Skip to content
EV Charging
United States

Walnut Creek considers ending free EV charging programme

By Eve

The city of Walnut Creek in California is reviewing whether to discontinue its free electric vehicle charging service, according to SFGATE. The municipality currently offers complimentary charging to EV drivers but is now evaluating the programme's future. No specific timeline or alternative charging arrangements have been announced.

Why it matters

The potential policy shift signals how US municipalities are reassessing early EV incentives as adoption grows, which may create commercial opportunities for charge point operators if the city moves to paid or privately operated infrastructure.

Source

Original title
“Walnut Creek may pull the plug on free EV charging”
Published
25 May 2026 (date approximate)
Updated
16 July 2026

In this story

Related news

Electrify America operates 6,029 DC fast-charging ports across 1,191 US sites

Electrify America now runs 6,029 DC fast-charging ports at 1,191 locations in the United States, making it the second largest DC charging network after Tesla Supercharger, according to InsideEVs citing the US Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center. Over the past year, the network's port count grew by 16% and station count by around 10%, with 202 ports added in the second quarter alone, representing 6.7% of all US DC fast-charging ports. ChargePoint, the third largest operator, installed 333 ports in the same quarter and holds 6.1% market share, while Walmart's network added more ports than any other non-Tesla company in the quarter, reaching 916 ports across 110 stations.

Why it matters

The figures confirm Electrify America's dominant position among non-Tesla networks and provide procurement teams with current scale benchmarks for the US fast-charging market. Walmart's aggressive second quarter rollout signals a major retail-led expansion that could reshape site partnership opportunities for CPOs and equipment suppliers.

United States
12 Oct 2026

Electrify America · Source

Queue and reservation hardware shifts from niche to core layer as high utilisation sites hit capacity limits

The global market for public EV charging queue and reservation hardware is entering structural expansion as charge point operators face physical limits at high utilisation sites, according to an IndexBox report entering 2026. Demand is splitting between integrated systems for new high power hubs and retrofit solutions for existing stations. The hardware includes integrated displays, sensors, payment terminals, communication modules and access controllers, with supply chains characterised by validation requirements where approved vendor status with major CPOs and Tier 1 integrators often matters more than unit cost.

Why it matters

CPOs planning procurement must now evaluate queue management as core infrastructure rather than optional add on, with vendor selection increasingly driven by validation and integration partnerships rather than price alone. The bifurcation between new build and retrofit creates distinct channel and specification strategies for operators upgrading networks.

Global
12 Oct 2026

Source

E.ON acquires former BP Pulse EV charging network in the Netherlands from Catom

E.ON has bought the EV charging business from Dutch fuel distributor Catom, which had acquired BP's petrol station and charging operations in the country last year. The portfolio includes 17 fast charging hubs with Alpitronic chargers delivering up to 300kW, 51 battery buffered sites for grid constrained locations, and 45 secured development sites for future rollout. E.ON Infrastructure will own and maintain the assets while sister utility Essent will handle customer facing operations and marketing, with sites rebranded to Essent and chargers carrying E.ON branding.

Why it matters

The deal consolidates a ready built Dutch charging estate under a major European utility, giving E.ON immediate scale in a market where battery buffered sites address grid capacity constraints. The 45 secured development sites offer a clear pipeline for staged expansion, while the dual brand model separates infrastructure ownership from customer operations.

Netherlands
12 Oct 2026

E.ON · BP Pulse · Source