The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office announced on Dec. 12 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 to expand public electric vehicle 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 fast charging equipment capable of charging two EVs simultaneously, and EVgo plans to continue installing power sharing equipment over the 5-year deployment timeline.
LPO’s loan guarantee to EVgo builds upon the growing number of charging ports supported by the Biden-Harris Administration, DOE said.
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, the federal agency noted. 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.
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.
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 DC fast charger 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+, DOE said.
LPO borrowers are required to develop and ultimately implement a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan. 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 on Dec. 12 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.
