Cute, Quirky IONNA EV Charging Consortium Brings Its A Game

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The IONNA EV charging station consortium unveiled itself final yr with a plan to deal with EV drivers within the US and Canada to lounge-type model and luxury whereas they cost up, and now Tesla CEO Elon Musk has handed them a golden alternative to current their retro-chic “Rechargery” mannequin as a welcome different to the Tesla Supercharger community. IONNA goals to take advantage of the chance underneath a brand new model creation and design partnership with the worldwide advertising powerhouse VLM.

Supercharging The IONNA EV Charging Model Id

For all of the fuss over the Tesla’s fast buildup of its Supercharger community, the corporate failed to think about what may occur when different EV charging stakeholders start to make the charging expertise extra engaging. Take these huge, busy Interstate journey facilities, for instance. You may see a financial institution of Superchargers there, off within the nook of a giant car parking zone, farthest from the bogs and the meals courtroom, simply naked bones with out even a cover to defend drivers from the climate whereas they’re hooking up for a cost. Though, based mostly on what I noticed a couple of months in the past, the charging cables could make enjoyable type of swing for an creative toddler on the unfastened.

Into this image steps the IONNA consortium with a mannequin for public fast charging stations that places the motive force expertise entrance and heart. “IONNA combines the forces of BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Toyota,” CleanTechnica famous in February, when IONNA introduced that it was happy with the beta-testing stage of the enterprise (see extra IONNA charging station background here).

At its launch, IONNA had already settled on a retro model aesthetic, aiming to draw and reassure EV drivers with a model id that harks again to the olden days however with an up to date strategy resembling a properly styled airport lounge.

Apparently not taking any possibilities, final yr IONNA additionally launched a five-month aggressive seek for a model creation and design associate. Final week, the competitors concluded with the collection of VML.

VML Dives Into EV Charging

AdWeek reporter Kathryn Lundstrom has the rundown on the brand new partnership, which already has a form of Trekkie really feel about it.

Citing Robb Smigielski, chief design officer and government lead of brand name design at VML, Lundstrom noticed:

“In developing the brand identity for Ionna, VML created a lexicon around EV charging that he hopes will become part of the culture as more people buy electric cars. The stations are rechargeries, the chargers are ‘geniune Ionna charge dispensers,’ and EV owners who use the stations are ‘Ionnians.’”

“Ionna is automakers’ first significant effort to challenge Tesla’s dominance in EV charging, and it’s coming in an era when many people are distancing themselves from Tesla CEO Elon Musk,” Lundstrom added. “Currently, Tesla’s network makes up a majority of the fast chargers available across the country (it’s currently at 58%, according to research and analysis firm EVAdoption).”

“If Ionna can make good on its promise, it could offer an alternative,” she emphasised. “The retro feel of the branding alludes to a community-centric, almost utopian vision of American life, marrying old-school Route 66 vibes to a clean energy future and shooting for the brand obsession people have for regional gas station chains like Buc-ee’s or Wawa.”

You Had Me At Wawa…

In case you have private data of the Buc-ee’s expertise, drop a observe within the remark thread. I can solely communicate to Wawa, which is known in my neck of the woods.

The purpose is that, in contrast to the serendipitous truck stops of these olden days, trendy journey facilities have grow to be locations to linger and benefit from the facilities, together with clear bogs, all kinds of acquainted meals choices, and Wi-Fi.

“In partnership with VML, the brand launch of IONNA takes a novel approach, using nostalgic design elements that were drawn from America’s automotive past and retro service station brands,” VML elaborates. “Nostalgic elements imbue comfort and familiarity and inject a sense of joy and charm lacking in the EV charging category today.”

“We wanted to launch IONNA – a charging network – that looks to the past experience of service stations that made us smile and earned our trust by wrapping the experience in warmth, hospitality, and thoughtful design and craft a brand identity with familiar comfort and timeless optimism,” explains Smigielski.

IONNA’s Chief Product Officer Ricardo Stamatti additionally chipped in his two cents in a press assertion. “In a world where all charging brands skew to either techno-cold or parking-lot-boring, designed for machines instead of the people who drive them, IONNA was created to reintroduce comfort and familiarity back into the open road.”

“To build a modern service station where we’d check your oil, for free, with a welcoming smile… If EVs had oil,” Stamatti famous.

Subsequent Steps For EV Charging In The US

VML’s business-driven religion within the IONNA model comes at a pivotal time for the enlargement of public EV charging entry within the US. Amongst different actions aimed toward crippling the US auto business normally and EV makers particularly, the thin-skinned, malevolently incompetent Commander-in-Chief who occupies the White Home suspended the federally funded NEVI program aimed toward constructing out the nation’s public fast charging network.

The IONNA consortium is a welcome effort to assist make up for the dearth of federal assist for EV charging. If all goes based on plan, driver confidence in public EV charging will assist preserve the EV gross sales development spiraling upwards.

Different non-public sector EV charging initiatives are additionally taking form, notably within the beforehand untapped market for home charging at multi-family residential buildings.

None of that is excellent news for Tesla, which has grow to be a notable outlier within the EV gross sales development right here within the US and other key EV markets.

The Tesla model has been on shaky floor for years, at the very least for these paying attention to the antics of Musk in the course of the COVID outbreak and persevering with on via to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 and his buy of Twitter. After Musk utilized his private fortune to the election of President Trump and commenced working amok via the federal authorities, extra individuals paid consideration.

Don’t simply take my phrase for it. “Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally,” stated Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives in a broadly reported submit over the weekend. The well-known Tesla fan previously pegged Tesla shares at $550, however slashed the outlook to $315.

Ouch!

Picture (cropped): The IONNA EV charging consortium has a golden alternative to offer EV drivers with public fast charging alternative to Tesla Superchargers, and they don’t seem to be letting the model popularity grass develop underneath their toes (courtesy of VLM).