Electrify America Brand Guidelines: Volkswagen’s 2016 Network, Chicopee & Hyper-Fast

A carmaker’s commitment turned into a network.

Electrify America is a DC fast-charging network in the United States, headquartered in Reston, Virginia. English Wikipedia says Volkswagen established it in late 2016, as part of the carmaker’s 2016 settlement with US authorities over its diesel emissions case; the company itself describes a long-term programme of investment in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure, access and education in the United States.

The Electrify America brand was unveiled in January 2017, together with the first phase of station building, and its first station opened in May 2018 in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Wikipedia says. Wikipedia notes that they are often in the car parks and parking garages of big-box stores and shopping malls, and names location agreements with Walmart, Target and Simon Property Group, among others. Pricing follows local rules: in most states drivers pay for the energy delivered, by the kilowatt-hour, but in some, such as Montana and Wyoming, they pay by the time the car is plugged in, because those states let only utilities sell electricity by the unit, Wikipedia explains.

The business grew sideways as well as outward. Wikipedia records a sister network in Canada, Electrify Canada, and a commercial arm, Electrify Commercial, added in January 2021 to build and run charging for businesses, utilities, fleet owners, travel centres and convenience stores. In May 2023 it agreed to provide fast charging across Utah with Rocky Mountain Power, and the first stations from that partnership opened in Millcreek and Vernal in June 2024, followed by Moab in July 2024.

Volkswagen, Siemens and a network of stalls.

Electrify America is a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America. In June 2022 it took on its first outside investor when Siemens bought a minority stake, Wikipedia says, citing Volkswagen and The Wall Street Journal; the encyclopedia’s company summary gives Volkswagen Group of America about 82 percent and Siemens about 18 percent. The president and chief executive is Robert Barrosa.

On size, Wikipedia, citing the company’s own fast facts, gives more than 1,080 stations and more than 5,600 DC fast-charging connectors as of August 2026. In its review of 2025, published in February 2026, the company said it had passed 5,600 chargers in North America, operated in 47 states and the District of Columbia, and had upgraded more than 1,100 chargers to its next-generation units during the year. Wikipedia says stations are rated from 50 kW up to 350 kW, use the CCS and CHAdeMO connectors with NACS connectors planned from 2025, and support Plug & Charge, with which a compatible car starts a session without a card or app. Hyper-Fast is the company’s own name for its top charging tier, and it calls itself the largest open Hyper-Fast network in the US, measured by publicly available DC fast chargers capable of up to 350 kW.

The record is not only expansion. Wikipedia notes sustained press criticism of the reliability and maintenance of the network’s stations, and says that in December 2023 the company announced it would replace or upgrade 600 charging stalls in California that dated from its first two waves of building in 2018; its quarterly report to the California Air Resources Board in August 2024 reported progress on those upgrades.

Design and documentation.

EV charging networks sell something drivers cannot see: electricity delivered in a car park or at a service area. Their identities therefore lean on what can be pictured — the charger units, the buildings and shelters around them, the app and the network map — and on the names they give to different kinds of site. Gridserve, for example, sorts its network into Electric Forecourts®, Electric Super Hubs on motorways and Electric Retail Hubs, while Osprey defines a hub as a site with six or more ultra-rapid bays.

Hardware is often shown by name. Networks publish the makers of their chargers and the power ratings they quote for them: Osprey lists units from Circontrol, Wallbox, Tritium and Kempower on its chargers page, and Gridserve has installed ABB units capable of 400kW at its newer sites, according to Transport + Energy. Speeds in this guide are given only as each network or a dated report states them.

The app and the map carry much of the brand. Network maps use colour as a key — Osprey’s marks its fastest sites with orange pins — and apps handle payment, receipts and membership schemes; in 2026 Osprey added a feature that starts a charge as soon as a car is plugged in. Photographs of hubs and forecourts illustrate the networks’ news pages and the partner announcements carried by the trade press.

The other audience is the landlord. Gridserve and Osprey both keep pages for landowners and partners, because their sites are hosted by supermarkets, retail parks, pubs, councils and motorway service areas. This guide sets out what can be checked about each network — who founded it, who owns or funds it, and how it names and presents its sites — and marks clearly what rests on a company’s own word.

Live status, white labels and a tenth year.

Lately the brand has spread beyond its own stations. In October 2025 Electrek reported that Electrify America’s real-time charger data had started to appear on Google Maps, so that station listings there show connector types, charging speeds and whether each charger is working, without a switch to a separate app. In 2026 the company began offering what it calls a white label service, in which a retailer’s own name goes on the charger. The Reading Eagle reported on 27 August 2026 that the convenience chain Wawa was working with Electrify America to install eight Wawa-branded chargers in Pennsylvania, some rated up to 400 kW with both CCS and NACS connectors and others up to 350 kW with CCS. Wawa already ran about 280 chargers across its 14-state footprint under another network’s brand, the paper reported, and the first Wawa-branded units were open in Upper Darby, Bristol and Quakertown. Electrify America said the offer helps retailers run a charging network “that reflects their brand.”

The company also writes its own vocabulary into its reports. Its February 2026 review grouped the year under three themes, “Charge First” for expanding the network, “Charge Easy” for the experience at every touchpoint and “Charge Forward” for testing new technology, and said drivers had completed more than 20 million charging sessions in 2025. It also reported opening two large-format stations of more than 20 chargers each in California, laid out to smooth traffic flow through the site. On its website the company states the aim of being “the most trusted EV charging brand” and calls itself the driver’s partner for reliable Hyper-Fast charging. In the same review it said it was approaching its tenth anniversary, and its chief executive described the network as shaped by the millions of drivers who use it.

For a design guide, Electrify America shows how a network set up by a carmaker can build a separate brand with its own vocabulary, from Hyper-Fast to Plug & Charge. Compare Volkswagen, the parent group, and EVgo, another US fast-charging network. For this guide we use an indigo, an asphalt black and a sodium amber with a wide sans, an unofficial interpretation; no product or logo is reproduced.

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