EVgo Inc. has received a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $1.05 billion of debt financing, from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) under its Title 17 program to accelerate expansion of its electric vehicle fast-charging network in community locations across the U.S.
The financing would accelerate EVgo’s efforts to scale its charging footprint and increase nationwide access to convenient, reliable public charging stations. Access to this low-cost financing will facilitate the buildout of approximately 7,500 additional fast-charging stalls across the U.S., with the top state markets anticipated to be Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. If approved, EVgo expects to complete the deployment of the new stalls by 2030.
The network expansion will complement the corridor charging being deployed through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. It will create localized, community charging stations with an emphasis on increased access and availability in areas that serve multifamily housing residents and others who rely primarily on public charging for their needs.
In alignment with the Biden-Harris administration’s Justice40 initiative, over 40% of stalls to be built pursuant to the financing, if approved, are anticipated to be in marginalized areas that have been overburdened by environmental impacts. EVgo also plans to leverage the 30C tax credit, which was expanded as part of the Inflation Reduction Act and supports the buildout of public EV charging infrastructure with a focus on driving investment to rural and lower-income communities.
“EVgo shares the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of increasing EV charging access in the communities that need it most,” says Badar Khan, CEO of EVgo. “This historic investment would meaningfully accelerate our network expansion to provide public charging to EV drivers across the United States.”
The proposed financing will be provided directly by the Federal Financing Bank as a loan, guaranteed by DOE and structured as a limited recourse project financing. EVgo will not need to raise any third-party equity — public or private — to reach financial closure and begin drawdown. The financing structure provides EVgo flexibility to continue scaling its network both within and outside of the project.
EVgo estimates that the project buildout will create more than 1,000 jobs, over 700 of which will be contracted resources engaged by the company encompassing roles in construction, engineering, development, and operations and maintenance.
While this conditional commitment indicates DOE’s intent to finance the project, the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental and financial conditions before DOE enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan.