LG and GM Partnership Talks Crumble, EV Charging Stations Still Unprofitable

A fourth US battery plant for GM won’t happen with LG, and Shell’s purchase of Volta exposes a problem with EV charging stations.

News for electric car owners and hopefuls is having a tough week. For those who are hopeful, the news of GM and LG partnering for a plant in the US has fallen apart, according to Electrek. On the plus sid , GM is still committed to a 4th battery plant in the US, whether it is with LG or not.

LG and GM have already partnered to create Ultium Cells, with three existing locations that make batteries for the current crop of GM’s electric cars. Future models will be leaning heavier on LG for those all important batteries. At current, GM is seeking options.

From LG’s side, they already have existing partnerships with Honda (which already has GM ties), and Stellantis, which owns some former GM brands. However, the rate at which LG is expanding, along with economic uncertainty has led to a stall in negotiations.

Charging stations are not making money… yet.

Shell oil just bought the EV charging company Volta. No big deal, right? BP has BP Pulse, which is kinda the same… or is it? Turns out it’s not. Because Shell’s purchase of Volta exposed the fact that the charging port company has not been profitable, at all.

According to MotorTrend, Shell picked up Volta for $169 million. That’s a 91 percent loss over just 1.5 years. And loses happen when you’re not making profit. Unfortunately, even with incentives tacked on, charging stations are struggling to take off. That’s a pretty significant blow to EV growth, not only from an infrastructure standpoint, but also an acceptance standpoint, too.

Volta isn’t alone. Shell’s acquisition of Volta brought attention to other charge station companies like EVgo, ChargePoint and others. They have all seen sliding shares since 2020, and last week suffered even sharper losses, though recovered slightly.

There’s also the fact that EV charging stations might just end up being a bit more costly to utilize in the future. There’s nominal charges to use a fast-charger right now, but if profitability is at stake, you can probably expect the cost to juice up a battery to rise very quickly.

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Photos courtesy of Electrek, MotorTrend