Toyota EV fast chargers open for underserved communities

Toyota and EVgo on Tuesday announced the opening of latest DC fast-charging stations for underserved communities.

Positioned in Baldwin Park and Sacramento, California, the fast chargers are a part of Toyota’s Empact plan for making electric vehicles more accessible to communities not reached by previous infrastructure projects, comparable to those in urban areas with limited off-street parking and better population density in multi-family dwellings.

Situated in “amenity-rich areas” with nearby grocery stores, restaurants, shopping malls, and other places one might drive to, the charging stations can serve as much as eight vehicles each and have 350-kw chargers exclusively, in response to a Toyota press release. That is well beyond the sub-150-kw peak of the present Toyota bZ4X, but various other brands already offer EVs that may reap the benefits of that level of charging power.

Up to now EVgo has partnered with General Motors to give attention to urban EV ownership—and these locations appear sited at the very least partially for among the same reasons. It’s unclear if this Toyota installation applies any California money made available for charger installations in underserved communities. The state is pushing ahead with charger buildout despite the Trump Administration’s try and freeze federal funds.

Toyota and EVgo Empact EV fast-charging stations for underserved communities

Toyota has touted some big plans for fast charging through the implementation of solid-state batteries. The automaker said in 2023 that future solid-state batteries could possibly be charged from 10-80% in 10 minutes or less—likely benefiting from that higher peak power. It’s still planning to commercialize them later this decade, but likely in low volumes.

Toyota can also be funding the Ionna network with seven other automakers. Ionna opened its first location in 2024, and goals for 30,000 charging connectors across North America by 2030.