Wednesday, September 14, President Joe Biden used a visit to the Detroit Auto Show to announce the release of the first $900 million in funding for the buildout of a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The funding, part of $7.5 billion in the Infrastructure bill to build out a network of 500,000 charging stations, would go to 35 stations to build charging networks along 53,000 miles of highways.
The $7.5 billion EV charging package is broken down into two big chunks: $5 billion for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program for states to build out charging infrastructure along highway corridors, and $2.5 billion for local grants to support community and corridor charging, improve local air quality, and increase EV charging access for rural and underserved communities.
Wednesday, electric vehicle charging stocks were up strongly but didn’t soar on the news. For the day ChartPoint Holdings (CHPT), for example, was up 3.65%. EVgo (EVGO) climbed 2.09%.
Thursday, the sector is moving up more rapidly with ChargePoint up 8.60% and EVgo up 12.16% as of 2:30 p.m. New York time.
While $900 million is a good chunk of cash, in my household at least, the funding release emphasizes the huge amount of funding still required. The funding so far–that $7.5 billion plus more cash in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022–isn’t enough to reach the Biden administration’s goal of 500,000 chargers.
Which in turn emphasizes the size of the opportunity in front of charging companies. “Globally you’re looking at needing between 120 to 150 million chargers by 2030. Really this is the beginning of the process in this industry,” Blink Charging CEO Michael Farkas told Yahoo Finance in an interview earlier this summer.
EVgo is a member of my Volatility and Millennial portfolios on my subscription JubakAM.com site. In the former, the stock is down 8.19% since May 19, 2021. In the Millennial Portfolio the stock is down 12.40% since July 19, 2021.
