#79: EVgo deploys Tesla Superchargers

EVgo to deploy Supercharger this year, Trump’s EV policy paradox

Author

Steve Taylor
August 16, 2026

The Business and Policy of Charging Infrastructure

The big stories

  • EVgo will deploy branded Tesla Superchargers across the US

  • Trump industry policy helps EVs

  • Meet us at Climate Week NYC at the end of September

Steve

Industry News

EVgo, the third-largest U.S. charging network, announced it will deploy “EVgo Superchargers” using Tesla V4 hardware across several metro markets.

Construction begins this fall, with sites opening in the second half of 2026. The stations will offer up to 500 kW and support both NACS and CCS vehicles. Each location will include up to 20 stalls.

These EVgo Supercharger sites will also appear in Tesla’s in-car navigation and Trip Planner.

EVgo is the largest CPO to join Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program, following smaller operators like Suncoast Charging and, more recently, Francis Energy.

Steve’s take

The most important part of EVgo’s plan is that EVgo stations will now appear in Tesla’s in-car navigation.

Tesla spent more than a decade building reliable hardware, software, and a charging network that its drivers trust. However, Tesla’s most valuable asset is its ability to route millions of drivers directly to a charger. Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program has turned its in-car navigation into one of the most valuable distribution channels for EV charging in the U.S..

Utilization isn’t just about building charging stations in the right locations. It’s also about ensuring drivers are able to find and trust those stations. As more charging decisions happen through in-car navigation, the companies controlling that routing will have increasing influence over which networks get used.

Power and Policy

President Trump has spent much of his second term dismantling federal policies designed to accelerate electric vehicle adoption. But an interesting contradiction is emerging: some of the Administration’s biggest industrial and national-security initiatives could end up strengthening the domestic EV industry.

As POLITICO reports, the Administration has eliminated the $7,500 consumer EV tax credit, reconsidered Biden-era vehicle emissions standards and moved to slow federal EV charging infrastructure funding. At the same time, however, Trump is pouring billions of federal dollars into the domestic critical-minerals and battery supply chain.

The latest example came last week, when Trump announced $3 billion for domestic mineral projects, including graphite, magnets and silicon anode materials. The Administration is framing these investments primarily around national security, reducing dependence on China, strengthening the defense industrial base and supporting technologies such as AI and data centers.

But there is a catch: many of the materials needed for missiles, drones and data centers are also essential to EV batteries and motors.

And the EV market is big enough that it may ultimately provide the commercial scale necessary to make Trump's domestic mineral strategy work. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence estimates that EVs account for roughly 70% of global lithium demand, compared with about 20% for battery energy storage, while military demand remains considerably smaller.

That means a federal strategy designed around defense and China could indirectly build a stronger American EV supply chain.

The Administration is already backing several projects with clear EV applications. The U.S. Export-Import Bank is offering $25M to Westwater Resources for a graphite-processing facility in Alabama. The Pentagon awarded $1.4B to Sila Nanotechnologies to expand production of silicon anode material in Washington state. The Administration also announced $150M for Niron Magnetics to manufacture rare-earth-free magnets in Minnesota.

Trump has gone even further elsewhere in the supply chain. His Administration took an equity stake in Lithium Americas, developer of Nevada's massive Thacker Pass lithium project, which is drawing on a previously approved $2.3B federal loan. The Administration has also created the $12B Project Vault, a commercial critical-minerals stockpile that automakers could access during supply disruptions.

Rob’s take

The emerging Trump EV policy is therefore more complicated than simply "anti-EV." Downstream, the Administration is pulling back. Upstream, it is investing.  Federal subsidies intended to encourage consumers to buy EVs and communities to build charging infrastructure are being reduced or constrained. But federal support for the domestic mines, minerals, batteries and manufacturing capacity needed to produce EVs is expanding—just under the banners of national security, China competition and industrial policy rather than climate change.

For the EV charging industry, that distinction matters. Washington may no longer view EV adoption itself as a federal policy objective, but the Administration increasingly views the underlying battery and mineral supply chain as strategically important.

The result could be a very different federal EV policy model: less government support for buying and charging EVs, but potentially billions of dollars supporting the American industrial base that builds them.  That may not be the EV policy the industry expected from the Trump Administration. But as one graphite executive told POLITICO, it could prove to be a “serendipitous benefit.”

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⚡️Steve and Rob

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