EVgo Launches Option to Reserve Charging Spots

• EVgo rolls out reservation option for charging spots in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Sacramento, Redmond and Santa Barbara.

• Reserving a spot costs $3.00, and it can either be immediate or up to two weeks in advance.

• EVgo cites demand from customers, pointing to popularity of this type of convenience, but program is limited to 17 stations for now.

As EV adoption rates rise, one issue owners are running into is arriving at public charging station and seeing all the spots taken by other EVs. This is happening in areas where EVs are common, such as the Bay Area, as well as places where charging stations just happen to be rare but where EVs see a lot of interstate travel. This would be among the sparse cross-country routes where there is one charging station just off the interstate, and it happens to be the only one for many miles.

What's the solution to waiting for a half hour while another EV gets its juice?

EVgo, one of the leading station networks in the U.S., is rolling out a reservation option for station spots on a trial basis. The company is expanding the option to a number of cities after a smaller pilot launch earlier in 2021, and is now offering this option at a number of in-demand stations San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Sacramento, Redmond and Santa Barbara -- all the places one would imagine would have plenty of competition for EV charging spots.

EVgo users in these areas can book a spot via a smartphone app at 17 current locations, and can schedule a time at an available charger, either right away or as far as two weeks in advance. Drivers can also cancel a reservation within the first 5 minutes for free if the reservation is immediate, or 24 hours prior to a reservation at a future date. Also, other drivers can view whether station spots are reserved via their own app.