DETROIT — General engines CEO Mary Barra said a charging deal with Tesla announced Thursday will save the automaker up to $400 million on a planned investment in building out EV charging in the US and Canada.
GM said in October 2021 that it planned to spend $750 million on electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the two countries. That includes home, workplace and public charging in the US and Canada, GM said at the time.
“We think we can save up to $400 million in the original three-quarters of a billion dollars we spent on this because we were able to do it faster and more effectively,” Barra said in an interview with CNBC’s Phil LeBeau Thursday about “Money Fast.” “We’re really looking at ways we can be more capital efficient going forward.”
Barra said in response to a question about licensing other Tesla technologies that the Detroit automaker “will always look for ways to be more capital efficient” and “if there are other opportunities to partner, we will be. very open to them.”
Elon Musk and Mary Barra
Getty Images; NYSE
The deal between GM and Tesla will give GM EV owners access to more than 12,000 of Tesla’s fast chargers, starting next year, using an adapter. It also includes GM adopting Tesla’s charging port instead of a current industry standard.
The GM deal follows crosstown rival Ford Motor announcing a similar deal with Elon Musk’s automaker. The CEOs of both Detroit automakers announced the deals along with Musk on Twitter.
Wall Street analysts hailed the Tesla-Ford deal as a “win-win” when that deal was announced last month.
Both GM and Tesla shares rose more than 3% during extended trading on Thursday.
