The growing popularity of electric vehicles is driving demand for greater access to public charging.

Two EV charging providers have teamed up to help meet that demand in the Southeast. On July 7, Campbell, Calif.-based charging infrastructure provider, Chargepoint, and Mount Dora, Fla.-based charging operator Optimus Energy Solutions, announced an expansion of their existing partnership that will add 200 new EV public charging ports in the Southeastern United States.

Chargepoint will provide the hardware, software and servicing for the charging ports, and Optimus will act as the sites’ owner and operator. The sites will be located primarily in high-demand markets, such as quick service restaurants and retail centers.

The number of new sites is relatively small in proportion to the number of existing sites in the region. According to the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center, there were more than 45,000 public charging ports in the 12 states that make up the Southeast as of February 2026.

On the other hand, new sites are needed to keep up with demand. In February, Chargepoint noted that its own data showed the number of EVs on the road is growing faster than the charging infrastructure needed to support them. According to the data, charging sessions on its sites had grown by 34% over the previous 12 months. This figure outpaced the number of new public charging sites that had been installed in the same timeframe. The company’s total number of charging sites had grown by only 16% in the previous year.

The online resource cars.com notes that the United States now has more than 250,000 public EV charging ports across roughly 81,000 charging locations. More than 73,000 of those ports are DC fast chargers, while over 178,000 are Level 2 chargers. However, access to public charging depends very much on where you live (or drive). States with the most public fast charging sites are California, followed by Florida, Texas, Illinois and New York.

To help address that disparity, the Southeast is not the only region getting more public charging sites. On July 14, Chargepoint also announced a partnership to expand public fast charging in the Northeast. The company announced it is teaming up with Scranton, Pa.-based travel plaza operator Onvo to deploy ultra-fast EV charging stations at travel plazas along major highways across the Northeast. The initial plan includes 12 locations in Pennsylvania and New York.