Tesla remains the biggest builder of public DC fast chargers in the United States, but owners who plug into Superchargers paid more in the third quarter than a year earlier. Paren's free Q3 2026 State of the Industry report, released Tuesday, puts hard numbers on both sides of that trade-off.
What it costs to charge
Paren says the national average fast-charging price reached 54.0 cents per kilowatt-hour in Q3, up 2.7% year over year. The firm attributes that rise to Tesla. The network's average non-member Supercharger price climbed 15% over the year to 56.9 cents per kWh. Member pricing rose 9% to 39.6 cents. By contrast, the average across non-Tesla networks held near 53.3 cents for a fifth straight quarter.
Time-of-use stations widen the spread further. Peak rates averaged 63.7 cents per kWh, while off-peak held at 43.8 cents — nearly a 20-cent gap for the same electricity. For owners, the practical takeaway is unchanged: check the in-app rate before you start a session, and prefer off-peak or membership pricing when the trip allows it.
Tesla still leads new ports, but its share is slipping
The U.S. public fast-charging network crossed 80,000 ports for the first time, reaching 80,964 ports across 14,614 locations after operators added 4,106 ports at 664 stations in July through September. Tesla added 1,287 of those ports, 31.3% of the quarter's total — still first place. Including 124 Supercharger for Business ports, Paren counts 1,411 Tesla-linked ports, or 34.4%.
Ionna ranked second with 378 ports (more than double its Q2 additions, helped by converting former Circle K sites), and Walmart was third with 344. Tesla's new Supercharger sites averaged 13.1 ports; it opened 11 locations with at least 24 stalls, led by a 48-stall site in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. InsideEVs notes Tesla also now has 42 sites and 487 ports rated at 500 kW on V4 cabinets.
Scale is not the same as share. Over the past year Tesla's slice of all U.S. fast-charging ports fell from 54.3% to 49.3%, Paren reports. The network kept growing — by about 5,700 ports — but rivals added more than twice as many.
Demand is rising with the network
Paren tracked 50.4 million fast-charging sessions in Q3, up 26% from a year earlier. July set a monthly record at 17.6 million sessions. National utilization barely moved, at 15.9%, while ports in the 30 largest charging metros ran at 21.1%. Los Angeles led those metros at 31.8%. Reliability held at a national score of 93.9, with 50 of 52 states and territories clearing 90.
None of this changes the earlier Q3 Supercharger scorecard we covered — record energy delivered and Emergency Drive Away — but it does explain why a busy stall can still feel expensive. Competition from Ionna, Walmart and others is expanding the map; Supercharger pricing is no longer the automatic bargain it once was for every trip.