EVgo Inc.

Good day and welcome to the EVgo fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings call. Today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Heather Davis, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Hi everyone and welcome to EVgo's fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings call. My name is Heather Davis and I am the Head of Investor Relations at EVgo. Joining me on today's call are Kathy Zoe, EVGO's Chief Executive Officer, and Olga Shevrenkova, the company's Chief Financial Officer. Jonathan Levy, EVGO's Chief Commercial Officer, will join us for the Q&A portion of the call. Today, we will be discussing EVGO's financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022 and initial outlook for 2023-2022. followed by a Q&A session. Today's call is being webcast and can be accessed on the investor section of our website at investors.evgo.com. The call will be archived and available there along with the company's earnings release and investor presentation after the conclusion of this call. During the call, management will be making forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including expectations about future performance. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are detailed in our SEC filings, including in the risk factor section of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K. The company's SEC filings are available on the investor section of our website. These forward-looking statements apply as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements after the call. Also, please note that we will be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call. Information about these non-GAAP measures including a reconciliation to the corresponding gap measures, can be found in the earnings materials available on the investor section of our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Kathy Azoy, EVGO's CEO.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining today. EVGO achieved record revenue in 2022, reflecting the continued growth of our ultra-fast DC charging network, our Blue Ribbon Partnerships, and our industry-leading technology offerings. In our first full year as a public company, revenue and adjusted EBITDA were at the high end of our guidance range. This accomplishment is something I'd like to thank the entire EVGO team for. We look forward to continuing to grow and deliver in 2023. On today's call, I'll focus on a few themes from the year that we see as the building blocks to EVGO's long-term opportunities. One, growth. Two, execution. and three, innovation. Starting with growth, a foundational element to the EVgo investment story. When we look back, we may view 2022 as a pivotal turning point in the electrification of America's transportation sector. Everywhere you look, whether it's sales trends, OEM investments, government initiatives, or even Super Bowl ads on TV, we're seeing a fundamental shift in our country's attitude toward electric vehicles. If you've listened to one of our calls before, you know how passionate I am about the electrification of transportation in the US. We see data point after data point that confirms the market is rapidly accelerating. In 2022, there were more than 800,000 fully electric vehicles sold in the US, an increase of over 70% from 2021, according to Cox Automotive. Battery electric vehicle sales accounted for nearly 6% of all vehicles sold, up from 3% in 2021. And this growth occurred despite an overall declining market with U.S. auto sales overall falling by 8% in 2022. This growth is beginning to accelerate, too. BEV sales increased by 72% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. And most forecasts expect the U.S. to easily eclipse the million battery electric vehicles sold figure in 2023, an exciting milestone. And EV sales should only continue to grow. as automakers are set to introduce dozens of new models by the end of 2024, including a number of more affordable options, as well as models with longer ranges and faster charging rates. A Reuters estimate last quarter noted that world's top automakers are planning to spend approximately $1.2 trillion through 2030 to develop and produce millions of EVs, EV batteries, and the raw materials used in their production. This estimate is 2x what Reuters had previously calculated just a year earlier. This is an astonishing once-in-a-lifetime type of investment, and we believe EV though will be positioned to capture outsized throughput growth on our network as more and more cars hit the road. Notably, California, our top market, continues to lead the way. The state announced that 19% of all new cars sold in California were EVs, compared to the 6% for the entire country. California's leading position is reflected in our own growth, with kilowatt-hour throughput continuing to rise rapidly across our charging network here. We're also seeing strong growth in many other markets, including Florida, Texas, Washington, and New York. Another exciting aspect of all this growth is how EVs are drawing younger consumers into the fold, who are both environmentally conscious and also tech-savvy, ideal EVgo customers. An IHS market survey indicated that through the first nine months of 2022, 44% of all EV buyers were under 45, a substantial increase from the 35% of buyers from this age group for all new vehicles purchased over the same period. Given these trends, it's no wonder that virtually every automaker is investing in new EV models, which will help them attract loyal consumers for their brands for decades to come. And it's also why we've invested so heavily in building out the best and most reliable fast charging network. We believe this growth, fueled by technology-enabled innovation, will continue to be our focus in 2023 and beyond. And to build and operate the best network in the U.S. and ensure both environmental and financial sustainability, we invest only in charging solutions that we expect to deliver our targeted financial returns. We believe this approach will deliver substantial growth and value for our investors as EV adoption continues to accelerate across the U.S. The themes of growth and execution were consistent across our results in 2022. EVGO increased stalls in operation or under construction to over 2,800 at the end of the year, growing 47%. For the full year 2022, we energized nearly 670 new stalls on our network, a 131% increase from 2021. We delivered nearly $55 million in revenue for the year at the high end of our guidance, representing year-over-year revenue growth of 146%. Full year network throughput was 44.6 gigawatt hours, an increase of 69% from 2021. We're seeing rapid growth well beyond California. with utilization topping 10% in markets such as Austin, Las Vegas, and West Palm Beach. In 2022, we continue to expand EVgo's suite of innovative business partnerships, where we work with automakers, retailers, and fleet operators to develop new solutions and products to meet evolving needs in this young sector. General Motors remains one of our most important partners, with GM and EVgo now working together on urban public charging, charging on highway corridors, workplace charging, fleet solutions, and in tech-enabled services. EVgo has made tremendous progress on the EVgo-owned urban charging program set to build 3,250 high-powered DC fast charging cells over the next few years. That partnership has now deployed ultra-fast 350-kilowatt