EVgo will add 7,500 Public Chargers to Nation’s Rapidly Growing Fast Charging Network
Loan Programs Office December, 12 2024
As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced today the closing of a $1.25 billion loan guarantee ($1.05 billion of principal and $193 million of capitalized interest) to EVgo Swift Borrower LLC (EVgo) to expand public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. The loan guarantee will support EVgo’s deployment of approximately 7,500 chargers at roughly 1,100 charging stations across the United States. The first deployments will include dual-port high-power 350kW direct current (DC) fast charging equipment capable of charging two EVs simultaneously, and EVgo plans to continue installing power sharing equipment over the 5-year deployment timeline. Today’s announcement underscores a commitment to ensure drivers across the country have access to a convenient, affordable, reliable national network of EV chargers to complement the growing number of electrified vehicle options made available to customers by the domestic automotive industry.
In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to deliver good-paying, high-quality job opportunities to communities across the country, this project is expected to create more than 180 external construction jobs and over 550 maintenance and support jobs. These jobs will add to the more than 16 million jobs created since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office—reinforcing America’s clean transportation economy while expanding America’s EV charging network.
LPO’s loan guarantee to EVgo builds upon the growing number of charging ports supported by the Biden-Harris Administration. There are currently more than 204,000 publicly available charging ports, with nearly 38,000 new public chargers already having been added this year and nearly 1,000 new public chargers being added every week thanks to a combination of direct federal funding, federal tax incentives, state and local funding, and private investment. This is more than double the number of publicly available chargers since President Biden took office. The chargers will be compatible with all new EVs capable of fast charging, including those that use SAE J3400, and CCS connectors. Fast-growing EV adoption is helping spur the development of a U.S. supply chain, creating high-quality jobs in manufacturing, installation, operations, and maintenance in all pockets of the country. To accelerate deployments, EVgo will leverage prefabrication from a facility in Jacksonville, Florida. EVgo will deploy the chargers across the country, including in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Expanding the accessibility of DC fast chargers (DCFCs) is a critical tool to support investments from the automotive industry as they add more electric options to meet customer demand. As covered in LPO’s Tech Talk on EV charging, the availability of reliable, convenient, and fast charging is a key consideration for potential EV buyers. While EV drivers who live in single-family homes can charge their cars overnight with a Level 1 or Level 2 charger, people who live in multi-family housing may not have access to home charging and would benefit the most from convenient public Level 2 charging or fast charging. With a DCFC, drivers can reach 80% charge from empty in as little as 20 minutes (though charging speed may vary based on vehicle and battery conditions).
EVgo is committed to working with LPO to improve the customer experience for EV drivers so that more Americans can access reliable, fast-charging EV infrastructure at convenient locations across the United States, ensuring workers, consumers, and communities benefit from the historic transition to a clean energy future. EVgo aims to support future EV growth with its public charging services, particularly in areas expected to experience the fastest growth, such as metropolitan areas and communities with large concentrations of multi-family housing. The EVgo charging stations supported by the LPO loan guarantee will be located in a variety of high-traffic locations, including retail centers and grocery store chains.
The EVgo DCFC rollout will also feature the use of an innovative technology called dynamic power sharing, which optimally allocates the power output of the charging location among all vehicles that are connected to the station at one time. With this technology, any unused power from adjacent stalls is given to vehicles that are charging so they can receive the full requested power, allowing the vehicle to refuel as quickly as possible. The chargers funded through this project would also feature Autocharge+, a payment system that allows users to initiate charging without a credit card or phone after they enroll, so that drivers can simply plug in and their session starts automatically. EVgo is also actively working on Plug and Charge technology and is committed to rolling it out across the network once certification and implementation details have been verified across the industry to ensure a positive customer experience for any drivers with EVs that aren’t compatible with Autocharge+. Through the deployment of grid-enabled EV charging stations, which would also further the deployment and use of highly efficient EVs, the project is expected to enable the avoidance of at least 284,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. This amount is roughly equivalent to removing 61,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road for a year.
LPO borrowers are required to develop and ultimately implement a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan (CBP). CBPs ensure borrowers meaningfully engage with community and labor stakeholders to create good-paying jobs and improve the well-being of residents and workers.
As a part of their CBP, EVgo is working to ensure workers interested in the EV charging field can access training and apprenticeships. The company is developing a scholarship program for employee electricians of contractor partners to complete the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP). The EVITP certification is increasingly a requirement for electrician-related work in state and federally funded EV infrastructure projects.
EVgo also intends to install more than 40% of new charging stations in disadvantaged communities, as identified by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.
Projects like the one announced today will benefit from the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Tax Credit, also known as 30C, which was created by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and is available for EV chargers located in non-urban or low-income communities. EVgo intends to install roughly half of its new charging stations in 30C-eligible Census tracts, bringing public charging infrastructure to economically disadvantaged lower-income communities to ensure equitable investment in transportation electrification.
The loan guarantee is offered through LPO’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, which includes financing opportunities for innovative energy and supply chain projects and projects that reinvest in existing energy infrastructure. LPO has been evaluating EVgo’s application since July 2023.
Across all LPO’s programs, DOE has attracted 212 applications for projects across the country totaling over $324.3 billion in requested loans and loan guarantees, as of November 2024. For more information about EVgo, read the conditional commitment blog post and visit LPO’s portfolio project page.