Japanese legacy automaker Toyota officially joined the early seven OEMs to solidify the new North American electric vehicle charging network Ionna.
Ionna gains Toyota as investor and founding partner
According to the press release, Toyota Motor North America is now the latest investor and founding partner of Tesla Supercharger network rival Ionna.
Toyota’s move to support establishing Ionna’s high-powered charging network for all-electric vehicles (BEVs) in the region is part of its efforts to catch up in the highly competitive industry.
As part of the agreement, Toyota and Lexus EV owners will gain access to the tremendous public DC fast charger network Ionna plans to start installing later in 2024.
“We are excited to announce our support of IONNA to deploy DC fast chargers throughout the US and Canada. We believe this will not only promote the adoption of BEVs and increase customer confidence in the technology, but it will provide our Toyota and Lexus customers with access to IONNA’s rapidly growing charging network in North America.”
Ted Ogawa, Toyota Motor North America President and CEO
Deployment plans
Ionna set a target to deploy at least 30,000 DC fast-charging ports in North America by the end of the decade. Excitingly, Ionna will not only offer EV charging but also amenities and convenience features to deliver a “holistic customer experience.”
As mentioned, it will begin the installation of these EV chargers as early as this year. It will continue the deployment of additional charging stations throughout the decade.
Ionna also confirmed that the charging network will offer both North American Charging System (NACS) and Combined Charging System (CCS) plugs to support all BEV drivers.
About Ionna
Toyota is the newest member of the new Ionna charging network, which originally consisted of the following major OEMs: BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis.
Ionna primarily aims to “lead, innovate, create, and drive forward” a groundbreaking electric vehicle charging solution and offer “an end-to-end integrated” customer experience. Through this, Ionna seeks to challenge the dominance of Tesla’s enormous Supercharging network.
Ionna will also aid its eight founding OEMs in staying competitive against Tesla EVs, which benefit from the Musk-led company’s Superchargers.
