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But it's a delicate dance for the companies responsible for those chargers. Overheating and degradation has plagued some models over the last decade, and even Tesla has reduced the charging speed on some of its cars based on battery health and how often fast charging was used.
"The majority can't take more than a 50 kW per hour charging, and the charge rate doesn't stay at that and declines even more as the battery heats up," said Ivo Steklac, chief operations and technology officer of EVgo, one of the predominant electric vehicle charging companies in the U.S. "In order to manage this intelligently, we didn't think it was wise to dedicate this level of charger to vehicles when the majority of them can't take it."
With EV technology evolving at such a rapid clip, EVgo is grappling to make sure its charging stations are outfitted to handle the newest and most powerful electric cars. The company has been pouring resources into figuring out not only where and how many chargers should be placed across the country, but also issues that users might face when pulling up to a station to get some juice for their car. In April it opened a 4,000 square-foot Innovation Lab in El Segundo.
Engineers there are trying to work out a number of hardware, software and logistics problems — some of which exist now, and some that might become apparent later, as batteries get bigger and vehicles can charge more quickly to eventually replace the lines at gas stations.
EVgo, which went public July 2 after an SPAC merger with Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I Acquisition Corp. now has more than 800 chargers dotted across the U.S. as the Biden administration tries to jumpstart an electric vehicle revolution. But the market share remains small as Americans groan about range and access to car chargers.
"We created this lab to do a number of tests, from electric to physical and mechanical," said Steklac. "EV manufacturers are placing their charging ports in all sorts of places on the cars so they can reduce the length of wiring for these very high-powered cables."
It follows, then, that one of EVgo's tests at the lab includes a cable reach analysis to figure out not only an acceptable length for a charging cable, but also a manageable weight for not only the average driver, but shorter people or those with disabilities. EVgo wants to banish problems like pulling up to a gas pump when the car's fuel door is on the opposite side.
EVgo's lab engineers are also busy considering EV charging times. When the company was first installing chargers a decade ago, a charging rate of 50 kilowatts per hour was considered more than sufficient for drivers. Today's Tesla's Superchargers have a 120 kWh rate, while Volkswagen-owned Electrify America is building stations with 350 kWh-capable chargers. But only a few EVs on sale now can handle that charge rate, so Steklac said its chargers have to allow for significant disparities between vehicles.
Similarly, EVgo is looking at how extensive fast charging affects the longevity of an EV's battery pack.
"The majority (of models) can't take more than a 50 kW per hour charging, and the charge rate doesn't stay at that and declines even more as the battery heats up," Steklac said. "In order to manage this intelligently, we didn't think it was wise to dedicate this level of charger to vehicles when the majority of them can't take it."
Steklac said designing the next generation of chargers to go with the next generation of electric vehicles is becoming important as the market becomes less of a niche. EVgo's CEO Cathy Zoi said during the company's Wall Street debut that the EV market in the United States is estimated to grow from just over 1% share of the passenger car segment in 2020 to more than 10% by 2030, just before state mandates like California's go into effect for new vehicle sales.
Even without the Biden administration's 500,000 EV charger pledge, Steklac believes there needs to be 50,000 stations just to support the existing market. And that doesn't even include commercial vehicles, ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft or buses and postal delivery vans that are high on the White House's list to electrify.
EVgo's automaker partnerships currently extend to General Motors and Nissan, both of which sell EVs in the U.S., and are about to introduce new, longer-range models. The charging company touts its network as the largest for fast chargers in the country, with 800 stations across 34 states.
In California, Steklac said electric car hotbeds Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay areas are well-served, but acknowledges there are gaps in the infrastructure. He said the innovation lab uses an algorithm and purchase data to determine where EV owners live to determine where to put new charging stations.
Shopping and entertainment centers are EVgo's target for fast charging hubs right now. Kroger and Whole Foods are among its grocery store partners, too.
"The average American goes to the grocery store twice a week and spends 30 to 45 minutes there," Steklac said. "We target those, we target pharmacies, fast casual restaurants where you spend an hour or less. These include malls and parking garages, particularly in urban areas."
Steklac said the company is also talking with regional transit agencies, as well as Amtrak where there are EVgo charging stations at Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, because he said the mentality is still to "partner with anyone and everyone" in this still-early EV era.
Because while automakers and analysts expect home stations to be the way most EV owners will charge their vehicles in the long term, Steklac said that won't be the solution for every household and won't allow for the electrification of vehicles as quickly as lawmakers want. That's why the teams at the Innovation Lab have plenty of work to do over the next decade.
"Public charging is there to augment if you have home charging, but it's there to be a reliable source if you don't," Steklac said.
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Two months after a Canoo co-founder and CEO resigned, the Torrance-based company is looking to bounce back with plans to build an Oklahoma manufacturing plant and clinching a European contract for its electric vans.
Chairman and newly instated CEO Tony Aquila announced Thursday at Canoo's "investors day" that the company has secured a contract manufacturer in the Netherlands to begin assembly of the first 1,000 Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle vans in late 2022.
Canoo also announced plans to build a plant in Pryor, Oklahoma where its vehicles will be assembled and eventually exported. It's targeting 15,000 units in 2023. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt was in attendance at the event, which was held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
"Let me tell you, Oklahoma is a step above Texas," Stitt joked while on stage with Aquila, who has a ranch in Texas.
The plant will be on 400 acres and about 45 minutes from Tulsa and four hours from Canoo's executive hub in Texas. The company received a $300 million incentive package from the state of Oklahoma.
