EVgo (EVGO.US) surges 61% on $1.1B loan commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy

Intelligent Finance learned that EVgo Inc. (EVGO.US), an electric vehicle charging company, has received a conditional loan guarantee of up to $1.05 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its network; the news sent the company's stock soaring 60.81% on Thursday, its biggest gain in more than three years. EVgo said in a statement on Thursday that the financing would allow it to build about 7,500 fast-charging stations in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Illinois.

The Biden administration is pushing to build a national EV charging network of more than 500,000 stations by 2030; low-cost financing for charging infrastructure across the U.S. is seen as key to helping boost EV adoption. Incentives will also be aimed at reducing installation costs for operators, as charging plugs are much more expensive in the U.S. than elsewhere, according to reports.

Earlier on Thursday, Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the company to "overweight" from "neutral", saying companies like EVgo that own and operate their own charging infrastructure will outperform peers. EVgo operates nearly 1,000 fast-charging stations across the U.S. and recently partnered with General Motors Co. (GM.US) to install another 400 charging stations.