ChargePoint and LG Parter for Better EV Charging
On Tuesday,
and
Electronics announced a partnership to make EV chargers easier to install and manage at the workplace and home.
For starters, LG is adopting ChargePoint’s charger-management software for its commercial charging solutions. The brains inside an LG charger at a business or worksite, managing payments and utilization, will come from ChargePoint.
Down the road, LG and ChargePoint will look to integrate ChargePoint chargers into LG’s smart home solutions. LG sells a lot of appliances, including battery-storage systems, that can be managed through an app.
LG appliances are also specked into many homes built by home builders making it possible, eventually, for buyers to add faster EV charging into their new home.
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An EV can be plugged into a 120-volt wall socket at home or a business. The charging is slow, however, with each hour providing only three to five miles of driving range. A dedicated EV-charging plug with the required hardware and software can increase that range to roughly 25 or 30 miles.
More EV-charging options can only help EV sales. A June study by McKinsey found that 29% of EV skeptics—buyers not looking to go electric with their next car purchase—cite range anxiety, or the fear of running out of power with nowhere to charge. Another 28% cite an inability to charge an EV at their home.
There are about 175,000 public EV-charging ports in the U.S., while China has about 2.7 million public ports. ChargePoint manages one of the largest networks of chargers, with more than 306,000 plugs in the U.S. and Europe. (Those aren’t all the fastest-charging ports. Tesla manages the largest network of fast chargers.)
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The partnership means more software revenue for ChargePoint. It also adds more distribution. LG sells its charging solutions for businesses and homes.
ChargePoint stock was up 2.4% in premarket trading at $1.69 a share, while
and
futures were flat and up 0.1%, respectively.
Coming into Tuesday’s trading, ChargePoint shares were down about 29% year to date. Slowing EV sales growth has weighed on investor sentiment. Sales of all-electric cars grew about 3% year over year in the first quarter of 2024, down from 46% growth for all of 2023.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
