Wrigley Field adds EV charging, highlights signage problems
Chicago’s iconic Wrigley Field baseball stadium has been home to the MLB’s Chicago Cubs for over a century – and now, it’s taking steps to cater to the next generations of fans by adding EV charging to its list of amenities.
LG Electronics announced the installation of ten L2 EV charging stations at one of the parking facilities servicing Wrigley Field as part of a broader commercial package between LG and the team/stadium. The chargers operate on the SWTCH platform, which enables the Cubs organization to, “optimize its pricing structure for different events.”
Sure — surge pricing is terrible and should be a universally reviled practice, but you can’t argue with the flexibility that variable pricing offers large venues, and the ability to offer discounted or even free charging during otherwise quiet parking days is one possible silver lining there.
“The availability of these new charging stations near Wrigley Field is helping kick off the new season and demonstrating the forward-thinking approach necessary to help fans at the Friendly Confines and Wrigleyville community embrace electric vehicles without reservations,” said Michael Kosla, senior vice president, LG Business Solutions USA. “Working directly with the Cubs, SWTCH and LG customized the charging stations’ software to manage power, optimize performance and ensure seamless guest experiences.”
The addition of EV charging is an important step forward for Cubs fans with electric vehicles. The ten ports are available on a first-come, first-served basis — and are (ironically) located in Wrigley Field’s Toyota Camry (not an EV, or even a PHEV) parking lot.
Electrek’s Take
When it comes to electrification and combating climate change, I like to celebrate every positive step forward. And, while the addition of EV charging to a major Chicago landmark is certainly that, I can’t help but notice that this project highlights one of the biggest (in my opinion) issues facing widespread understanding of the depth and breadth of America’s current EV charging infrastructure: proper signage.
Look at that tiny sign announcing the new EV charging stations. If you weren’t looking for it, you could easily miss it … and when was the last time you “missed” a gas station? Compare that little green sign to the sixty foot tall, illuminated signs advertising gasoline in the photo of Breezewood, Pennsylvania shown, below …
Oil companies are loud
… I count at least eight different places that I could buy gas or diesel. From left to right, BP, Sheetz, Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, Sunoco, Shell, and Citgo. Heck, that might not even be all of them!
Even if I don’t plan on buying fuel here in Breezewood, I know it’s there. There when I want it, there if I need it. Perpetually there, sure as the moon and the tides. EV charging, meanwhile? Are there even any EV chargers in Breezewood?
Plugshare says there’s a bunch. Fully twenty-eight public-facing DCFC ports, in fact — with more to come at the Flying J, TA Travel Center, and more “behind-the-fence” ports likely already in place. But, without the same signage, how is the average American whipping past Breezewood supposed to know?
For as long as the charging networks insist on leaving their marketing to apps and resist the inevitability of putting up signs that proclaim their availability, for when you want to charge and when you need to charge, there will always be a sense that the EV charging infrastructure is somehow “less than” the oil business’ infrastructure — despite the reality being a very, very different thing.
SOURCES | IMAGES: SWTCH, Plugshare.
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![Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/07/54629423281_6315c46dff_k.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Today was the official start of racing at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025! There was a tremendous energy (and heat) on the ground at NCM Motorsports Park as nearly a dozen teams took to the track. Currently, as of writing, Stanford is ranked #1 in the SOV (Single-Occupant Vehicle) class with 68 registered laps. However, the fastest lap so far belongs to UC Berkeley, which clocked a 4:45 on the 3.15-mile track. That’s an average speed of just under 40 mph on nothing but solar energy. Not bad!
In the MOV (Multi-Occupant Vehicle) class, Polytechnique Montréal is narrowly ahead of Appalachian State by just 4 laps. At last year’s formula sun race, Polytechnique Montréal took first place overall in this class, and the team hopes to repeat that success. It’s still too early for prediction though, and anything can happen between now and the final day of racing on Saturday.
Congrats to the teams that made it on track today. We look forward to seeing even more out there tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some shots from today via the event’s wonderful photographer Cora Kennedy.
Stay tuned for more!
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The numbers are in and they are all bad for Tesla fans – the company sold just 5,000 Cybertruck models in Q4 of 2025, and built some 30% more “other” vehicles than it delivered. It just gets worse and worse, on today’s tension-building episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got day 1 coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, reports that the Tesla Optimus program is in chaos after its chief engineer jumps ship, and a look ahead at the fresh new Hyundai IONIQ 2 set to bow early next year, thanks to some battery specs from the Kia EV2.
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Tesla has launched its new Oasis Supercharger, the long-promised EV charging station of the future, with a solar farm and off-grid batteries.
Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to the Supercharger stations, and CEO Elon Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.
While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.
Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:
All of these pieces have been in place for years, and Tesla has now discontinued the Powerpack in favor of the Megapack. The Supercharger network is also transitioning to V4 stations.
Yet, solar and battery deployment haven’t accelerated much in the decade since Musk made that comment, but it is finally happening.
Last year, Tesla announced a new project called ‘Oasis’, which consists of a new model Supercharger station with a solar farm and battery storage enabling off-grid operations in Lost Hills, California.
Tesla has now unveiled the project and turned on most of the Supercharger stalls:
The project consists of 168 chargers, with half of them currently operational, making it one of the largest Supercharger stations in the world. However, that’s not even the most notable aspect of it.
The station is equipped with 11 MW of ground-mounted solar panels and canopies, spanning 30 acres of land, and 10 Tesla Megapacks with a total energy storage capacity of 39 MWh.
It can be operated off-grid, which is the case right now, according to Tesla.
With off-grid operations, Tesla was about to bring 84 stalls online just in time for the Fourth of July travel weekend. The rest of the stalls and a lounge are going to open later this year.
Electrek’s Take
This is awesome. A bit late, but awesome. This is what charging stations should be like: fully powered by renewable energy.
Unfortunately, it will be much harder to open those stations in the future due to legislation that Trump and the Republican Party have just passed, which removes incentives for solar and energy storage, adds taxes on them, and removes incentives to build batteries – all things that have helped Tesla considerably over the last few years.
The US is likely going to have a few tough years for EV adoption and renewable energy deployment.
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