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Ionna CEO Seth Cutler, whose automaker-backed venture aims to build 30,000 fast chargers across the US by 2030, said in an interview with The Drive’s Drivecast podcast that America’s charging problems stem from immature technology, a shortage of trained service technicians, and operators focusing on charger counts rather than driver experience. The US has roughly 5.7 million EVs served by about 73,000 DC fast chargers.
The CEO of Ionna, the charging network backed by eight major automakers, said this week that America’s unreliable EV charging stems from immature technology, a shortage of trained service technicians, and operators prioritizing charger counts over driver experience. Seth Cutler, speaking on The Drive’s Drivecast podcast, is responsible for building a nationwide network of at least 30,000 fast chargers at 2,000 stations by 2030 — a venture created to rival Tesla’s Supercharger network.
Ionna was formed by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, and Stellantis as a joint venture to build high-powered fast charging across North America, with Toyota joining a year later to bring the ownership group to eight automakers. Cutler was appointed CEO to execute the buildout, which targets the United States first, followed by Canada.
The scale of the problem is measurable. According to figures cited in the interview, there are about 5.7 million EVs on US roads served by roughly 250,000 public chargers — but only about 73,000 of those are DC fast chargers capable of adding substantial range in under 30 minutes. Cutler acknowledged widespread reliability complaints, noting that competitors’ stations, such as those run by Electrify America, are frequently perceived as broken.
Cutler attributed the industry’s struggles to two or three core causes. First, he said, charging is a nascent market: new equipment is still arriving, too few people are trained to service it, and interoperability between new technologies produces quirks that must be worked out. He argued this is one area where being a later entrant has helped Ionna learn from earlier operators’ mistakes. Second, he said, many operators have focused on “putting chargers in the ground” to hit buildout numbers rather than on delivering a reliable experience for drivers — a cultural distinction he said produces vastly different results for customers.
Why Charging Reliability Gates EV Adoption
Charging is widely viewed as the central bottleneck for US electric vehicle adoption. Even with EV sales growth slowing amid political headwinds, registrations continue daily, and the ratio of 73,000 fast chargers to 5.7 million EVs illustrates how thin the infrastructure remains. Public perception that chargers are unreliable fuels range anxiety, which surveys and automakers consistently cite as a top barrier to purchase.
Ionna’s approach matters because it represents the collective bet of eight major automakers that a Tesla-style experience — dependable, high-powered stations — can be delivered by a coalition rather than a single company. If Cutler’s diagnosis is right, the fix is less about raw charger counts and more about maintenance staffing and service culture, which would reshape how the industry measures success.
Two Decades of Public Charging, Uneven Results
Public charging in the United States dates to roughly 2007, meaning the industry is approaching two decades old — a point raised in the interview, where hosts compared its awkward adolescence to the early decades of gas stations, which also faced construction, environmental, and standardization hurdles.
Tesla remains the benchmark. Its Supercharger network is widely regarded as the only system that has reliably worked at scale, and the company has opened its charging standard — the North American Charging Standard — to other automakers. According to the interview framing, that openness alone has not solved the problem, which is what prompted the eight automakers to create Ionna in the first place. The venture’s stated mission is a reliable, high-powered fast-charging network across North America.
Open Questions in Cutler’s Diagnosis
It remains unclear how quickly Ionna can actually scale toward its 2030 target; the interview did not provide a current count of operating stations or chargers, so the company’s buildout pace cannot be independently assessed from this discussion alone. Whether a service-and-experience-focused culture can be maintained across a joint venture owned by eight competing automakers — a governance structure with no direct precedent — is also untested.
Cutler’s claim that technician shortages are a root cause is his assessment as an industry participant, not an independently verified finding. And broader variables, including federal policy shifts on EV incentives and charging funding that the interview described as putting the EV transition “on ice,” could affect demand and the economics of station buildouts.
Ionna’s Road to 2030
Ionna’s next milestones are continued station openings across the United States, with the stated goals of at least 2,000 stations and 30,000 chargers by 2030, followed by expansion into Canada. Observers will be watching for independently measured reliability data — such as uptime percentages — and station counts that show whether the venture is on pace.
For the broader market, the test will be whether other operators, including Electrify America, respond by shifting investment from new charger installations toward maintenance and service staffing, and whether EV sales growth resumes at a pace that keeps demand ahead of the network Ionna and its rivals are building.
Key Questions
What is Ionna?
Ionna is a joint venture created by seven major automakers — BMW, Mercedes-Benz, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, and Stellantis — with Toyota joining later. Its mission is to build a reliable, high-powered fast-charging network across North America.
How many chargers is Ionna planning to build?
According to the company’s stated goals, Ionna aims to have at least 30,000 chargers across roughly 2,000 stations in the United States by 2030, with Canada to follow.
Why does Cutler say US charging is unreliable?
He cited new, immature equipment; too few trained service technicians; technology interoperability quirks; and operators focusing on installing chargers rather than delivering a dependable driver experience.
How many fast chargers does the US currently have?
Figures cited in the interview put the US at about 250,000 public chargers total, of which roughly 73,000 are DC fast chargers capable of charging an EV in under 30 minutes, serving about 5.7 million EVs.
Is Tesla’s Supercharger network part of the fix?
Tesla has opened its charging standard to other automakers, but according to the interview, that alone hasn’t solved the infrastructure gap — one reason the eight automakers launched Ionna as a competing network.
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