EVgo opened its first charging station built with Tesla Supercharger hardware near downtown Chicago this week, a 12-stall site that marks the start of a nationwide rollout the company says will eventually include hundreds of similar locations.
The station, announced in a company press release, is EVgo’s first attempt to self-brand Tesla’s charging hardware rather than simply add Tesla-compatible plugs to its own equipment.
What opened in Chicago
EVgo Inc. has opened its first EVgo Supercharger site in close proximity to downtown Chicago. This station includes 12 stalls, the first dozen of hundreds of stalls expected to open as part of EVgo’s plan to add Superchargers to its nationwide network in high-demand locations.
The stalls use Tesla’s V4 Supercharger hardware, which can deliver up to 500 kW at up to 1,000 volts, and they come with Magic Dock, so both NACS and CCS vehicles can charge without an adapter. According to Tesla’s own site listing for the location, the “EVgo Superchargers” are at Riverside Square & River’s Edge, at 3145 S Ashland Avenue , and are rated for up to 325 kW.
The first location in Illinois can charge both NACS and CCS vehicles via Magic Dock technology, which enables EVs to charge natively without the need for a personal adapter. Tesla’s site locator places the station at Riverside Square & River’s Edge, 3145 South Ashland Avenue, a Regency Centers shopping center.
EVgo CEO Badar Khan said “Deploying our first EVgo Supercharger marks an important milestone in growing our customer base while supporting the EV industry’s transition to NACS.”
How the arrangement works
The Chicago site operates under what Tesla calls its Supercharger for Business program.
Under that arrangement, EVgo buys the hardware, adds its own branding, and keeps the revenue, while Tesla handles management and maintenance for a fee with a 97% uptime guarantee.
EVgo was the first third-party charging network to sign up.
Khan described the broader strategy in comments reported alongside the announcement, saying “By serving both Tesla and non-Tesla NACS drivers, we’re doubling EVgo’s addressable market and continuing to meet EV drivers where they are and where they want to charge.”
EVgo said future sites will follow the same pattern, with initial EVgo Supercharger stations located at grocery-anchored properties owned by Regency Centers, a longstanding EVgo partner, providing EV drivers with easy access to grocery shopping, retail and dining while they charge.
That retail-anchored real estate strategy echoes other recent moves in public charging network expansion, where operators have paired charging infrastructure with shopping and dining destinations to keep drivers parked longer at a single location.
A long relationship with Tesla
EVgo’s connection to Tesla hardware predates this week’s opening. EVgo was the first public charging network to offer a Tesla connector, and in 2022 it added Autocharge+ support for CCS-equipped Teslas, letting owners plug in and charge without swiping a card.
The company has also been retrofitting its own existing stations separately from the new Supercharger-branded sites. EVgo operates more than 1,200 fast charging locations across 47 states. Its build-out is backed by a $1.25 billion U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee that, according to the DOE, closed in December 2024 to expand public electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Why it matters for drivers
The Supercharger stations appear in Tesla’s Trip Planner and in-car navigation system.
EVgo locations with NACS-equipped charging stalls began appearing in Tesla’s in-car navigation in early September , giving Tesla drivers a wider pool of charging options beyond Tesla’s own branded network.
The Regency Centers partnership behind the Chicago station is also set to grow quickly.
The two companies expanded their partnership in September with plans for more than 400 new stalls at Regency centers in states including Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, adding to more than 150 EVgo stalls already operating at Regency locations.
That buildout comes as competition intensifies among operators racing to expand public fast charging networks across the country, with EVgo betting that pairing Tesla’s hardware and reliability record with its own retail locations will draw a broader mix of drivers to its plugs.