A working prototype of the company's customizable electric vehicle platform was driven onto the stage before the speakers appeared. Its frame will underpin Canoo's van and pickup, allowing them to share most of the same components, despite having different bodies.
The basic model of the company's Lifestyle Van starts at less than $35,000 and rises to nearly $50,000, before EV incentives.
Much like Manhattan Beach-based Fisker's agreement with Magna Steyr in Austria, Canoo is looking to its contract partner not only to produce its cars, but guide them on the manufacturing process as well.
Its Dutch partner VDL Nedcar in Born operates in a plant built in 1967 that was once owned by Volvo and then Mitsubishi Motors. Since the manufacturing's parent company VDL Groep took over the facility in 2012, the plant has signed a deal with BMW Group to produce various BMW and Mini models. That agreement is set to expire in 2024.
"Nedcar can build as many as 100,000 vehicles for Canoo if needed,'' Aquila said, but added that the partnership is primarily to get the first deliveries fulfilled and learn the manufacturing processes needed for the Oklahoma factory.
Canoo also has plans to sell its vehicles in Europe, where electrification has been more broadly embraced, thanks to mandates and incentives in countries such as Norway and Germany. Aquila said the van could be available in some European countries shortly after the first Nedcar-built models are produced, and that vehicles would eventually be exported from the United States facility.
Canoo will face stiff competition from Ford. The automaker unveiled the F-150 Lightning pickup truck, an electric version of the best-selling vehicle in the country, last month. Prices for it are expected to start at about $41,000.
Like Fisker, Canoo hopes that after-sales parts, constant over-the-air software updates to keep vehicles fresh for second or third owners, and resales will generate significant revenue.
Canoo has gone through a series of changes since it went public last year in a $2.4 billion SPAC deal. A 2020 agreement with Hyundai Motor Group to cooperate on vehicles based on Canoo's platform was effectively declared dead in March, with Aquila telling investors it would get out of the contract engineering business and primarily focus on products for commercial users.
Aquila brought in a raft of new executives, including some former Daimler and Mercedes-Benz USA officials, and Peter Savagian, who worked on the General Motors EV1 project in the 1990s. But the sudden leadership and business plan changes prompted the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission to open an investigation into Canoo, which Aquila revealed a month ago.
Rumors of a collaboration with Apple also came to nothing. Canoo co-founder and former CEO Ulrich Kranz, previously of BMW and Gardena-based Faraday Future, took a job at the Cupertino tech giant this month to shore up the car project.
Aquila acknowledged the consolidation that will eventually occur with EV startups as the market gets saturated with plug-in vehicles. He hopes the new team that's been assembled will keep the company nimble and efficient.
"Consolidation is going to happen, he said. "I like to buy companies but I don't like to be bought."
Canoo shares were down Thursday by 2.65% to close at $9.93.
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Faraday Future Says Its First Car Will Go Into Production Next Summer In the Central Valley
After a string of funding problems that have delayed the release of its first car, Faraday Future announced Tuesday that production would start by July 2022 at an assembly plant in Central California.
Irvine-based architecture firm Ware Malcomb is set to finalize the building's design and engineering for an automobile plant in Hanford, California. Faraday says the 1.1-million square-foot building can produce 10,000 vehicles per year when it's up and running.
Faraday Future, which announced a $3.4 billion SPAC merger in January with Property Solutions Acquisition Corp (PSAC), said last March a $100 million debt financing would allow it to begin production on the FF91 electric vehicle in Hanford. Until now, it hasn't delivered on its production promises for the consistently delayed luxury EV.
"FF has already completed significant investment at our Hanford manufacturing facility, and with the additional funding from our merger with PSAC, we anticipate that the plant will be up and running in the near future," CEO Carsten Breitfeld said in the announcement.
Faraday Future's Facility in Hanford, California
The luxury FF91 SUV is set to compete with vehicles like the Tesla Model X. Faraday promised the FF91 would go from 0-60 mph in 2.4 seconds, while it featured a tech-heavy interior. Customers were asked to put down $5,000 for a refundable deposit for the car that most recently was supposed to begin production at the end of 2020.
The Gardena-based startup will also work with Tesla manufacturing partner Myoung Shin to make more vehicles in South Korea, including models other than its 1,050-horsepower debut electric car. Faraday said it secured a former General Motors plant there for additional production capacity, although it didn't specify on production capacity.
The company was founded in 2014 and showed a high-performance electric supercar at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But the following year, it unveiled the more mainstream FF91.
It leased the Hanford facility in 2017 after canceling plans to build a $1 billion plant near Las Vegas, even though construction had already started. But money problems had beset Faraday Future since 2016 and continued to delay the start of production for the FF91 and other models were dropped from its plans. The company furloughed hundreds of workers in 2018 and sold its Gardena headquarters in 2019 to raise cash.
Its co-founder and former CEO, Jia Yueting, was also caught in a financial scandal. His assets in China were frozen and he moved to California permanently, where he spent millions on homes and other purchases. Jia filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States in 2019.
The controversy with Jia also resulted in then-chief technology officer Ulrich Kranz and chief financial officer Stefan Krause to leave the company. Kranz and Krause later founded Torrance-based Canoo Inc. (Kranz recently left Canoo for Apple).
Faraday Future didn't elaborate on how many additional vehicles it hopes to produce in South Korea or how many additional markets it plans to enter, but the company said it's brought on key people to ramp-up assembly. In March, the company hired a former Jaguar Land Rover executive to establish operations in China.
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