EV Charging Stakeholders Play The Long Game In US

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Last Updated on: 8th June 2025, 12:08 pm

The outlook for EV sales in the US has dampened the spirits of electrification advocates, but stakeholders in the EV charging industry are still betting that time is running out for gasmobiles. After all, the hot mess that presently occupies the Oval Office will leave — peacefully this time, one hopes — in just 3.5 years. In the meantime, EV charging apps  are getting a user-friendly makeover from three leading stakeholders in the field.

EV Sales And Public Charging Station Apps

EV drivers routinely use apps to plan stopovers at public charging stations along their route. It comes with the territory. Apps will continue to be a necessary feature of the EV driving experience, even after gaps in the public charging station network are paved over.

In terms of EV sales, though, apps can be somewhat problematic. To non-EV drivers who are accustomed to simply pulling into the nearest gas station for a refuel whenever needed, app dependency can seem like one more avoidable complication of owning a car.

The latest survey from AAA indicates that more US drivers are souring on the idea of buying an EV. That may well be a temporary downswing, but the reasons they give are perennial. In the survey, for example, 56% of drivers cited “a lack of convenient public charging stations” as a reason for not purchasing an EV. An almost equal proportion, 55%, cited “fear of running out of charge while driving” as a barrier. These are the very same concerns that charging apps are supposed to resolve (lots more details about the EV survey are here).

EV Sales And The “Seamless Charging” Pilot Project

The US manufacturer Blink Charging Co., the Canadian charging app company ChargeHub, and WirelessCar, a global telematics firm headquartered in Sweden, have all come together to improve the app experience. The three firms are introducing a single-app “Seamless Charging” pilot project in the US and Canada.

“For anyone who does not have easy access to EV charging infrastructure, using an EV may seem complicated,” the three firms explained in a press statement on June 3, drawing the connection between EV sales and charging convenience.

“A lot of apps, tags and cards meant to make the process easier may in fact deter new users; especially if these apps or devices make the charging process less convenient than refuelling an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle,” they added.

If all goes according to plan, drivers who sign up for Seamless Charging can use any Blink EV charger without jumping through hoops. “After a one-time registration with the ChargeHub app and activation of Seamless Charging, drivers will simply plug in at any Blink Charging Station, and walk away,” the collaborators emphasized.

“When the EV is plugged in, the driver is notified that charging has started — automatically and without cards, apps, or additional steps. The result is a radically more convenient EV charging experience, powered by connectivity,” they emphasized again for good measure.

What Is This WirelessCar Of Which You Speak?

Blink and ChargeHub are familiar faces on the pages of CleanTechnica. WirelessCar has been an influential force in the EV sales picture for years but has not crossed our radar until now, so it’s time to catch up.

WirelessCar bills itself as “one of the world’s leading innovators of digital vehicle services.” With more than 14 million vehicles under its connectivity umbrella in 100 or so markets, the company counts Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Cars, BMW, Chrysler, Nissan, Subaru, Volkswagen Group, and Volvo Group among its clients.

The company provides services for both EVs and conventional ICE vehicles. However, with global EV sales on the rise, WirelessCar underscores its attention to the electrification market. When the company celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, CEO Niklas Florén observed that “opportunities in innovative services for electric vehicles, safety and security, and autonomous are vast.”

The company launched in 1999 specializing in telematics — the communication of data over long distances — for the auto industry. One of its earlier products was Volvo On Call, an emergency service for Volvo Cars. Over the years, WirelessCar built additional services onto the platform and collaborated with other automakers as well.

EV Charging & The Waffle House Index

To the extent that more EV charging stations and a seamlesss app experience will help EV sales regain momentum, the wheels are already in motion. US President “TACO” Trump famously brought federal funding for highway charging stations to a screeching halt earlier this year, but several states already deployed their share of the money. In addition, stakeholders with a footprint in the highway fuel-food-restrooms business are jumping into the game. One recent example is Dublin-based Applegreen, which is installing charging stations at its concessions in New York and New Jersey.

Among other signs of activity in the fuel-food-restrooms nexus, the Waffle House Index is at work. Waffle House is known for its ability to get its stores up and running quickly in the event of an emergency, if only to offer a trimmed-down menu for local customers and emergency responders. In years past, FEMA and other emergency agencies could make a quick assessment of storm damage by the number of Waffle Houses that were forced to close for long periods of time.

As applied to EV charging, when Waffle House decides to go all in, that’s a good indication they expect to cultivate more traffic from EV drivers.

Sure enough, in May the convenience store news and analysis organization CSP noted that bp has hooked up its EV charging branch, bp pulse, with Waffle House. The initial plan calls for 50 Waffle House sites in the South and Southeast to receive six ultrafast, 400-kilowatt DC charging bays.

Waffle House sure knows its stuff. A recent analysis by the firm Transportation Energy Institute notes that average monthly EV charging sessions are climbing faster at restaurants, and that charging stations of at least 300 kilowatts are more likely to attract EV drivers.

Don’t go looking for those chargers just yet. Waffle House and bp aim to turn on the juice next year. In the meantime, though, bp has been very busy. CSP notes that bp pulse has been installing EV charging stations at its 8,000 convenience stores under the familiar names Travel Centers of America, Thorntons, and Amoco.

As for EV sales in the US, the TACO economy is at work all across the auto industry. One might also ask how many drivers are comfortable with the idea of buying any new car right now, gas or electric, if their current ride still gets them where they need to go.

Photo (cropped): Blink, ChargeHub, and WirelessCar have hooked up to make the EV charging experience as finding fuel for a gasmobile (courtesy of WirelessCar).