+% in several markets. This is according to thae new State of the Industry Report: US EV Fast Charging — Q1 2025, from Paren Inc., a provider of EV charging data analytics and insights.
Offering an in-depth analysis of the evolving EV dc fast-charging (DCFC) landscape, the Q1 2025 report marks the beginning of a new quarterly series that aims to provide ongoing insights into deployment trends, use, reliability, costs, and the state of key players in the fast-charging EV ecosystem.
“Despite some high-profile setbacks, the industry made real strides last year,” said Bill Ferro, CTO with Paren. “Paren’s US Reliability Index measured an improvement versus Q4 2024 of 81.2 points to 82.6, an increase of 1.7%. This continues a quarterly trend across the US non-Tesla fast charging infrastructure, which suggests that the ongoing efforts to replace or sunset older hardware is having a positive impact on station uptime. In addition, newer entrants into the field are bringing time-tested hardware along with enhanced driver experiences.”
Key findings:
- The total number of new ports (charging connections) grew to 55,580 at the end of Q1, an increase of 3,667. The number of stations (locations) reached 10,839, reflecting an increase of 794 during Q1. Both figures represent a slowdown compared to Q4 2024 — a normal seasonal trend due to winter weather slowing construction activity, following year-end pushes to open new stations.
- Average utilization, defined as the minutes of charging session time as a percentage of the time a station is open each day, declined slightly to 16.2% in Q1 2025, down from 16.6% in Q4 2024. This minor decrease is consistent with the typical Q4 spike driven by increased EV travel during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Utilization remains on an upward trajectory, particularly in dense urban coastal markets with high concentrations of rideshare drivers and apartment renters who rely on public charging.
- There was a significant and encouraging rise in the average number of ports per station among non-Tesla networks, increasing to 3.9 in Q1 2025, up from 2.7 in Q1 2024. For comparison, the Tesla Supercharger network now averages 13.0 ports per station, while the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program mandates a minimum of four ports per station.
- Combined Charging System (CCS) continued to dominate, with 59% of new ports being CCS-enabled. NACS-enabled ports made up 31%, and CHAdeMO accounted for 10%. However, only 104 of the newly added NACS (J3400) ports were installed at non-Tesla networks, indicating that the U.S. is still in the early stages of transitioning to the J3400 connector standard. As a result, drivers of upcoming non-Tesla vehicles equipped with a NACS port will need to rely heavily on adapters in the near term.
- An evaluation of pricing models showed that fixed pricing is used by charge-point operators (CPOs) 80% of the time across states. Time-of-use (TOU) pricing accounted for 16%, while time-based pricing (e.g., per minute or per hour) was rarely used, at just 4.2%.
Of significant concern to the industry and EV drivers is the potential negative impact of an extended pause of the NEVI program, which was designed specifically to fund the build out of charging infrastructure in rural and low-income communities where charging networks are typically not building new charging stations.
“Our data is a harbinger of less expansion in rural and lower-income markets as CPOs will increasingly focus on urban markets seeing high utilization, often north of 30%, versus markets with less than 5% utilization,” said Loren McDonald, chief analyst at Paren.
The report concludes that 2024 will be remembered as a transformational year for the EV charging industry — one that signals a shift into what Paren is calling “Charging 2.0.”
“2024 was a year of mixed news in the US dc fast-charging industry, but it will be remembered as a pivotal turn to a new era we are calling ‘Charging 2.0,” said McDonald. “Charge-point operators and new players in the industry are increasingly focused on creating a great customer experience, improving reliability of chargers, and reaching profitability — a shift from chasing the availability of incentives, racing to get chargers in the ground, and then crossing your fingers that utilization will grow over time,” he added.
To learn more, download the report here.
Filed Under: Charging, Technology News