GM and EVgo to Add EV Fast Chargers Nationwide

Taxpayers are subsidizing EV charging.

General Motors and EVgo say they will triple the size of the nation’s largest public fast charging network by adding more than 2,700 new fast chargers over the next five years, a baby step in making electric vehicles more useful. (GM Shows New Batteries and a Flexible Global EV Platform, GMC Hummer EV – Its First All-Electric Truck, Lordstown and Lithium. A New GM Constellation is Rising)

The two companies say they will add fast charging stations to cities and suburbs, providing increased charging access to drivers who live in multi-unit homes, rent their homes and can’t install chargers, or might not have access to workplace charging.

Customers will have access to some of the fastest charging capabilities at the places they regularly frequent, such as grocery stores, retail outlets, entertainment centers and other high-traffic locations. With fast charging available where people typically spend 15-30 minutes (see footnote¹ ). This approach builds on the success of EVgo’s existing portfolio of more than 800 station locations across the United States, the most of any U.S. public fast charging network.

The new EVgo fast charging stations will be available to customers starting early 2021. Stations will be in highly visible areas and most will be able to charge at least four vehicles simultaneously. Additionally, stations will feature new charging technology with 100-350-kilowatt capabilities to meet the needs of an increasingly powerful set of expensive EVs coming to market.

The new EVgo fast chargers will be powered by 100% renewable energy. Both GM and EVgo have made investments and commitments to running on renewable energy. Earlier this year, General Motors committed to all U.S. plants running on renewable energy by 2030 and all global plants running on renewable energy by 2040. In 2019, EVgo became the first North American charging company to contract for 100% renewable energy to power its chargers.

General Motors and EVgo designed this new endeavor to use government grant and utility programs, aka tax-payer subsidies, as building out the necessary charging infrastructure ahead of market demands will require a lot of money.

This EV charging announcement GM’s movement toward an electric future. The core of GM’s strategy is a modular propulsion system and a flexible global EV platform powered by proprietary Ultium batteries, allowing – it’s claimed, GM to compete for nearly every customer in the market today- misleadingly called affordable transportation, a luxury vehicles, work trucks or high-performance vehicles.

• On Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020, Cadillac will reveal the luxury brand’s first fully electric vehicle, the Cadillac LYRIQ.
• Earlier this year, GM announced that the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant will be GM’s first plant that is 100 percent devoted to electric vehicles and in fall 2021, will start building the new GMC HUMMER EV.
• GM was the first automaker to launch a long-range, affordable EV in 2017 with the Chevrolet Bolt EV and will expand on the Bolt EV’s foundation with the introduction of the Bolt EUV in 2021.
• In March 2020, GM announced plans to greatly expand employee workplace charging with the addition of 3,500 new plugs at GM facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
• In 2019, GM announced the creation of Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture with LG Chem to mass-produce battery cells in Ohio for future battery-electric vehicles, and that GM is working with Qmerit to create a more accessible at-home charging solution.

¹ Actual charge times will vary based on battery condition, output of charger, vehicle settings and outside temperature.