Easy Parking, Simplified Charging Rates

IONNA’s eye-catching teal chargers are all 400kW, with the ability to charge two vehicles simultaneously at up to 200kW. They’re spaced nicely with long cables so that you can reach your charge port no matter where it is on your vehicle. I also appreciate the clear signage at each bay indicating which charger plug type is available at each: NACS or CCS.

While charging an EV is still vastly less expensive than fueling up an ICE vehicle, it can feel like you’re doing advanced calculus sometimes to get the best rate when you’re on the road. Should you wait to charge till after peak hours? Will that 80% battery get you to your next stop? What about if you have a network subscription? IONNA feels like a gas station in the best way. The rate is the rate. You pull in. You plug in your car. You charge. You pay for however much energy you add to your battery and that’s it. If your vehicle is one of IONNA’s Plug and Charge partners, you can even skip the “pay” step since it’s already taken care of in the vehicle manufacturer’s app.

The charging rate is competitive as well, at a flat $0.39/kWh with no idle fee. Compare this to the Tesla charging network that uses a live pricing model that can surge to $0.45kWh or more during peak hours in Florida. There are no idle fees or penalties for charging to 100% on IONNA’s network either. Nearly every other network charges a higher rate when juicing up past 80% or penalty fees when sitting in a spot at 100%.

Expanding in Florida and Beyond

IONNA invited me to the opening of their latest Rechargery in Seffner, near the I-4 interchange in Tampa, FL, so that I could experience first hand what the company envisions for their growing charging network.

The ribbon-cutting event was a somewhat soggy affair (got to love that unpredictable Florida weather) but a happy one for Seth and the 20+ IONNA employees that made the road trip down from their corporate office in Raleigh, NC. Using just IONNA chargers, the new 20-bay Rechargery was full of EVs of practically every make and model getting topped off.

The Seffner location is the company’s 17th location in the Sunshine State and their 8th standalone Rechargery nationwide. With the opening, IONNA now has 170 charging bays in Florida, with 320 additional bays scheduled to come online over the next three years. The Seffner location has 12 CCS chargers and 8 NACS chargers.

So why Florida? It turns out, after California, Florida has the second-most number of registered EVs in the country, with the Tampa Bay area having the highest concentration of new and existing EV owners.

Having driven an EV around the state myself for several years, I can attest that the options available can be somewhat anemic. Before Tesla opened up their charging network to non-Tesla vehicles, it could be downright dangerous if you didn't plan ahead. IONNA is changing that.

I asked IONNA CEO, Seth Cutler, about how their network has grown in Florida.

"When my family went to Disney a couple years back, we took my wife’s Tesla and charged on their network" he said. "But when we took that trip again this year, we used all IONNA chargers. End of the day, these eight manufacturers are counting on us to deliver a consistent charging experience for their drivers."

And it’s not just location, but reliability that provides a consistent experience. I asked Seth about how some legacy charging networks have fallen into disrepair when working with site partners and what IONNA is doing to avoid a similar fate.

"We own the experience. We’re not installing our chargers and handing them off to our site partners to maintain. We’re responsible for the charging, for the support, for the service. If you get to a charger and it’s not working, it weakens your faith in the whole network. We maintain it all."

That expanded into a conversation about their energy partners and how some of those utilities across the state (like FPL) have their own EV charging networks.

"A lot of those networks were built when there wasn't anything else in the area and they had to provide a solution. We can be that reliable partner now. We own all the land on this site and we're dedicated to maintaining it and building it out however it needs to be, whether that's more chargers or amenities. It's vital that we partner with local utilities to make that happen seamlessly. This isn't just a gas station or a rest stop. This is a major power generation site!"

And it’s clear that those partnerships are paying off. In addition to the expansion in the Tampa area, IONNA is partnering with OUC in the Orlando area to build multiple sites this year, bringing more charging destinations to the tourist hub. I asked Seth if the company had considered some power generation of its own, by adding solar panels to their Rechargery sites with covered parking. Seth shrugged.

"It's on the roadmap. We're not ruling anything out but we're building fast and focusing on what benefits drivers most, right now."

Speaking about roadmaps, it’s clear that IONNA is looking at more than just Florida as they continue to grow their nationwide network, filling in the gaps between the two major EV hubs, California and Florida, on the way to the company's 30,000 charge bays by 2030 goal.

"We want to keep doing these road trips" Seth said. "The plan is to do this again in a year, but go from Raleigh to our flagship Beacon site in Westminster, CA, using nothing but IONNA chargers on the way."

Charging Rate Holiday

To celebrate the opening of the Seffner location, IONNA is offering a deeply discounted $0.20/kWh charge rate for Florida drivers on June 27 and 28 at all Florida locations. That rate will be extended to IONNA's entire network over the holiday weekend, from July 2 to July 5.

Having encountered plenty of broken chargers in sketchy locations during my six years of EV ownership, it was refreshing to talk to Seth and experience IONNA's vision first hand. Beyond the colorful chargers (IONNA's branding is a whole vibe), if it hadn't been a ribbon-cutting with music and food trucks, the experience would've been fairly staid. And honestly, sedate is what you're looking for when it comes to charging your vehicle. If IONNA can keep expanding at this rate while maintaining their reputation for reliable charging, then they're going to be a major player in EV charging in the years to come.