Private Sector Continues to Play Key Part in Accelerating Buildout of EV Charging Networks

Feb. 15, 2023

Today, the Biden-Harris administration announced its latest set of actions aimed at creating a convenient, reliable, and Made-in-America electric vehicle (EV) charging network. These actions will support and accelerate progress toward meeting President Biden’s goal of building a national network of 500,000 EV chargers along America’s highways and in our communities and have EVs make up at least 50% of new car sales by 2030, all while advancing an industrial strategy to continue to build out the domestic EV and EV charging industry. The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation supports these objectives by helping accelerate the deployment of a convenient, reliable, affordable, and equitable national network of charging stations and providing technical assistance to states and localities so they can strategically build EV charging stations and other infrastructure.

Actions taken by the federal government serve as a catalyst for private investment in both domestic EV charging manufacturing and meaningful commitments to build out EV charging infrastructure across the country that will enable a future where everyone can ride and drive electric. Below is an overview of some of the major private sector investments that have been announced in the last two years. If your company or organization has made investments in EV charging manufacturing and/or the buildout of publicly accessible EV charging stations and you would like to bring that activity to the attention of the Joint Office, please contact us.

Charging Network Companies Making Significant Investments in EV Charging Infrastructure

Private investments have and will continue to supplement public dollars by filling gaps, serving rural and hard-to-reach locations, and building capacity along corridors and in communities. In the last two years, network companies have committed to install more than 100,000 Level 2 and direct current (DC) fast public chargers available for all EVs, including:

• Blink has committed to spending $62 million over the next 10 years to expand its nationwide electric charging network.

• CBL Properties and EVgo announced a partnership to add EVgo fast charging to select retail locations, including the first EVgo station in Kansas.

• ChargePoint has had several significant investments recently:
  • The company opened its first East Coast office in Greenville, South Carolina. The company invested a quarter-million dollars in its buildout, continuing the trend of strong EV investment in the state. The new office will initially host nearly 20 employees with a specific focus on charging for EV fleets.
  • It recently announced a partnership with Stem, a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven clean energy solutions and services, to accelerate the deployment of DC fast chargers with battery storage and AI-driven energy management along highway corridors. This partnership will allow businesses looking to install EV chargers to reduce their operating costs, increase energy efficiency, and better use green energy sources like solar.
  • It expanded its partnership with SMTC Corporation to expand DC fast charger production, establish a manufacturing line for Level 2 chargers at their Milpitas, California, facility, and create approximately 250 new manufacturing jobs. The expanded facility will be able to produce 10,000 DC fast charger dispensers and 10,000 Level 2 chargers by 2026.
  • The company partnered with the National Electrical Contractors Association to prepare its nearly 4,000 member companies, all of which are International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unionized, to install EV charging infrastructure quickly and professionally.

• ChargePoint, Volvo Cars, and Starbucks announced a partnership to deploy 60 DC fast chargers at up to 15 locations along the 1,350-mile pilot route between Seattle and Denver to be completed by summer 2023.

• Edison Electric Institute, an association representing the nation’s investor-owned electric companies, is investing more than $4 billion to expand customer access to EV charging at homes, multifamily housing, workplaces, and public destinations and to support fleet electrification. More than $1 billion of additional investment is pending approval by state public utility commissions. Members of the National Electric Highway Coalition, made up of more than 60 investor-owned and municipal electric companies and electric cooperatives, have supported more than 2,200 EV fast charging ports to date through investment, incentives, or other programs and are committed to supporting an additional 5,300 fast charging ports over the next several years.

• Electrify America recently held the official groundbreaking of Electrify America Solar Glow 1, the new 75-MW solar photovoltaics project in San Bernardino County, California, to help back all energy delivered to EV drivers with renewable energy across more than 800 DC fast charging stations nationwide.

