This EV Charger Was Built Fast as Hell, Which Could Make EV Motorcycles More Attractive

Public EV infrastructure remains...terrible for the vast majority of users. And it's one of the biggest issues for EV motorcycles. But these chargers, built by Ionna, might be the answer as they were built quickly and can be scaled incredibly fast.

Photo by: Stark Future

By: Jonathon Klein

Mar 25, at 9:05am ET

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I love EVs. Full-stop. They're cool, they're fast, they've got monumental torque, and they make a ton of sense for reducing pollution. I, myself, have a Stark Varg EX that just feels right for all the adventures I get up to.

Plus, it's a hooligan and probably plays to my more anti-social wants and needs than I probably should be allowed to have in my possession.

But there's a problem I've routinely come across whenever I try to take an EV outside the suburbs: Public infrastructure sucks. Doesn't matter where you go, there are charging stations that don't work, stations that are down for maintenance, stations that won't accept your credit card or work with your app, or just not enough stations to fulfill the growing demand to replace regular old gas stations.

And that latter is becoming a pain point increasingly, as while adoption has slowed, it hasn't gone away. But more than anything, the lack of a charging station on a given street corner, something akin to a gas station, means that EV motorcycle adoption just isn't what it could be. Ionna, however, could've just performed a miracle for the space, as it was able to figure out how to build a DC fast charging station in just 5 days, a feat that usually takes months.

According to our siblings at InsideEVs, "Ionna recently celebrated its second anniversary, as well as its 100th EV charging station in the United States. The company, which is backed by several automakers and uses 400-kilowatt DC fast chargers exclusively for its stations, is expanding fast, and now we know why." That expansion is being fueled by ultra-fast building of the ultra-fast chargers.

As IEVs point out, it usually takes a number of weeks to months, or even years, for a charging station to be built. But Ionna, along with construction company 3V3i, figured out how to build one from the ground up in just 5 days. The basics are that the duo used "a combination of prefabricated charging infrastructure components, integrated engineering and construction design, and a streamlined installation process."

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Basically, they've gotten to the point where a fast charging station doesn't require as many parts as it once did, had a bunch already on hand, developed some better engineering and construction designs, and put it all together to make the whole process that much quicker. Faster and faster, baby.

This was always the path forward, as the more you do something, the faster the process becomes, and the more streamlined it is. But going from months to just five days means that you could start installing these EV chargers with more ubiquity, which will make it easier for EV motorcycle adoption, as range remains a massive problem. At least it is when the infrastructure lags behind it. If you've got the infrastructure, you don't have range issues. There's always one that's open and ready.

"Speed of deployment is one of the biggest challenges facing EV infrastructure expansion," said 3V3i, adding, "Our prefab manufacturing model allows charging networks to dramatically reduce construction timelines, lower project costs, and bring charging capacity online faster."

Honestly, I hope this construction process means a boom in EV infrastructure, cause no one likes range anxiety, nor breathing in trash air, drinking contaminated water, or watching as winter ghosts a good portion of the American West...