For potential EV purchasers, the aspect of charging is significant. Just over half of respondents in a AAA survey last year indicated that public charging infrastructure was a major worry.

Such worries are not baseless. Historically, EV fast charging has been subpar. Following a challenging road trip in 2023, I created an “EV fast-charging bill of rights,” detailing seven essential enhancements needed in charging networks to improve the situation.

The transformation over the years has been remarkable.

On a recent road journey, I was astonished by how much the charging landscape has advanced. With a minor exception, my experience while charging was seamless.

An almost flawless encounter

This summer’s journey to Montreal spanned over 600 miles. We had planned to take our Kia EV9, capable of nearly 300 miles per charge, but since the Kia was in service for a broken air conditioner, we opted for our Audi e-tron with a 220-mile range per charge. Despite the range difference, the e-tron managed the trip impressively. Maximum range might seem appealing, but it wasn’t essential.

To locate chargers, I employed A Better Route Planner (ABRP), an app that optimizes charging locations by considering factors like weather conditions, temperature, vehicle specifications, and battery health. While using a Bluetooth OBD reader to provide real-time data from the vehicle to ABRP can enhance accuracy, I found the app to be reliable without it. ABRP indicated that our first stop should be a Rivian charger situated near Lebanon, New Hampshire. Given Rivian’s ownership of the app, I wasn’t entirely surprised by this recommendation.

After utilizing the Lebanon chargers, I understood why the app recommended them, independent of Rivian’s ownership. There were no waiting lines, an abundance of dining options, a grocery store, and six 300-kilowatt chargers that were all operational. I had pre-downloaded the Rivian app, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The charger accepted my credit card and provided over 140 kilowatts, which is approximately the maximum for the e-tron. We utilized the same chargers on our return trip and encountered a similar experience.

Following that, we visited a Circuit Électrique station just outside Montreal to recharge for the upcoming week. This stop presented the only challenge of the trip: the card reader malfunctioned, necessitating me to download the Circuit Électrique app and load it with 20 Canadian dollars. After resolving that, the charging session proceeded without issues. In hindsight, the stop wasn’t completely essential. Our driving during the week was minimal, and the hotel charger functioned flawlessly. Nevertheless, the kids needed a break, and my wife desired a coffee, so we likely would have charged regardless.

Each charging session lasted around 20 minutes, and we coordinated charging with lunch or rest breaks. At no point did we have to wait for the vehicle. Altogether, our three charging stops took about as long as our wait at customs upon returning to the United States.

A retrospective on past experiences

Three years prior, the trip was far less favorable. I understood that fast charging could be inconsistent — having driven non-Tesla EVs for over ten years — yet I still felt disappointed.

That summer, we took the same Audi e-tron to Maine, a round trip of approximately 350 miles, about half the distance to Montreal. The vehicle could have reached Maine on a single charge, but our hotel lacked an EV charger. To ensure we had sufficient power for the long weekend and the start of the return journey, we intended to charge a bit over halfway there.

Prior to departure, I had also leveraged ABRP to eliminate unreliable charging stations, yet the experience was still disheartening. The first charger malfunctioned shortly after I connected, forcing me to shift to another station. The initial charger failed to end the session with my vehicle, which meant the second did not activate without contacting customer service. At another location, the charging network’s app indicated two functioning plugs out of four, but only one was actually operational. In total, I spent about seven hours driving and had to reach out to customer service three times.

Can you imagine if gas stations operated in this manner?

Data signifies substantial advancements

Fortunately, the EV charging system looks drastically different today. The personal experiences from 2023 and 2026 are merely individual stories. However, data supports the notion that these experiences reflect a larger trend: fast charging in the U.S. has significantly improved.

In July 2023, there were approximately 32,000 DC fast chargers in the country, as stated by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. At that time, many of these chargers were exclusively for Tesla vehicles. (Tesla had announced its intent to open its network in 2023, but it took over a year for widespread accessibility.) Currently, EV operators can utilize the majority of Tesla’s network. Ongoing expansion efforts from Tesla and other providers have resulted in more than double the number of DC fast chargers compared to 2023.

Moreover, their reliability has improved.

My nearly perfect trip last week seems to be the standard now rather than an outlier. Since last year, reliability has surged nearly 10 points, rising from 85 to the mid-90s, based on Paren’s reliability index, which assesses factors like successful charging attempts and station downtime. While Tesla’s network remains a frontrunner, Paren indicates that other networks are rapidly expanding, which has undoubtedly enhanced charging experiences across the board.

There are still gaps in the network, and EV chargers do malfunction. However, more chargers are being added each month, and malfunctioning ones are being fixed more promptly than before.

It’s not flawless, but I’m genuinely amazed at how much the fast charging experience has improved. Someone ought to inform the skeptics of what they’re missing.