IONNA Charger - Boone, NC

There's a new name showing up on the charging map, and it's worth knowing what it actually is. IONNA is a fast-charging network built by a consortium of automakers — GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis among them — put together specifically to close the gap Tesla's Supercharger network left for everyone else. The stations, which IONNA calls "Rechargeries," are built for speed: up to 400kW, with both CCS and NACS connectors at the same stall.

That connector detail actually matters more than it sounds. Tesla's own Superchargers are NACS-only, which meant the Lyriq needed a GM NACS adapter just to use them — a small extra step, covered in an earlier post here. IONNA stations skip that entirely: the CCS connector is built in, so the Lyriq plugs in directly, no adapter, no extra cable to remember. For a car that wasn't originally designed around NACS, that's the easier of the two options.

Boone got one of the first in North Carolina — the Boone Rechargery, at a Circle K on Blowing Rock Road, in the same charging corridor as the Tesla Supercharger already up there. It's a good sign for a town that's quietly become one of the better-equipped mountain destinations for EV drivers, and it's now the third charging option I've mapped out in this area, alongside Chetola's on-site Tesla plugs and the Boone Supercharger itself. If you're making the drive up to the Art of Living Retreat Center or out to Blowing Rock, Boone is no longer a place you have to think twice about range.

None of this changes the actual point, which is that you don't have to think about any of it if you're not driving. That's most of what a chauffeured EV ride is actually selling — not just comfort, but not having to plan a route around where the plugs are.

Coach EV runs the same flat $40-an-hour rate on any of these trips, mountain charging stops included. Reserve a ride and let the charging logistics be someone else's problem.