• EVgo formally launched EVgo ReNew, an enhanced and comprehensive maintenance program to improve reliability and the overall customer experience. As part of EVgo ReNew, EVgo plans to replace, upgrade, or in some cases retire hundreds of stations to meet the company’s quality and technology standards. EVgo ReNew comprises six core pillars that outline EVgo’s approach to reliability: prevention, diagnostics, rapid response, analysis, resilience, and continuous customer service. This effort includes ramping up in-person preventative health checks of chargers; improving system monitoring, diagnostic, and recovery tools; replacing legacy equipment; and retiring problematic chargers if replacement or upgrade is impractical. EVgo ReNew builds on EVgo’s existing charger maintenance efforts, which include 24/7 monitoring and preventative health checks at charging stations, as part of its commitment to industry-leading uptime. It also invested over $130 million over the first three quarters of 2022 to accelerate transportation electrification across the United States, including through investments in property, equipment, software, and construction.

• Ford has committed to installing at least one public-facing DC fast charger with two ports at 1,920 Ford dealerships by January 2024.

• Forum Mobility, a zero-emission trucking solutions provider, recently announced a $400-million commitment to deploy over 1,000 DC fast chargers. The charging infrastructure will serve the thousands of heavy-duty electric trucks projected to begin operating at the San Pedro and Oakland ports in California over the next decade. The community charging depots will create over 600 new union jobs in disadvantaged communities while reducing harmful emissions at the ports and along freight corridors.

• Francis Energy, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based EV charge point operator, is expanding into 40 states in 2023, with plans to install 50,000 EV charging ports by 2030 in partnership with municipalities, auto dealers, tribal nations, and private businesses. Currently, 75% of Francis Energy’s network is in Justice40 communities.

• General Motors has announced a collaborative effort with dealers to install up to 40,000 public Level 2 EV chargers in local communities by 2026 through GM’s Dealer Community Charging Program; FLO will be the launch provider for this program. The new charging stations will join GM’s Ultium Charge 360 network and will be available to all EV drivers.

• Giant Food and Volta have partnered to install EV charging at over 40 locations in three states and Washington, D.C., with an additional 12 locations expected to be available soon.

• Hertz and BP are announcing their intention to build out a national network of EV fast charging infrastructure to accelerate the adoption of EVs. Hertz and BP intend to bring charging infrastructure to Hertz locations across America, including major cities such as Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The charging hubs will serve rideshare and taxi drivers, car rental customers, and the general public at high-demand locations, such as airports. A number of installations are expected to include large-scale charging hubs, known as “gigahubs.” BP aims to invest $1 billion in EV charging in the United States by 2030. Hertz’s objective is to make one-quarter of its fleet electric by the end of 2024.

• Hertz is working in Denver to build a system and provide data that could help the city decide where more public EV chargers are needed the most and in what quantity. That is because the rental cars will be equipped with telematics systems, which collect and transmit GPS and a range of other data, so officials know where EVs are being driven. Hertz also plans to develop a pipeline of skilled workers for the industry, offering summer job opportunities through Denver’s Youth Employment Program and providing EVs, tools, and training to Montbello Career and Technical High School for students enrolled in its auto certificate program.

• Volta, a San Francisco-based charging company, will provide a media outlet for Kroger’s advertising clients on their stations’ large-format digital screens. Volta has rolled out a mix of DC fast and Level 2 Volta EV chargers at 16 Kroger stores in the Atlanta and Indianapolis areas.

• Meijer and EVgo developed a partnership in 2021 that expanded charging access across the Midwest, adding to EVgo's network of 850+ fast charging stations. Meijer customers have access to EVgo charging stations capable of 100- to 350-kW fast charging. In addition to providing accessible and conveniently located public fast charging stations, EVgo is managing the installation and ongoing operation and maintenance of the charging stations.

• Mercedes-Benz, ChargePoint, and MN8 Energy announced a partnership to deploy over 400 charging hubs with more than 2,500 publicly accessible DC fast charging ports across the United States and Canada.

• NATSO and ChargePoint announced a collaborative to leverage $1 billion in capital over the next decade to deploy charging at more than 4,000 travel plazas and fuel stops that serve highway travelers and rural communities.

• Pilot Company, General Motors, and EVgo have partnered to build a coast-to-coast network of 2,000 high-power 350-kW fast chargers at Pilot and Flying J travel centers along American highways. The nationwide network of up to 500 travel centers will enable long-distance EV travel by connecting urban and rural communities. The companies announced that the first 200+ chargers in this network are expected to be available for use by drivers in 2023.

