EVwire brief: IONITY has responded, politely but not subtly, to Tesla’s recent Wolfsburg Supercharger pun with new spray-painted pavement signage reading:
“Y settle for less?”
As for what exactly is meant here after the obvious reference to the Model “Y”, well, we’ll leave that up for you to decide.
The amusing wordplay follows Tesla’s fresh Supercharger site from just two weeks ago, situated roughly 4 km from Volkswagen’s headquarters and right across the street from VW Marketing Forum, where the pavement tiles are organized in a way for the message to read “I’D CHARGE HERE” — directly hinting at Volkswagen’s I.D line:
Simply put, what started as a one-sided joke is now a full two-network exchange played out in paint and signage. IONITY has acted quickly and opted for spray paint, which we’d assume serves as a less permanent solution.
In the comments under IONITY’s posts, we saw the puns kept going. Volkswagen brand’s account manager dropped in talking of the parking job:
And this counter-pun from Joris Jansen, Supercharger EU Lead Installation Manager, also caught our eye:
Context:
In case you’ve missed it, Tesla and IONITY are both at the absolute top in terms of fast-charging network footprint in Europe. And importantly, IONITY was founded as a joint venture between automakers back in 2017, including BMW Group, Ford, Mercedes and, of course … Volkswagen Group.
The pun was well received by Volkswagen employees, as seen on some of their LinkedIn posts and comments:
EV owners win in the long run
Wolfsburg, home to approximately 125,000 residents, remains one of Germany’s most concentrated automotive hubs. EV adoption is estimated at roughly 10% of vehicles in Q1 2026, about 2x the national average, driven in part by Volkswagen’s local presence.
Both Tesla and IONITY operate within the same CCS2 ecosystem, enabling cross-network charging regardless of vehicle brand.
EV adoption in Wolfsburg is estimated at roughly 10% of vehicles in Q1 2026
As more networks expand into overlapping regions and compete for drivers, the result is increased infrastructure density, faster charging options, and improved overall experience for EV owners.
With this in mind, we at EVwire encourage Tesla and IONITY keep the jokes coming.
Source: IONITY on LinkedIn
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