$10 billion in government loans announced for EV companies – pv magazine USA

December 17, 2024
John Fitzgerald Weaver

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office (LPO) has finalized two loans totaling more than $10 billion to support the burgeoning electric vehicle market in the United States.

The first loan, a $1.25 billion package, was awarded to EVgo, a leading developer and operator of high-speed electric vehicle charging stations. This loan includes $1.05 billion in principal and $193 million in capitalized interest.

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The LPO states that “the loan guarantee will support EVgo’s deployment of approximately 7,500 chargers at roughly 1,100 charging stations across the United States.” These stations will be equipped with dual-port, high-power 350kW direct current (DC) chargers that can charge two vehicles simultaneously.

EVgo will incorporate its “dynamic power sharing” technology to efficiently distribute power among connected vehicles, reducing charging times. Furthermore, the Autocharge+ technology will allow pre-enrolled customers to initiate charging simply by plugging in their vehicles.

This project is expected to generate over 180 construction jobs and more than 550 maintenance and support positions.

The second loan, totaling $9.63 billion, has been awarded to a joint venture between Ford and South Korea’s SK, a global leader in battery production. The financing will support the construction of three facilities, each spanning four million square feet, dedicated to producing battery cells for electric vehicles. Two facilities will be located in Kentucky, with the third in Tennessee. Combined, they are projected to yield about 120 gigawatt-hours of battery cells annually.

To date, the Ford-SK venture, BlueOval SK, has invested $11 billion in these facilities. Production at one of the Kentucky plants is slated to begin in early 2025, followed by the Tennessee facility later that year.

On December 16, 2024, coinciding with the confirmation of the LPO loan, the BlueOval SK website for the Kentucky facility declared, “We’re go for launch!” The announcement was accompanied by news of a wage increase effective January 1, 2025, and the listing of 23 current job openings.

Recent developments have seen Ford and SK experiencing some delays with their factory constructions due to fluctuating EV sales in the U.S. Originally, both Kentucky facilities were set to begin operations simultaneously in early 2025, or possibly as early as late 2024. However, the opening of the second facility has been postponed to later in the year, pushing component production to 2026.

Furthermore, Ford appears to have cancelled plans for a cathode manufacturing facility in Quebec, also a joint  venture with SK. This decision followed multiple delays, attributed to a downturn in EV demand.

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