Shares of ChargePoint Holdings (Ticker: CHPT) and EVGO (EVGO) are down more than 3% in early trading Monday. Later in the day, ChargePoint stock was up more than 5% and EVgo stock was down about 1%.
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It was up 0.6%. Shares fell 13.2% and 11.7%, respectively, on Friday.
General Motors (GM) announced Thursday night that it would adopt the Tesla (TSLA) charging plug, causing all the volatility. Investors worry that the costs of adding Tesla’s plug-in to existing networks are high or that Tesla will have a monopoly on the electric vehicle charging business.
Uncertainty is never good, but both fears seem a little overblown. Shares of electric vehicle charging company Tritium DCFC (DCFC) fell 10.8% on Friday. They were up 4.2% in Monday’s trading, apparently because of the company He said he would support and add Tesla plug to the company’s existing network of charging stations.
“Tritium is committed to enabling a rapid transition to electric vehicles by providing our customers and EV drivers with fast and reliable charging options that can charge any model of electric vehicle,” Jane Hunter, CEO of Tritium, said in a press release. “As the electric vehicle industry aligns with global technology standards, Tritium is committed to supporting any connectors that are widely used in our major markets in Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific region.”
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The addition of the tritium plug isn’t a surprise. All players and equipment makers will do the same. ABB (ABBN.Sw Switzerland) makes equipment that EV chargers buy. It announced Friday that Tesla’s plug-in will be added as an option to its products.
The news, of course, is positive for Tesla, which operates as the largest chain of electric vehicle gas stations in the United States with nearly 17,000 available plugs. The deals with General Motors and Ford Motor(F) mean that more electric cars will pop into Tesla charging stations, but Tesla and other electric cars will also use other chargers, just as they do today.
Blink Charging (BLNK) stock fell 10.6% on Friday even though most of its operations aren’t in the fast charging business, Tesla does. Blink makes more so-called Level 2 chargers that provide about 20 miles to 30 miles of range per hour that people might see in an office building or train station.
Blink stock rose 12.2% on Monday, while Tesla stock rose 2.1% after gaining 4.1% on Friday. Blink stock is up a cent from where it closed before GM’s announcement.
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The market has added about $45 billion to Tesla’s market capitalization in the last two trading days, as investors understand that it is a chain of gas stations, not just an electric car maker. On the other side of the swing, electric vehicle charging stocks lost about $300 million in market value over those two days.
Something feels a little off about it.
Investors should remember that the total electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the United States is expected to grow four to fivefold by the end of the decade. At the end of 2022, the United States had approximately 37,000 fast chargers, of which Tesla is working about half, and about 121,000 slower chargers, according to Bloomberg BNEF.
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China ended 2022 with about 750,000 fast chargers and 1 million slower chargers. Western Europe ended 2022 with about 89,000 fast chargers and 540,000 slower chargers.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]