"I Charged The 2026 BMW iX At This Ionna Rechargery. It Was My Best Pit Stop Ever" - article

[Tooney]

I Charged The 2026 BMW iX At This Ionna Rechargery. It Was My Best Pit Stop Ever

Ionna is poised to play a big role in this transition, with its warp speed growth. Ionna’s first official site opening in Apex, North Carolina, was just six months ago in February. Since then, it has opened 21 charging stations across the country, including in Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio.

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[configurator]

I used the one in Ohio earlier this year. It was very nice, not quite as nice as the picture, because it didn’t have the awning. Lots of fast chargers. Also really liked that it was at Sheetz.

I’d prefer Ionna over EA and EVGo if there were more in the state, and if they all were of similar quality.

 

[Jonathan S.]

Oh ... YEAH!!!!

So at the start of my eight-day LA family trip (i.e., wife and daughter went to LA, so I went backcountry skiing on Mt Washington for eight days straight), I went to the new MB station in St J VT and had by far my best charging experience ever:

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/nevi-suspension.24128/page-2#post-515284

For the return trip, hmm .... try to conserve battery and arrive home in the low single digits ... stop at the MB station but with a high SoC ... stop further along the way at the Rivian in either West Lebanon NH (with an adjacent grocery store to restock our house) or Brattleboro VT (immediately at the interstate exit) ... hmm.

Noticed that the app for my wife's i4 had some new messages I hadn't checked in a while ....
Something about One Step Closer to Your Dream.
Whatever.
But also something about a charging station.
Oh, hello:

To my pleasant surprise, this was already in the Porsche nav, even though the station had opened only four days earlier.
Also to my pleasant surprise, as shown in the picture, I hit 241kW after only nine seconds.
(Battery temp was 89F but air temp was 33F, despite how cold winter temps are often an excuse for why dysfunctional chargers are ... dysfunctional.)

Which was a cumulative eleven seconds or so after I held my phone up to the cc reader.
Also to my pleasant surprise, the station had large awnings, trash cans, a neat-o overhead swing arm for the cable extension, and extensive signage that is not only helpful but also conveys the distinct impression that Ionna actually wants to you charge successfully and quickly.

And if anyone wants to see the Mt Washington ski pics (and/or LA pics):
https://www.strava.com/athletes/1583171
(Note that I did not take the Taycan on my subsequent Harrisburg biz trip. Even if the charging had gone well, with the storm track potentially impinging in my travel route, I wanted to be able to drive nearly six hours straight with no stops in my A6ar. Plus the added peace of mind from not only the OEM Vredestein collapsible spare but also a full-size spare I can easily keep in the cargo bay. Granted, I could have brought down one of my full-size spares from NH the prior day, but that would have required some extra cargo configuring. Plus the drive is ~95% boring interstate anyway where the Taycan doesn't add all that much.)

 

[Jonathan S.]

Stopped at Ionna again this afternoon -- love it!
Even used the trash bin and the windshield washer squeegee, what amenities.
(Also used the bathroom of the adjacent restaurant. Wasn't sure how they view that, but the desk at the entrance wasn't staffed, so didn't really find out.)

Perhaps not coincidentally, Google suggested I might like this:

https://evchargingstations.com/chargingnews/ionna-1000-dc-fast-charging/

"According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC), Ionna crossed 1,000 stalls on March 23, 2026. The AFDC database shows 1,004 stalls and 105 locations, which indicates that Ionna installs, on average, over 9.5 stalls per location."​

So that got me thinking ... Ionna was announced July 2023.
By contrast, NEVI was passed in November 2021.
And sure that comes with more red tape, but it also came with $5b.
(Plus another $2.5b for CFI.)
According to this, NEVI has 540 operational ports:
https://evstates.org/awards-dashboard/
That's across 19 states.
The other 31 states have exactly zero open NEVI stations.

 

[Jonathan S.]

So on Saturday afternoon, my wife's brother, the CFO of the company with the failed NEVI station (the only NEVI station in all of VT, NH, MA, and CT), was driving down from Vermont to Western Mass to the house of my wife's sister for the "second" night Seder.
(Yes, the actual second night of Passover was on Thursday, but my sister-in-law likes hosting a big Seder, although only on the weekend...)

He texted me along the way:

"The Ionna station is terrific!"​

I didn't reply, then when I saw him at the Seder, he immediately started praising the Ionna station in Brattleboro VT that I had recommended to him.

The even funnier part was how he was so amazed that his Q4 had hit its fastest speed ever, of ... 125kW.
And he's roadtripped a lot.
Apparently, he's never gotten anywhere near 125kW previously in New England.

I complained yet again about his NEVI station, but he just kept shrugging it off as some sort of joke.
(I even told him how I contacted the state of VT, hoping for some sort of clawback of the state-distributed federal funding.)

