“Buc-ee’s came up a lot,” said Graham Smith, executive director account management for VML.
Given that charging a car takes at least 20 to 30 minutes compared to the five-minute chore of gassing up, Ionna’s rechargeries are equipped with things to occupy customers’ time, including Wi-Fi, coffee and pastries, video games, a lounge, and conference rooms visitors can book to get some work done while charging.
“It’s fundamentally less transactional because you have to spend some time there,” Smigielski said. “It’s a little bit more like gas station meets airport lounge.”
Still, branding can only go so far in building consumer confidence. The company will have to build out its infrastructure fast and then keep them working for the EV owners that choose to trust them.
“In a world where all charging brands skew to either techno-cold or parking-lot-boring, designed for machines instead of the people who drive them, Ionna was created to reintroduce comfort and familiarity back into the open road,” Ricardo Stamatti, chief product officer for Ionna, said in a statement. “To build a modern service station where we’d check your oil, for free, with a welcoming smile… If EVs had oil.”