We've come a long way since the days of sitting on a 25kW Bosch unit at the back of some Chevy dealership, slowly watching the 5% bars tick up and hoping the next location is more powerful/convenient/has more than one stall.

But has DC fast-charging hardware expanded where it's needed? And what does the future hold for power levels, new manufacturers and models, and matching the right hardware with an appropriate location?

In the 62nd episode of Coast-to-Coast EV's, hosts Eric, Walter, and Steve, are joined by Rangeway CEO Zak Winnick -- aka @CurrentHeading / formerly @WyldWattage -- to unpack all things hardware, through the lens of the US and Canadian DCFC landscape.

The crew look at how hardware breaks out by network, region, and site type, as well as zooming in on key manufacturers and models that have defined EV travel in North America, for better or worse!

This is an enlightening exploration of DCFC hardware data and, more importantly, gives all you EV nerds the opportunity to praise or pan the charger OEMs you encounter most often.

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DC fast-charging deployments continue to set records, with almost 16,000 distinct locations across the US and Canada for EV drivers to choose from as we approach mid-2026.

But how many of those would you actually want to charge with?

Listings show that almost one-quarter of those locations are at auto dealers, which is an immediate no for many EV drivers (years of low power, blocked chargers, and extortionate pricing tend to grind you down). Then strip out low-power sites, workplace chargers, or other less appealing options, and the numbers get much smaller.

In edition 61 of Coast-to-Coast EVs WisconsEV's -- http://youtube.com/@WisconsEV -- Jay Williams returns to the show to discuss the kind of places we want to charge, as Eric, Walter, and Steve, also answer the question for our respective regions: DCFC is expanding, but is it in the right places?

We unpack how the fast-charging landscape in the US and Canada breaks out by category, identify regional differences, get opinions and insights from viewers across the continent, and then assess where we need DCFC to accelerate next.

More metro area charging hubs? Medium-powered options at your favorite grocery store? 24kW units at visitor centers for all National Parks? The latest DCFC hardware at big box stores across the US?

Check out this episode to break out where fast charging is most common across the US and Canada, and what we need to see next to energize the type of sites where EV drivers want to, rather than have to, charge.

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Is it faster charging that will make the difference? Or level 2 in every city space, workplace, and residential parking lot?

Will Chinese electric vehicles finally break into the US via Canada and/or Mexico to dominate the market? Or can US automakers rise to the challenge of navigating a policy landscape that veers between pro- and anti-EV with every election cycle?

In this edition, the Coast-to-Coast EVs crew and community explore factors influencing North America's stop-start EV adoption, and try to answer the complex question: what will finally accelerate us into the EV future that so many other regions have already embraced?

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Join Eric, Walter, and Steve to unpack a new era of competition in US/Canada DC fast charging.

Will it usher in much-needed price competition and customer choice, or will a few big players continue to dominate due to deep pockets and coverage that spans the continent?

If you want to jump to a specific aspect of the topic, here's what we discussed 👇

Chapters:

0:00 - Start

1:10 - Fast Charger Competition, Finally

2:12 - How are new competitors going to win EV drivers over?

9:59 - IONNA hits 100 sites/~1K stalls - thousands more underway

17:25 - Route Planning: How do you find EV fast-charging stations?

32.26 - Tesla navigation recommendations + Supercharger for Business

38:42 - What compels non-Tesla drivers to prioritize Superchargers?

48:30 - Reliability is now the price of entry

50:08 - The moving target of DCFC pricing

1:06:00 - Sidebar: Energy shocks impact electricity prices as well

1:14:18 - Energy sources + utility-backed DCFC pricing

1:18:10 - Competitive Distinction: how can North American CPOs stand out?

1:24:06 - Does membership pricing make a difference?

1:29:10 - Close: Cheers, Nerds!

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Join Eric, Walter, and Steve for a free-for-all Q&A session on electric vehicles and infrastructure.

We threw out the usual prepared topics and left ourselves in the hands of the Coast-to-Coasts EV's community to ask questions, pose ideas, and possibly even stoke a heated debate or two...

Topical Timestamps:

0:00 - Start

1:35 - DCFCtracker.com (Thank you @AlejandroEV66!)

4:01 - Donut Lab | idonutbelieve.com

10:00 - Update on Francis Energy Supercharger for Business Upgrades (h/t @Lynyrd_Evnyrd)

16:40 - Viewer Comments

20:42 - Will abandoned charging sites be revived? (h/t @DantheEVman)

37:12 - Will Eric upgrade to the new Bolt? (h/t Doug Steventon)

40:42 - MB-HPC vs. IONNA: Who hits 100 sites first?

49:20 - Which 2026 model releases are catching our attention?

57:12 - Free charging and EVgo Q4 2025 results

1:02:46 - Electrify America Upgrades + overlap with Walmart (h/t STL_EV_Info)

1:10:54 - Charger activation: To app or not to app?

1:15:10 - Tesla Supercharger profitability (h/t @Addahandletocontunue1)

1:21:50 - Should we do more open topic/Q&A format streams or not?

1:24:40 - Close - Cheers, nerds!

Resource + channel links named above:

@AlejandroEV66 x.com/alejandroEV66 -- DCFCtracker.com

‪@Lynyrd_Evnyrd‬ (Oklahoma + Francis Tesla updates)

‪@DanTheEVMan‬ (Red E + Francis NEVI updates)

‪@STL_EV_Info‬ (Mach E + St. Louis, MO area EV content)

‪@EverydayEV‬ (Ohio + Midwest EV updates)

‪@TheArkansaseTraveler‬ (Walmart DCFC + Mid-South EV Updates)

⚡Cheers, nerds 🤓

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