For much of the past decade, the electric vehicle charging industry has competed on one highly visible metric: kilowatts.
Charging networks have moved from 50-kW chargers to 150-kW and 350-kW systems, while automakers and infrastructure suppliers are now pushing toward megawatt-class charging. The assumption has been straightforward — more power means shorter charging sessions and a better experience for EV drivers.
But as public charging networks mature, operators face a different challenge. Building charging infrastructure is no longer only about maximizing charging speed. Increasing station utilization, reducing queues and earning sufficient revenue from expensive electrical infrastructure are becoming equally important.
New operational data from Finnish charging equipment company Kempower suggests that, under those conditions, the number of vehicles a site can accommodate at once may matter more than its headline power rating.
Kempower analyzed public charging stations across North America connected to its ChargEye cloud management platform. The company found a correlation of 0.63 between the number of charging plugs at a site and station utilization. The correlation between total installed charging power and utilization was substantially lower, at 0.228.
Energy throughput followed a similar pattern. Eight-plug sites in Kempower's dataset delivered an average of 128,342 kWh, compared with 61,453 kWh at sites equipped with four plugs — more than twice as much energy.
The findings do not prove that adding plugs alone causes utilization to increase. However, they point toward an increasingly important distinction between the maximum power a charging site can theoretically deliver and the amount of that infrastructure that drivers actually use.
EVs Rarely Hold Their Peak Charging Rate
One reason is the charging curve of the vehicle itself.
An EV capable of accepting 250 kW or 350 kW does not typically maintain that power level throughout an entire charging session. Peak rates are usually available only within a certain battery state-of-charge and temperature range. As the battery fills, the vehicle gradually reduces the amount of power it requests.
That limits the value of dedicating the maximum advertised charging power to every parking space at all times.
The International Energy Agency noted in its Global EV Outlook 2026 that deployment of ultra-fast charging infrastructure continues to accelerate, yet only about 30% of today's battery-electric cars can take advantage of ultra-fast charging. The number of vehicles capable of charging above 250 kW is smaller still.
That mismatch creates an opportunity for charging operators.
Instead of providing a dedicated 350-kW electrical pathway to every dispenser, a station can connect several charging points to a shared power system and dynamically allocate capacity according to what each vehicle is requesting.
A vehicle might initially draw 250 kW, for example, but later fall to 100 kW as its battery approaches a higher state of charge. The unused 150 kW can then be redirected to another vehicle instead of remaining idle.
Dynamic Power Sharing Changes Station Economics
Kempower says sites using its distributed charging architecture averaged 83% higher utilization than sites using fixed-power dispensers across the North American locations included in the analysis. Its data also suggests that roughly 100 kW of available power per plug when all connectors are occupied could represent an effective balance between charging performance and infrastructure utilization.
The concept is already being deployed by major charging networks.
Electrify America operates what it calls Balanced chargers. Adjacent charging points share a common power cabinet. A capable vehicle can receive up to 350 kW when the neighboring charger is unused, while the available capacity is distributed between vehicles when both plugs are occupied.
EVgo is moving in a similar direction. When the U.S. Department of Energy finalized a $1.25 billion loan guarantee supporting the expansion of approximately 7,500 EVgo chargers, the project included dynamic power-sharing technology that can redistribute unused station capacity among vehicles charging simultaneously.
The broader architectural shift is significant. Instead of treating every dispenser as an isolated high-power charger, operators can increasingly manage the station as a shared pool of electrical capacity.