• Revel announced it will be developing and opening five new EV fast charging “superhubs” across multiple New York City boroughs to add 136 public charging stalls. With these new facilities, Revel will operate roughly 80% of New York City’s public fast charging infrastructure. The largest of these new sites will feature 60 150-kW DC fast chargers and will be in Queens. The four other hubs will be in the Bronx (30 DC fast chargers), two in Brooklyn (16 and 20 DC fast chargers), and Manhattan (10 DC fast chargers).

• Stop & Shop planned to have more than 50 EV charging stations from Volta at stores across its Northeastern market by the end of 2021.

• Taco Bell franchisee Diversified Restaurant Group and ChargeNet Stations—which provides EV fast charging stations and software—will partner to make access to EV charging easy at these fast-food restaurant chains.

• Tesla, for the first time, will open a portion of its U.S. Supercharger and Destination Charging networks to other EVs, making at least 7,500 chargers available to all EVs by the end of 2024. The open chargers will be distributed across the United States. They will include at least 3,500 new and existing 250-kW Superchargers along highway corridors and in cities to expand freedom of travel for all EVs, and Level 2 Destination Charging at hotels, restaurants, and parking garages in urban and rural locations. Drivers will be able to access these open stations using the Tesla app or website. Additionally, Tesla will more than double its nationwide network of Superchargers by the end of 2024, which are all manufactured in Buffalo, New York.

• TravelCenters of America and Electrify America announced that they will offer EV charging at select Travel Centers of America and Petro locations, with a goal of installing approximately 1,000 EV chargers at 200 locations along major highways over the next five years.

• Wawa Inc. teamed with EVgo, a public fast charging network for EVs, to open the first live EVgo public fast charging station at a Wawa store in Philadelphia. The station powers four charging stalls via two 100-kW fast chargers and one 350-kW fast charger, capable of simultaneous charging.

Charger Construction Taking Off

On the manufacturing side, pledged investments will result in the construction of 1.4 million charger units and the creation of over 3,000 jobs by the year 2030. These include:

• ABB E-mobility recently commenced production of DC fast chargers from its new facility in Columbia, South Carolina. This $4-million investment follows previous commitments to add 125 jobs across its operations at its Sugarland, Texas, training center and southern California product development and research facility.

• ADS-TEC Energy, a German-based provider of battery-powered EV charging stations, will invest $8 million in building its first U.S. facility to perform assembly, sales, warehousing, and servicing in Auburn, Alabama. The facility is expected to create more than 180 jobs.

• Blink will expand its Bowie, Maryland, facility by 30,000 square feet, investing $49 million over 10 years and creating 60 new jobs to produce Level 2 chargers. Additionally, in 2023, Blink will announce a new 200,000-square-foot manufacturing plant for DC fast chargers, investing a total of $156 million over 10 years and creating 160 new jobs.

• ChargePoint is expanding its partnership with SMTC Corporation to expand DC fast charger production, establish a manufacturing line for Level 2 chargers at their Milpitas, California, facility, and create approximately 250 new manufacturing jobs. The expanded facility will be able to produce 10,000 DC fast chargers and 10,000 Level 2 chargers by 2026.

• EdgeEnergy will be investing $150 million in the Ohio economy to build three-phase power converters for DC fast chargers, adding 60 new manufacturing and engineering jobs over the next 24 months.

• Electrify America announced a new investment of $450 million into its charging network by Siemens, a global technology and electrification company, and Volkswagen Group. These investments will support the rapid deployment of up to 10,000 ultrafast chargers at 1,800 charging stations, in the United States and Canada by 2026.

• EVBox, a Netherlands-based EV charging manufacturer, announced plans for its first North American headquarters and production facility in Libertyville, Illinois. The 60,000-square-foot facility aims to produce around 200 DC fast chargers per week—a level of production expected to create between 80 and 120 new jobs in the immediate region.

• EverCharge, a provider of turnkey EV charging solutions, is opening a new 30,000-square-foot production factory in Hayward, California, and plans to double its factory workforce by mid-2023.

• FLO, a North American EV charging network operator and smart charging solutions provider, announced a $3-million investment in its first U.S. assembly facility located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. By 2028, the facility will help FLO bring 250,000 charging stations to American drivers, create and support upward of 730 jobs, and bolster Michigan’s economy by $76 million.

