Some EV drivers in San Diego say they are competing with driverless cars for a plug. According to a Los Angeles Times report relayed by InsideEVs on Oct. 30, 2026, some Waymo robotaxis in the city are using public DC fast chargers, and drivers describe waits of up to an hour or say they go to another charging location. "They come in droves," one driver told the newspaper.
No rule appears to be broken. EVgo, the network named in the report, told the Times its San Diego chargers are available to private EV drivers and robotaxis alike. Waymo said it prioritises its own charging hubs, but that dedicated facilities take time to set up when it enters a new market.
ChargerFeed could not locate or read the original Los Angeles Times article. The account below comes from InsideEVs' summary of that reporting, plus local coverage of Waymo's San Diego launch and a CleanTechnica report on a new EVgo site in the city.
What is actually being reported?
InsideEVs reports that some Waymo vehicles in San Diego are crowding public fast-charging stations, so private drivers end up waiting or leaving. It also notes that EV drivers in Nashville and St. Louis have accused Waymos of hogging public chargers, based on social media posts, which are a weaker kind of evidence than on-the-record reporting.
Some basic figures are missing from the InsideEVs summary. It does not say how many stalls were occupied, which stations were involved beyond EVgo's network in general, how often the waits happen, or how many Waymo vehicles are running in San Diego. Without those figures, the anecdotes can't be turned into a measure of how much charging capacity the robotaxis are taking up.
What does Waymo say?
As relayed by InsideEVs, Waymo's response made four points:
- It has people at some public charging locations to assist robotaxis as they arrive.
- It tries to avoid having vehicles crowd one station.
- Its Jaguar I-Paces and Zeekr vans that are sometimes driven by humans may also use public chargers during breaks.
- It prioritises its own charging hubs, but setting up dedicated facilities can take time when entering new markets.
The last point matters most in San Diego, where service is new. In an Aug. 21, 2026 KPBS report, Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp said the service area would be about 40 square miles to start, and KPBS reported that Waymo was going fully driverless to the public with "a couple dozen Waymo Ojai vehicles" in the region. Karp said Waymo has "a place that we can charge up our vehicles, clean them," and that it prioritises charging at those stations, though human specialists driving its cars might use other charging infrastructure on breaks. KPBS reported that Waymo would not disclose where that charging depot is or how many vehicles it can charge. KPBS also reported that Waymo had recently received California Public Utilities Commission approval and described it as the final green light from the state.
InsideEVs says Waymo now serves riders in 15 cities. The San Diego fleet figure above is from KPBS in August. ChargerFeed found no updated count, and the fleet may have grown since then.
How much fast charging does San Diego have?
The best public figures available come from CleanTechnica. Its March 27, 2026 report said the city of San Diego has just about 290 fast chargers, citing PlugShare, and that the total number of public EV chargers in San Diego is around 2,700 to 2,800. Those numbers are CleanTechnica's, from March 2026, and have not been independently updated here.
The same report covered EVgo's opening of what the company, in a post on X dated March 25, 2026, called its "largest public site to date": 28 fast-charging stalls offering 200 kW, at 3757 Midway Dr., near shopping and dining. EVgo described the site as open as of that date. CleanTechnica also said EVgo had over 5,000 fast chargers in operation nationwide at the time.
For a rough sense of scale: a couple dozen robotaxis, the launch figure KPBS gave in August, is small next to roughly 290 fast chargers citywide. But drivers don't feel the citywide total. They feel the station in front of them. If several fleet vehicles arrive at the same site around the same time, the queue at that site could get long even when the city overall has many chargers. Waymo says it tries to avoid crowding one station; the available reporting doesn't show how well that is working.
Is this a charging-network problem or a fleet-planning problem?
The sources describe a situation where the network's stated policy allows robotaxi charging. EVgo's position, as reported, is that its San Diego chargers are available to everyone, robotaxis included. None of the sources mention fleet-specific pricing, time limits, idle fees, or reserved hours for these stations, and ChargerFeed found no EVgo statement or release on the issue beyond the comment relayed by InsideEVs.
Waymo says it prioritises its own hubs and that building them takes time in new markets. That puts the timing of depot capacity at the center of the question, though the sources do not say how much of the public-charger use is tied to depot capacity. Waymo hasn't said publicly where its San Diego depot is or how many vehicles it can serve, and ChargerFeed found no stated timeline for adding capacity.
What It Means for Drivers
Based on what the sources state:
- Who can charge where: EVgo told the Times its San Diego chargers are available to both private EV drivers and robotaxis. InsideEVs concludes that Waymo is not breaking any rules by plugging in.
- What drivers are seeing: Some drivers report waits of up to an hour at public fast chargers, or moving to another location. Waymo says some vehicles at public chargers may be human-driven Jaguar I-Paces or Zeekr vans on breaks.
- What may change, and when: Waymo says it prioritises its own charging hubs and that setting them up takes time in new markets. ChargerFeed found no date or capacity for added San Diego depot charging, and no announced change to access rules at San Diego sites.
- Practical context: As of March 2026, CleanTechnica, citing PlugShare, counted about 290 fast chargers in the city of San Diego, including EVgo's 28-stall, 200 kW site at 3757 Midway Dr. The sources don't say which stations are affected most, so checking a charging app for live availability before driving over is a reasonable precaution.
Neither the reporting nor the sources include any prices or per-kWh rates, so none are given here. Drivers should check current pricing in the network's app before plugging in.
What we still don't know
- How many Waymo vehicles are operating in San Diego now, compared with the "couple dozen" KPBS reported at launch in August.
- Which specific stations are affected, and how often fleet vehicles occupy multiple stalls at once.
- Where Waymo's San Diego depot is, its charging capacity, and any timeline for expanding it.
- Whether EVgo or other networks will change pricing, time limits or access terms for fleet vehicles. Nothing of the kind has been reported.
ChargerFeed will update this story if Waymo, EVgo or the city release figures on fleet charging use in San Diego.
