IONNA, the charging network owned by eight automakers, said it has passed 180 live sites in the United States, more than doubling its footprint since the start of 2026, and called itself “the largest 400kW charging network in the US.”
“The industry has treated charging scale and charging quality as a tradeoff,” Chief Executive Officer Seth Cutler said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Our growth and first-place customer satisfaction ranking show that drivers can and should expect both,” he said.
“We started the year at 80 sites, hit the 100th site right on our second-year anniversary as a company, and now we’re nine months into the year and we’ve over doubled in size,” Cutler told InsideEVs.
IONNA did not say how many charging bays are now open, and it did not define how it measured the 400kW claim.
How Big Is the Network
IONNA operated 1,526 fast-charging stalls at 178 US locations as of September 12, according to EVChargingStations.com, citing Department of Energy data.
IONNA said in March, on its second anniversary, that it had “over 100 sites live” and “nearly 1000 bays live across the country,” with 4,700 bays under contract.
The US Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center listed 1,458 IONNA fast-charging ports on September 1, eighth among US networks and 1.9% of the national total, EVChargingStations.com reported.
That compares with 37,995 ports for Tesla‘s Supercharger network, which holds about half of the US total.
IONNA has said it plans to install at least 30,000 charging ports in North America by 2030, which leaves its current stall count at about 5% of that goal.
“What keeps me nervous, what keeps me up at night honestly, is we’ve got to maintain that, right?” Cutler said of the network’s quality. “Now there’s a target on our back.”
What “400kW” Means
IONNA’s chargers are rated at up to 400 kilowatts and offer both NACS and CCS connectors, the company said when it opened its first site.
IONNA uses Alpitronic HYC400 units, whose maker specifies 400 kW as the maximum total output of a unit shared dynamically between its two charging points.
A vehicle can draw the full rating only when the paired stall is idle, and in practice most vehicles accept far less.
IONNA had 162 sites and 1,422 stalls capable of 400 kW or more at the end of August, the most of any US network, according to the DCFC Tracker, which draws on Department of Energy data, as reported by EVChargingStations.com.
Walmart was second with 109 sites and 910 stalls, followed by Mercedes-Benz with 91 and 863, bp pulse with 37 and 512, and Tesla’s V4 Superchargers with 24 and 256.
That gave IONNA 29% of the 4,895 US stalls rated at 400 kW or more, at 616 locations in total.
Tesla’s V4 cabinets can deliver up to 500 kW, but only to the Cybertruck. Larger networks with more locations, such as the Pilot Flying J sites built with General Motors, use 350kW dispensers.
A J.D. Power First
IONNA ranked highest among DC fast-charging networks in J.D. Power’s 2026 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study, published on August 12, with a score of 807 on a 1,000-point scale, ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Rivian.
Mercedes-Benz Charging Network ranked second with 797 and Rivian Adventure Network third with 755, J.D. Power said.
It was the first year IONNA was eligible for the award.
“Three OEM-backed DC fast charger networks that are award-eligible for the first time perform well in the study,” J.D. Power said, with advantages over the segment average that “in some cases” exceed 100 index points.
“New OEM-backed fast-charging networks are raising expectations with high-performing equipment, strong locations and smooth sessions,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of EV solutions at J.D. Power.
Satisfaction with DC fast chargers overall rose 12 points to 666, while satisfaction with Level 2 chargers fell 12 points to 595, according to the study.
The share of visits in which owners could not charge fell to 12%, the lowest in the study’s history, from 14% a year earlier.
Fast chargers at hotels scored highest by location at 692, followed by gas stations and convenience stores at 689, while dealerships scored lowest at 570, J.D. Power said.
The study surveyed 6,594 owners of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles from January to June.
Tesla’s Supercharger network had topped the fast-charging ranking in 2025 with a score of 709, and fell to fourth this year with 701, according to EVChargingStations.com.
Circle K and Open Access
IONNA said it has brought 40 Circle K locations online since announcing a partnership with the convenience-store chain in April, and that usage at those sites doubled after it took over operations.
IONNA said in April it would convert and upgrade about 85 existing Circle K charging sites and expand to more than 350 locations.
It also builds at Sheetz, Wawa and Casey’s stores, alongside its own branded Rechargery sites.
Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz have joined BMW and GM in offering charging discounts at IONNA sites through their apps and Plug & Charge, and the remaining founding automakers “will soon join,” IONNA said.
IONNA, which has no app of its own, said 19 partner apps now support its network.
Drivers can also follow a session by scanning a QR code on the dispenser, without an app or account.
Plug & Charge is now enabled for Volvo drivers, and support for Toyota and Lexus is expected in October, the company said.
It also set up a Driver Advisory Council co-led by YouTubers Kyle Conner of Out of Spec and Tom Moloughney of State of Charge.
Price as a Lever
IONNA says its price “is never more than $0.39” per kilowatt-hour, plus taxes, with no paid membership required.
That made it the cheapest of 17 networks in an August analysis by charging-data firm Paren, at an average of $0.37, against $0.56 for both Tesla and Electrify America.
Over the Labor Day weekend, IONNA cut its rate to $0.20 per kilowatt-hour.
8 Automakers, 3 Years
BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis announced the venture in July 2023, and Toyota joined as the eighth shareholder in July 2024.
Cutler, formerly of EV Connect, became Chief Executive Officer in February 2024.
The company held a soft opening of its first site, a Rechargery in Apex, North Carolina, in December 2024, and officially opened it in February 2025.
IONNA is based in Durham and announced in November 2025 a planned investment of more than $250 million in California over three years.