• FreeWire announced a new 66,000-square-foot global headquarters in Newark, California, a $20-million investment that will focus on research, development, and manufacturing of ultrafast EV charging equipment and more than 200 well-paying engineering and manufacturing jobs in electrification and clean energy across the community.

• Lincoln Electric, a long-time welding giant, has announced a new product line of DC fast chargers that leverages core manufacturing and engineering capabilities in power supply technology at its facility in Cleveland, Ohio.

• Rivian manufactures EVs and DC fast charging systems from its manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois. Rivian designs, engineers, and manufactures its chargers in-house, with total product development and manufacturing investments set to exceed $50 million, including more than $20 million in new, upcoming investments.

• Siemens has expanded its EV charging manufacturing footprint with the recent selection of Carrollton, Texas, to serve as its second U.S. EV charger manufacturing hub. This announcement builds on the more than $140 million Siemens has newly invested across its electrical products manufacturing sites in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Pomona, California, that serve critical infrastructure markets and support union jobs. The new facility is expected to be fully operational in spring 2023. Siemens is also a partnering with the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP) by developing curriculum to ensure a skilled talent pipeline of American EV charger installation workers.

• SK Signet, a South Korean-based EV charging company specializing in ultrafast charging infrastructure, is building its first American manufacturing facility in Plano, Texas. By 2026, SK Signet expects to be producing up to 10,000 DC fast chargers annually and will support 183 highly skilled jobs.

• Tritium DCFC Limited, an Australian-based EV fast charger producer, held a grand opening for its first U.S.-based factory, located in Lebanon, Tennessee. The facility will produce up to 30,000 DC fast chargers per year at peak capacity. Tritium announced it will add more than 250 jobs to this facility, for a total of more than 750 cleantech jobs at the company’s Lebanon factory. Tritium is a participant in the White House Talent Pipeline Challenge, a nationwide initiative to create equitable job opportunities in growing industries.

• Wallbox, a Spanish-based provider of EV charging and energy management solutions worldwide, opened its first North American manufacturing facility in Arlington, Texas. The $70-million, 150,000-square-foot facility has the capacity to produce over 250,000 units in 2023 and over 1 million in 2030, including its next-gen Hypernova DC fast chargers. The facility will support 250 high-paying jobs by 2025 and 700 jobs by 2030.

Prioritizing Workforce Development and Education

The private sector is also stepping up to provide jobs and train the next-generation workforce in the electrified transportation sector. These companies are working to ensure EV chargers are well maintained:

• ChargerHelp! and SAE International’s Sustainable Mobility Solutions announced a partnership to assist in the EV charging workforce development for the next generation of certified electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) maintenance technicians. The EVSE Field Technician Program will certify skills needed by EVSE field technicians to diagnose, report, and help repair technical components of the charging equipment, including hardware and software issues. Within the next two years, this national program will help more than 3,000 trainees from low-income, disadvantaged, and typically underrepresented communities and those transitioning from other industries reach these technology-forward jobs.

• Mercedes-Benz USA and the U.S. Department of Labor announced a national partnership to create pathways for students from 16 to 24 years of age toward good-paying jobs as auto technicians, including potential employment with Mercedes-Benz. Job Corps will now offer students opportunities to study high-voltage and electric vehicles, as well as training opportunities with high-voltage vehicles at the following campuses: Earle C. Clements Job Corps in Morganfield, Kentucky; Westover Job Corps in Chicopee, Massachusetts; Edison Job Corps in Edison, New Jersey; and Clearfield Job Corps in Clearfield, Utah. The Job Corps network currently has 121 centers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

• Qmerit, a provider of distributed workforce management solutions for EV charging and other electrification technologies in North America, plans to perform over 120,000 EV and electrification jobs at residential and mid-market commercial properties in 2023. This expansion builds on the more than 250,000 Level 2 charging systems and hundreds of thousands of related electrification technologies that Qmerit has installed to date. In addition, Qmerit will facilitate access to EVITP training and certification for its network of over 12,000 electricians through the Qmerit Resource Center. This platform helps grow a diverse and climate-conscious workforce by connecting small- and medium-size electrical contractors, more than 15% of which are minority and disadvantaged businesses, with individuals looking to begin or repurpose their careers in the electric and EV sectors.

• Volkswagen announced a $20-million investment to prepare car dealers to sell EVs.