GM's building its own EV charger network — 40,000 chargers, at dealerships

Ultium EV charger in Michigan
General Motors

GM is building an EV-charging network in North America.
The automaker is partnering with startup FLO to install the Level 2 chargers.
Dealers will play a key role in deciding where the plugs will be located.

General Motors is getting started on its “Ultium Charge 360” charging network in North America, taking a page from Tesla’s Supercharger network playbook.

The difference for GM is that its chargers are not proprietary and will be developed and installed via a partnership with its dealers and FLO charging to set up Level 2 EV charging stations all over the U.S. and Canada. The ultimate goal is to install some 40,000 chargers for EV drivers to access more easily.

“We’re talking about a significant expansion of charging infrastructure,” Hoss Hassani, GM’s vice president of EV ecosystems, said on a call with reporters. “We’ve got thousands of chargers in the pipeline and we expect in the weeks and months ahead we will continue to see more of these chargers installed.”

As part of GM’s efforts to encourage EV adoption — vital for an automaker that’s pledged to sunset gas cars — the Detroit giant announced last year it would be working together with dealers to install more charging stations in high-need areas. Since then, GM said, nearly 1,000 dealers have enrolled in the program, which started among Chevrolet dealers earlier this year.

That doesn’t just mean chargers at dealerships. Dealers are helping GM and FLO identify areas in their community where the ability to plug in would be most beneficial.

FLO is a charging upstart with an assembly factory in suburban Detroit. Its Level 2 chargers will boast 19.2 kilowatts of power, nearly triple the speed of the average Level 2 chargers on the roads today, Hassani said.

The first dealer to participate in the program is in the rural Wisconsin community of Marshfield. The town has “as many cows as we do people,” said Wheeler Chevrolet-GMC owner Mary Jo Wheeler, and is emblematic of the communities GM is hoping to reach with this charging progr

According to Hassani, about 90% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a GM dealership. That’s why the automaker decided to bring its dealers in on this program, he said.

The dealer-led charging network is just the latest effort in GM’s push to make EV buying and driving more seamless. Also in partnership with its dealer network, GM this year opened its EV Live call center, where potential and current EV drivers can ask experts questions about the nuances of these technology-packed vehicles.