For years, the priority in the EV charging industry was simple: get chargers installed, and make them reliable. Now that networks are maturing and coverage is less of a bottleneck, a new battleground is emerging — price. Two companies in particular, Walmart and the automaker-backed network Ionna, are pushing rates well below what drivers typically pay at Tesla Superchargers or Electrify America, and the gap is hard to ignore.
Two Networks, Two Very Different Growth Stories
Walmart isn't new to charging. It partnered with Electrify America early on to bring chargers to its store parking lots, and the results — more foot traffic, longer visits, stronger loyalty — were apparently convincing enough that Walmart has since moved to build out its own proprietary network. New sites use 400 kW hardware with both NACS and CCS connectors, and the company has been adding stations at a rapid clip over the past several months, with membership holders getting an added discount on top of already competitive rates.
Ionna's ambitions are on a different scale entirely. Backed by eight automakers — BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Toyota — the network has committed to building 30,000 fast chargers across the U.S. and Canada by 2030. Many of its stations are designed with gas-station-style amenities like convenience stores and restrooms, and support both CCS and NACS.
The Strategy: Undercut the Incumbents on Price
What Walmart and Ionna have in common is a shared playbook — win drivers over with pricing that's simply hard to match.
Data from the charging-analytics firm Paren puts Ionna's average price at roughly $0.37 per kWh, the lowest of the 17 networks it tracks. Walmart isn't far behind, landing as the fourth-cheapest option at around $0.43 per kWh, trailing only Shell Recharge and Rocky Mountain Power. Compare that to the roughly $0.56 per kWh average charged by Tesla and Electrify America, and a driver switching to Ionna could realistically save around 40% on a typical fast-charging session.
Industry analyst Loren McDonald, of the research firm Chargenomics, points out why that gap matters so much: most drivers already have Tesla or Electrify America baked into their car's route planner, may have received free charging credits at purchase, or are simply used to how seamless Supercharger plug-and-charge feels. Breaking that habit takes a real incentive — and for a newer brand like Ionna, which most everyday drivers have never heard of, aggressive pricing is often the only lever available. McDonald also notes that Ionna has run limited-time promotions around new station openings and holidays that pushed rates down to roughly $0.20 per kWh — cheaper, in some cases, than charging at home.
Walmart's motivation is a little different. With thousands of stores already in place, its parking lots are effectively free real estate, and its scale gives it serious leverage when negotiating with equipment suppliers and utilities. That keeps installation costs down and rollout speed up. But the bigger prize isn't the charging revenue itself — it's the 30 or 40 minutes a driver spends inside the store while their car charges, often turning into a $50–$100 purchase instead of a quick $20 stop.
How Does Fast Charging Actually Compare to Gas?
The price differences translate directly into real-world cost. Charging a mid-size EV to full at $0.56 per kWh comes out to roughly $48 for around 280 miles of range — modestly cheaper than filling up an equivalent gas SUV, which runs about $51 at current national average gas prices. Not a dramatic gap. And at the pricier end of the Supercharger network, where rates can climb toward $0.74 per kWh, a full charge can actually cost more than a tank of gas.
That said, DC fast charging isn't the full picture of EV ownership costs. More than 90% of charging happens at home, where the U.S. average residential electricity rate is around $0.18 per kWh — a fraction of what fast chargers cost, and far cheaper than any gas car to run day to day. This is where a reliable Level 2 home charger makes the biggest difference to your actual running costs. Public Level 2 chargers are also becoming more common and tend to be significantly cheaper than DC fast charging, since they don't require the expensive AC-to-DC conversion hardware or trigger the steep demand charges utilities apply to high-power DC stations.
Fast charging has simply been expensive for structural reasons: high equipment costs, demand charges, and — until recently — little incentive for operators to compete on price while the industry was focused on building out coverage. That's starting to change.
Where the Charging Market Goes From Here
Different networks are now carving out different strategies. Mercedes-Benz's charging network is leaning into amenities and reservation systems. BP is betting on large charging hubs. Newer entrants like Rove are positioning themselves as premium options. Tesla, Electrify America, and EVGo are pushing membership programs to build loyalty. Walmart and Ionna, meanwhile, are betting that low prices and fast expansion will win new customers before habits set in elsewhere.
It's too early to say which strategy wins out. But with more competition — and more operators willing to compete on price — the overall trend points toward a better deal for EV drivers going forward. For anyone charging on the road, it may be worth comparing rates across networks rather than defaulting to the first station your navigation system suggests, and making sure your charging cables and adapters are compatible with whichever network you land on — whether that's a Tesla NACS port or a CCS connector.
