GM/ChargePoint Deal Shows The Complex Future Of EV Charging – CleanTechnica

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A new deal between GM and ChargePoint has many EV enthusiasts feeling a bit lost. I mean, didn’t GM recently make a lot of progress building stations with EVgo and host businesses like Pilot and Flying J? To get to the bottom of this, we have to first explore some history.

Some Background

When many people think about the automotive industry, we think of cars. Not only are there manufacturers, but suppliers that sell parts and assemblies to them. These supply chains go back all the way to mines, refining operations, and other raw material sources. Dealers have long occupied the bit of market between the manufacturers and the customers. But, the wider automotive ecosystem has always included another big player: fossil fuels.

While gas and diesel wouldn’t sell without cars and cars can’t drive without fuels, there’s always been a proverbial firewall between them. Automakers make cars. Dealers sell cars. Fossil fuel companies and gas station owners put fuel in the cars. With some exceptions, this arrangement worked out well because everyone did their part and did it pretty well.

Now, we’re seeing a realignment in the industry. Automakers thought that the EV era would be a continuation of the same arrangement. Automaker build electric cars, and then charging companies, some run by the same fossil fuel companies and gas station chains, would make sure they got a charge away from home as needed. Sure, some new players would enter the market building cars or charging cars, but none of the established players thought any fundamental changes to the industry would be needed.

New technologies often don’t slot into old arrangements so readily, though. The iPhone was a much better phone, but now smartphones do many things that the phones of yesteryear could never do. The relationship between carriers and phone manufacturers has changed a lot, with phone carriers getting a lot less control. Like it or not, the new players often end up with more of the marbles than the old guard.

Because there was almost no charging industry at all and dealers were disincentivized from selling EVs, Tesla had to take a completely different route to EVs. Instead of selling cars to dealers and then hoping that someone emerged from the woodworks to charge them, Tesla decided to be like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins and play all of the instruments in the band. This looked either silly or impossible to other players.

By 2022, nobody was laughing. To give non-Tesla EV charging a much-needed boost, Volkswagen was forced to spend billions on them after getting caught cheating on emissions. Not only did the company have to start a new charging company, Electrify America, but states also received funding that was used to build many other charging stations. Things were looking up for EV charging in 2018–2021, but when many of these machines started breaking down, things started getting bleak for all of the EV drivers who depended on them.

Facing dismayed EV owners who had felt like the rug had been pulled, laughing Tesla fans, and difficulty selling EVs to a public that was hearing about the woes of non-Tesla EV charging, automakers selling cars in North America had to rethink everything and fast. First Ford (after the CEO tried taking a road trip in an electric F-150 Lightning) struck a deal to get access to the Tesla network. Then, GM and other automakers followed up.

At this point, Tesla superfans and investors thought the whole problem would be solved by Tesla. After all, if you’re invested (emotionally and/or financially) in a company and it gets to become a monopoly, that’s great for the company. With access to Superchargers opening up, everyone else is doomed, right?

As you might expect, automakers weren’t happy with the idea of depending on Tesla for everything. If automakers needed to invest in EV charging, they wanted to have a say in how the charging happens and would want an opportunity to maybe get some of that investment back. So, partnerships started to develop. iONNA is a great example, with seven automakers partnering to start a company like Electrify America, but better. GM also teamed up with EVgo and the Pilot/Flying J truck stop chain. Mercedes-Benz partnered with ChargePoint and Buc-ee’s travel centers. A number of other deals have been struck, but going through them all would require another article.

GM’s Latest Partnership

With all of this background out of the way, GM’s announced partnership with ChargePoint makes a lot more sense. No, the company isn’t cheating on EVgo, nor is it cheating on iONNA. Like other companies, investment is going through multiple channels to see what works out well and hopefully have a diverse set of successful partnerships in the end. EV charging, especially if companies want to be able to compete as Chinese automakers ramp up globally, needs to be an “all hands on deck” effort.

This time, GM is partnering with ChargePoint to install hundreds of the latest stations at a variety of “strategic locations” (read: “we’re still picking them out”) around the United States. Each one will be capable of not only charging CCS and NACS vehicles via Omni Port technology, but they’ll also be able to provide up to 500 kilowatts of power.

“Continuing to provide customers with better charging options helps to remove barriers to EV adoption and improve the ownership experience. Today, GM drivers have access to hundreds of thousands of places to charge and we are proud that this collaboration with ChargePoint adds even more reliable, accessible and convenient charging experiences,” said Wade Sheffer, GM Energy vice president. “With ultra-fast charging, Omni Port technology and excellent customers experiences, this collaboration should be another reason why EV drivers and the EV-curious should be excited.”

Final Thoughts

More charging stations, especially using ChargePoint’s latest hardware, is a good thing for all EV drivers, including Tesla owners who have NACS capability and can charge at non-Tesla stations. But the bigger story is that the simple days are not coming back. A complex web of partnerships, funding from various sources, different manufacturers, and different networks is going to keep developing as everyone scrambles to open more charging stations for their own reasons.

Featured image by ChargePoint.