General Motors wants people in battery electric vehicles and to make that more appealing, the automaker will start setting up thousands of fast-charging stations in the parking lots and public spaces across U.S. cities and suburbs.
GM has partnered with EVgo, the largest public fast-charging network for electric vehicles, to triple the size of the U.S.’ public fast-charging network.
The companies will add more than 2,700 new fast chargers at various public venues over the next five years, GM said. The units will charge a fee.
The chargers will offer access to drivers who live in multiunit homes, rent their homes and can’t install chargers, or might not have access to workplace charging, GM said in a release.
“We are moving quickly to bring new EVs to market that customers will love,” said GM CEO Mary Barra in a statement. “We know how important the charging ecosystem is for drivers, one that includes access to convenient and reliable public fast charging. Our relationship with EVgo will bolster the public fast charging network available to EV customers ahead of increased market demand.”
GM’s ‘zero’ commitment
The partnership between GM and EVgo will use private investment and government grants and utility programs to build the charging infrastructure.
GM and EVgo declined to provide the dollar amount each will invest, but “when you look at the number of chargers we’re putting into the system, it’s pretty significant,” Barra said Friday during a media call. “We are not disclosing that information, but it’s a continuum of providing a robust infrastructure in EV chargers.”
EVgo CEO Cathy Zoi said it is “a significant amount of effort and investment and we’re accelerating the time that EVs come to market so that customers will now have access to chargers.”
The chargers are open to all EV drivers, not just GM vehicles, Barra said. The cost will be $5 to $15 to recharge, said Zoi.
GM has a zero emissions, zero crashes and zero congestion business plan for the future. That means an all-electric vehicle lineup one day. GM has promised to bring to market at least 20 new battery EVs by 2023, the first will go on sale early next year. Currently, GM offers only the Chevrolet Bolt car.
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GM will power the EVs on its proprietary Ultium battery cells. GM and LG Chem have partnered to mass-produce the battery cells in Ohio. GM is also working with Qmerit to create a more accessible at-home charging solution.
Besides its commitment to EVs, GM has also said its U.S. plants will run on renewable energy by 2030. All of its global plants will run on renewable energy by 2040. To that end, the new EVgo fast chargers will be powered by 100% renewable energy, GM said.
This isn’t the first time GM has boosted the charging infrastructure needed to increase adoption of EVs. In March, GM said it would add 3,500 new plugs at GM facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
Charge and go
GM and EVgo will put the new charging stations at grocery stores, retail outlets, entertainment centers and other high-traffic areas. These are places where people typically spend 15 to 30 minutes, GM said, allowing them time to charge their vehicles while they run their errands.
Generally, it takes seconds to plug the electric vehicle into the fast chargers, which can then charge the vehicle up to 80% capacity in about 30 minutes, a GM spokeswoman said.
Currently, EVgo has about 800 charging stations 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 next year and will be located in highly visible areas. Most will be able to charge at least four vehicles simultaneously, GM said. The stations will have new charging technology with 100-350-kilowatt capabilities to power increasingly powerful EVs coming to market.
The companies have identified 40 metro areas where they will build the chargers. They will specify those areas in the weeks ahead, but the criteria they use are markets where there is interest in electric vehicles, Zoi said.
“So even though we have a lot of chargers in California, there’s not enough, California is a big market,” Zoi said.
There are roughly 10,000 chargers in the United States now, Zoi said, but eventually America will need 50,000 chargers as it shifts to driving more electric vehicles.
“What we’re doing today is important and a gigantic step forward in the piece of the puzzle as the nation steps forward to be all electric,” Zoi said.
Zoi said 115 million Americans already live within a 15-minute drive of an EVgo fast charging station. In 2019, EVgo became the first North American charging company to contract for 100% renewable energy to power its chargers.
GM’s EV future
Next week, Cadillac will reveal the luxury brand’s first fully electric vehicle, the Cadillac LYRIQ.
GM is currently retooling its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to build only electric vehicles starting in the fall of 2021 when it starts building the new GMC Hummer. GM insiders call Detroit-Hamtramck “Factory Zero” because it will be building all zero-emissions cars by 2023.
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GM will introduce an SUV version of the Bolt next year. It builds the current Bolt at its Orion Assembly plant in Lake Orion.
“Electric vehicles will make the world a better place today and for years to come,” Barra said. “That’s why we’re aggressively going after the charging station EV infrastructure, because we need millions more EVs on the road.”
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter.
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