Sure, it might feel like the electric vehicle world is collapsing around us as tariffs rise and EV tax incentives disappear, but there’s still some hope for people who want to enjoy an EV lifestyle. Electric vehicle charging stations are popping up across the U.S. at a record pace, which is very good news for people who want EVs but are still concerned about the pesky issue of charging them up.
Around 780 public high-speed charging stations opened across the country in the third quarter of 2025. By all accounts, that’s the largest such infrastructure boom on record, according to Department of Energy data reviewed by Bloomberg. In the first nine months of the year alone, the U.S.’s charging infrastructure has expanded by a whopping 19%. You love to see it.
More likely than not, many of the new stations were approved before Trump became the President on January 20. Even as he uproots policies meant to further EV adoptions and even though EV sales are expected to slow without federal incentives, charging executives tell Bloomberg that the market is still underserved and they’re going to continue to push to roll out their chargers.
A public relying on public charging
Early EV adopters were far more likely to charge at home, but as more and more folks bought battery-powered cars, newer users are much more likely to make use of public chargers, according to Bloomberg.
Luckily for them, these chargers have been popping up all over the place, including at restaurants and retail stores. Such businesses are actually using EV charging stations as a way to attract customers, which is a smart move if you ask me. Between July and September, Cracker Barrel opened up six charging stations in the Deep South, Target opened 14, Wawa opened 12, and Ikea and Dunkin’ opened four each.
There are few better ways to kill time while waiting for your car to charge than in a convenience store, and no one knows that better than Pilot, which owns about 800 truck stops across the States. The company now has chargers at about a quarter of its locations, including the 27 it added in the latest quarter. Pilot is also doing something not many other companies have been: it’s going to deeply underserved parts of the country like the Dakotas, the Deep South and Wyoming, and setting up charging stations there. That’s great to see.
Charging infrastructure is still very much catching up with EV adoption rates, according to Bloomberg. Sure, Trump is trying to kill EVs, but if prices continue to drop and more affordable models debut, they’ll only become more appealing to more buyers. According to an IEA study, the U.S. has one of the developed world’s largest imbalances between registered EVs and public chargers. There’s still a hell of a lot of work to do.