 

[Zcd1]

So on Saturday afternoon, my wife's brother, the CFO of the company with the failed NEVI station (the only NEVI station in all of VT, NH, MA, and CT), was driving down from Vermont to Western Mass to the house of my wife's sister for the "second" night Seder.
(Yes, the actual second night of Passover was on Thursday, but my sister-in-law likes hosting a big Seder, although only on the weekend...)

He texted me along the way:

"The Ionna station is terrific!"​

I didn't reply, then when I saw him at the Seder, he immediately started praising the Ionna station in Brattleboro VT that I had recommended to him.

The even funnier part was how he was so amazed that his Q4 had hit its fastest speed ever, of ... 125kW.
And he's roadtripped a lot.
Apparently, he's never gotten anywhere near 125kW previously in New England.

I complained yet again about his NEVI station, but he just kept shrugging it off as some sort of joke.
(I even told him how I contacted the state of VT, hoping for some sort of clawback of the state-distributed federal funding.)

What’s the context behind him not acknowledging the NEVI station situation?

(I mean, I can imagine what it might be, but hope that’s not the reason…)

Also, being impressed with 125KW charging speed in 2026 is just sad.

 

[Jonathan S.]

What’s the context behind him not acknowledging the NEVI station situation?

(I mean, I can imagine what it might be, but hope that’s not the reason…)

Also, being impressed with 125KW charging speed in 2026 is just sad.

I should have clarified:
He acknowledges that his company's NEVI station doesn't work.
He shrugs off suggestions that his company should so something about it (after receiving, let's see here, $631,622 in NEVI funding).

Probably not worth bothering to make it work now, given that wandering into downtown Bradford VT to charge doesn't make much sense for anyone given the much more convenient and fast options along I-91 in West Lebanon NH (Rivian, plus the EA actually works now, although plagued by waits), Brattleboro Vt (Rivian at exit 1 and Ionna at exit 3), and St J (MB).

And yes, both the 125kW max rate and his exultation at that speed really surprised me.
Oddly enough, in what is a total coincidence, since they didn't talk about it beforehand, my other brother-in-law (or perhaps, brother-in-law-in-law, i.e., the husband of my wife's sister) also bought a Q4 recently.
(Thought I was seeing double at first a few weeks ago when I saw both Q4 in my driveway!)
He bought it used for a great price (if you don't put a price on slow DCFC).

I also now realize I was wrong about his NEVI station being the only one in the four-state region of VT, NH, MA, and CT: his company now has another one open in VT!
This newly opened station is impressively located (with $797,998 in NEVI funding) over three miles from the Randolph I-89 exit.
But a Dunkin is within a four-minute walk. Then again, I think anywhere in New England other than federally designated wilderness zones on Mt Washington is within a four-minute walk of the nearest Dunkin? (I regularly drive by half-a-dozen of them near my house!)

 

[Zcd1]

I should have clarified:
He acknowledges that his company's NEVI station doesn't work.
He shrugs off suggestions that his company should so something about it (after receiving, let's see here, $631,622 in NEVI funding).

Probably not worth bothering to make it work now, given that wandering into downtown Bradford VT to charge doesn't make much sense for anyone given the much more convenient and fast options along I-91 in West Lebanon NH (Rivian, plus the EA actually works now, although plagued by waits), Brattleboro Vt (Rivian at exit 1 and Ionna at exit 3), and St J (MB).

And yes, both the 125kW max rate and his exultation at that speed really surprised me.
Oddly enough, in what is a total coincidence, since they didn't talk about it beforehand, my other brother-in-law (or perhaps, brother-in-law-in-law, i.e., the husband of my wife's sister) also bought a Q4 recently.
(Thought I was seeing double at first a few weeks ago when I saw both Q4 in my driveway!)
He bought it used for a great price (if you don't put a price on slow DCFC).

I also now realize I was wrong about his NEVI station being the only one in the four-state region of VT, NH, MA, and CT: his company now has another one open in VT!
This newly opened station is impressively located (with $797,998 in NEVI funding) over three miles from the Randolph I-89 exit.
But a Dunkin is within a four-minute walk. Then again, I think anywhere in New England other than federally designated wilderness zones on Mt Washington is within a four-minute walk of the nearest Dunkin? (I regularly drive by half-a-dozen of them near my house!)

As I imagined…

With no disrespect intended to your bros-in-law, it seems to me that you’d need to be relatively unaware to choose a Q4 eTron, even used…

 

[Jonathan S.]

As I imagined…

With no disrespect intended to your bros-in-law, it seems to me that you’d need to be relatively unaware to choose a Q4 eTron, even used…

Yes, despite the Audi badge, it's just a slightly nicer ID.4, which is rather undistinguished.

I didn't say anything to my brother-in-law(-in-law) about it, but I was really surprised he recently bought a Q4, instead of, say, a used Ioniq 5.

When my NEVI brother-in-law bought his Q4 new, at least he got a really good deal on via some VT subsidy. I recall something about how if he stayed under a certain price threshold, then all sorts of state goodies kicked in.

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