What Happens to New EV Fast-Charging Stations After 90 Days?
When a new fast charging station opens, it often carries high expectations. But Paren’s latest analysis of 892 fast charging stations that came online in 2025 reveals a clear truth: the first 90 days are incredibly tough.
Our methodology:
- US fast charging stations which opened in 2025 and that have least been running for 90 days
- We average utilization rate on the last week leading to their 90th day
- We categorized stations per port size: 1-2, 3-4, 5-8 and 8+ ports
- We grouped utilization by bins: under 5%, from 5% to 16% , 16% to 25% and over 25% (16% being a rounded nationwide average as of September 2025).
- Paren datasets used: US Nationwide metadata, Utilization
Takeaway #1 - The first 90 days are challenging, no matter the operator
63% of stations do not achieve a 5% average utilization rate on the last week leading to their 90 days after opening. The problem is widespread, affecting operators both big and small, and highlighting just how difficult it is to turn a new station into a consistently busy one.
Count of operators per utilization group and port count:
Takeaway #2 - A cold start is the norm. Even more so for small stations and certain states.
89% of stations do not meet the average national utilization rate of 16% after 90 days. But looking closer at the distribution of stations, Paren found an interesting pattern: stations with a small port count were more prone to a slower adoption.
79% of stations not hitting 5% had four ports or less. 54% of stations not meeting the national average of 16% utilization rate were also stations with four ports or less.
Another pattern also stroke our team at Paren, location mattered: 100% of the 40 stations deployed across IA, KS, ME, MN, MO, RI, WY did not meet 5% utilization rate after 90 days. Below is a table with the distribution of stations per performance and state. We redacted most of station count for states with less than 30 stations opened in the last 90 days.
Takeaway #3 - High performers in the first 90 days are stations with 5 or more ports
71% of the stations outperforming the national average in their first 90 days have at least 5 ports. Over our dataset, 10% of stations are performing at or above the national average in 90 days and we count six operators (national and regional) in that category.
No surprise but high performing stations tend also be located with the highest count of electric vehicles. California continues to prove its EV leadership: 41% of its 96 new stations exceeded the 16% utilization benchmark.
Our conclusion - CPOs should set expectations and be patient.
Our metadata and utilization datasets have proven to be extremely helpful for operators looking to deploy new assets and seeking underwriting. While adoption seems to be lower than we anticipated, the national average is ramping up which means that stations eventually do meet and exceed 16% average utilization rates.
With historical utilization data going all the way back to June 2023 for significant part of our stations, our team will soon provide a sequel to this analysis: the first 6 months and the first year! We’ve also been excited to leverage our recent Amenities data set which allow us to tie utilization to near by amenities. Stay tune for more insights and reach out if you want to learn more.
💡 Want to dive deeper? We’ve compiled the full dataset of 892 stations into an Excel file. Already following us on LinkedIn? Comment #90 on our post and we’ll send you the Excel file directly.
👉 Contact us to request your copy, or book a meeting with our team to discuss insights for your network.