Why EV Charging Is Still Such a Hard Business
Major operators are exiting while automakers and gas-station chains pour billions into the space.
The US EV charging market is simultaneously expanding and contracting, with some operators shuttering locations while others lock in federal subsidies to build at scale.
What Happened
During the past two years, several major players have retreated from the US market or scaled back operations. In 2024, European companies Engie and Enel X both exited after attempting to leverage their domestic experience. Shell announced it would stop supporting charging software licensed to other companies in December 2024, focusing instead on chargers at its own retail locations. By August 2025, Shell had halted operations of the Volta network of roughly 2,000 chargers it acquired in 2023 and later sold portions to JOLT. Meanwhile, EVgo secured a $1.25 billion Department of Energy loan guarantee in December 2024 to expand its public fast-charging footprint nationwide. Tesla far outpaced every other network, controlling nearly 45% of all charging ports added in the third quarter of 2025, according to Paren data.
Why It Matters
The churn illustrates why profitability remains elusive for many operators. Poor uptime—the percentage of time a charger is ready for use—makes achieving strong utilization and revenue even harder. A 2025 JD Power survey showed the percentage of visits where EV drivers could not get any power fell to its lowest level in four years, but reliability still has ample room for improvement. The market is also reshaping around federal funding: as of April 2026, Tesla, EVgo, Electrify America, Blink and ChargePoint have been awarded $67.5 million in NEVI funds for 834 charging ports—an average cost to taxpayers of $67,500 per port. Automaker-backed IONNA, backed by BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Stellantis and Toyota, intends to operate 30,000 chargers and has 100 locations operational as of March 2026.
The Bottom Line
The charging sector is caught between a wave of exits and a surge of new entrants backed by automakers, gas-station chains and federal subsidies. Whether the newcomers can achieve the scale needed for profitability while improving uptime remains the central question for the industry.
