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IONNA, the Durham-based EV charging company, cut the ribbon on its first fast-charging station in Apex in February 2025, with plans to open 2,000 more across the country by the end of 2030.
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The electric vehicle business has changed since then, with automakers pulling back on EVs and the federal government eliminating tax credits and other programs meant to encourage sales.
But IONNA is still bullish on EV charging. Seth Cutler, the company’s CEO, says there’s not enough quality fast-charging stations in the U.S. for the electric vehicles already on the road, let alone what’s coming.
“EV sales are not going to zero,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “In fact, I think they’re going to stay at the same level or start to increase next year, with longer ranges, higher charging speeds and better performance. So we’re building for today’s market and also for the future market.”
Opening 2,000 charging stations nationwide is an ambitious goal, Cutler concedes. The company has 177 live now, with another 80 under construction and several hundred more in various stages of planning. IONNA has stations in 30 states, including more than a dozen in North Carolina, and is slowly building a brand that people are starting to rely on, Cutler said.
“When we had that first charging station open, it felt more like a hobby business,” he said. “Now it feels like a network.”
IONNA was founded in 2023 by eight of the world’s largest auto manufacturers: BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and Toyota. While they compete in the showroom, the companies recognized a shared interest in creating a network of high-powered EV charging stations open to all brands, to help make refueling an EV as reliable as filling a gas tank, said Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy, a subsidiary that integrates the electrification of home and auto.
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“Customers are asking whether the EV will fit naturally into their daily lives,” said Sheffer, who heads IONNA’s board. “And yes, there is a bit of a change. You do have to kind of plan a little bit. By improving access, IONNA is helping to remove one of the most visible barriers to broader EV adoption.”
IONNA is focused not just on the number of EV charging stations but also the quality, Sheffer said. He describes visiting a set of someone else’s EV chargers behind a convenience store in the Triangle last year, where drivers had to stand in the sun next to an overflowing dumpster.
“So when you got out to plug in, holy smokes, it hit you,” he said of the smell.
Sheffer and the other auto executives on IONNA’s board gathered at the company’s Durham headquarters Wednesday to celebrate being rated the best experience for DC fast-charging in the country by J.D. Power. For six years, J.D. Power has surveyed EV drivers about charging, including ease, speed and cost, physical condition of the station and what’s available for people while they wait.
IONNA calls its stations “rechargeries,” and early versions like ones in Apex and Garner include customer lounges where people can get coffee and a snack out of the elements while their car refuels. Those creature comforts would be expensive to duplicate from scratch everywhere, Cutler said, so IONNA is teaming up with convenience store chains such as Sheetz, WaWa and Casey’s.
“We can be in close proximity to their front door, so drivers will get the same experience with electric as they get with gasoline,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to provide.”
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This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 6:45 AM.