The full spectrum of the US’s electric vehicle (EV) value chain received a boost in July thanks to a string of investment announcements by foreign firms. 

On July 26, a group of seven major automakers announced they were working together to install 30,000 high-powered charge points across North America – the deployment will start in 2024. The group consists of European firms Stellantis, BMW group and Mercedes-Benz; South Korea’s Kia and Hyundai; Japan’s Honda and the US’s General Motors (GM). 

The group plans to invest $1bn in this network of charge points, which will use a combined charging system so as to be accessible to all EVs. “GM’s commitment to an all-electric future is focused not only on delivering EVs that our customers love, but investing in charging and working across the industry to make it more accessible,” said GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, in a statement on the same day. 

The plan goes someway in making the US’s roads more EV-friendly. According to a recent survey by automotive services firm Cox Automotive, a third of US respondents cited insufficient charging stations as the top reason they would not buy an EV.

The Biden administration has set a target of installing 500,000 chargers by 2030 — an almost four-fold increase from current levels. The mega-project also goes someway in lifting the automakers’ profile within the US EV industry — while they represent around half of overall vehicle sales in the US, they have a small share of the EV market dominated by Tesla.

Stellantis is behind one of the country’s recent investment milestones further up the EV value chain. On July 24, the Netherlands-headquartered group and South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI announced plans to open a second US gigafactory. That is in addition to the pair’s first gigafactory in the country, which is slated to open in Kokomo, in the state of Indiana, in the first quarter of 2025. Full details of the second battery plant are yet to be announced, including the location which is still to be decided. However Stellantis has confirmed it will have an initial production capacity of 34 gigawatt-hours and a targeted production start date of 2027.

When it comes to EV manufacturing, Asia-headquartered groups have made some of the biggest pledges. On July 12, Kia announced it will invest more than $200m to expand its West Point assembly plant in Georgia to allow for the assembly of EVs. The project will create 200 new jobs and will equip the plant to manufacture Kia’s new electric model, the EV9. Meanwhile in Kentucky, Japanese-owned automotive supplier Hitachi Astemo Americas announced on July 12 it is injecting $153m into its plant in Madison County to meet increased demand from the EV industry.