charging stations on EVgo's network in 35 metropolitan markets across 22 states. Building on this success, EVGO continued to deepen our relationship with GM by launching a collaboration with GM and pilot companies, agreeing to deploy up to 2,000 charging cells at around 500 pilot and flying J locations across the U.S. With 78% of the continental U.S. interstate system within 10 miles of a pilot or flying J, we see incredible potential for this project, which is part of the EVGO Xtend business. These future stations are also well aligned with the priorities of the federal government's National Electric Vehicle Initiative, or NEVI, program, deploying $5 billion to build out a nationwide charging network, starting with interstate corridor sites. I'll share more on NEVI later. Blue Chip OEM partnerships are a key pillar of our retail growth strategy. And 2022 was a banner year for EVgo, as we secured multiple new agreements with leading automakers for EVgo inside integration, charging credit programs, and more. In addition to our foundational partnerships with GM and Nissan, EVgo entered into a commercial agreement with Subaru to provide drivers of the 2023 Solterra EV SUV with the option to receive a $400 charging credit on the EVgo public fast charging network. EVgo also announced a commercial agreement with Toyota to provide drivers of the new Toyota BZ4X battery electric SUV with one year of complimentary charging on EVgo's nationwide network. Continuing our partnership with GM, EVgo commenced a commercial agreement to offer drivers of the 2023 Cadillac Lirik the option of two years of unlimited public pass charging on our network. In December, we announced the launch of a new B2C charging discount program for rideshare drivers on the Lyft platform. This expansion of EVgo and Lyft collaboration demonstrates our shared commitment to achieving mass EV adoption and increases access to convenient fast charging infrastructure for rideshare drivers. This also applies to our Uber partnership, which continued to grow in 2022. with new in-app technical and marketing collaborations helping drive increased throughput on EVgo's network. On the fleet side, EVgo continues to work with large operators and delivery fleets as they undertake their first project to get to know the EV space. We signed a new behind-the-fence agreement with a large national food and beverage company in the fourth quarter, through which EVgo will install and manage private charging stalls for the company's fleets. Earlier in 2022, we signed an agreement with MHX Solutions, representing our first EVgo Optima deployment for a Class 8 truck fleet. And EVgo has continued to expand our fleet business, with the January 2023 signing of a significant new agreement with an existing autonomous vehicle partner. The hubs business at EVgo was a core part of our fleet strategy. with sustained interest from our existing AV partners and other fleets needing access to dedicated charging away from their own depots. While it's still early days, we're excited to have EVgo's fleet business grow alongside the EV investment fleet operators are making as more vehicles become available to them. This growth is a testament to the team at EVgo. We've been delivering on EVgo's growth plans and our partners' growth plans since we attract and retain employees who want to work for a mission-driven company. Similarly, our relationships with suppliers have enabled us to have charging equipment available even with disruptions other companies have seen in their supply chains. EVgo's slate of blue ribbon partnerships is closely related to our commitment to creation of a first-class driver experience. That starts with reliability and continuous improvement of the EVgo network. As a leader in public charging since 2010, We continually assess our network and determine where investments can help meet and exceed our customers' expectations for ultra-fast charging today and in the coming years. Under our comprehensive maintenance and reliability program, which we formally launched as EVGo Renew, we upgraded over 100 stalls and retired approximately 160 stalls in 2022. Last year, we largely focused on our legacy 50-kilowatt chargers. But EVGo Renew is not a one-and-done effort. We continue to evaluate sites for upgrading based on charger performance, available power at the site, driver demand, and EV growth projections for that geography. Turning to innovation. Innovation is baked into everything EVgo does. As you can tell from the technology undergirding the commercial agreements I've already mentioned. As another example, we recently announced an agreement with Amazon to support an Alexa-enabled EV charging experience. EVgo is Amazon's first charging network partner in the U.S. for this collaboration, which will allow drivers to ask Alexa to help them find and navigate to nearby EV charging stations and seamlessly initiate and pay for charging sessions at EVgo stations. This charging experience will leverage both PlugShare and EVgo Inside. Our partnership with Amazon is an example of how we leverage EVgo Inside API technology to integrate into commercially branded apps. This approach provides third parties with the ability to offer customers the EVgo charging experience without needing to switch between apps. In addition to Amazon, we have leveraged the EVgo inside APIs with Toyota, Lyft, and Uber, among others. Another EVgo innovation, AutoCharge Plus, initially launched with GM this year and is now available on the EVgo network for more than 20 EV models, a number that includes Teslas using the CCS adapter. AutoCharge Plus offers a seamless plug, charge, and go experience for EV drivers with more and more sessions being initiated with AutoCharge Plus on the network every month. With PlugShare, which is a Yelp app for EV charging that EVgo purchased in 2021, we now have more than 3 million registered users worldwide, and we continue to adapt and innovate the technology to better serve EV drivers. Last year, we enhanced the PlugShare platform with Pay with PlugShare and PlugShare Premium, To leverage the platform's unique user base and monetize its broad reach, we also launched direct and indirect advertising on PlugShare. Further, PlugShare is a great resource for companies who want to understand driver behavior in the emerging EV market. The analytics PlugShare can provide on a fee-for-service basis are important to a variety of players in the EV ecosystem, as well as to our own operations. Our EV Go Innovation Lab is a go-to for automakers developing new EVs and manufacturers developing new equipment to charge those EVs. In fact, in addition to a principal EV go lab in El Segundo, California, we also have three testing locations set up at OEM facilities. This distributed approach enables automakers to test vehicles much earlier in the development cycle, sometimes even before a prototype has been officially released. EVgo retains access to the testing software and remotely manages the testing in support of the OEM's design and commercialization process. And with a relentless focus on customer experience, we enhanced the EVgo mobile app to enable more sophisticated charging session diagnostics to help us better serve our customers into the future. And the app is gaining traction with EV drivers. In 2022, we more than doubled the monthly average app users and app-initiated charging sessions. And now on policy, we also want to provide a quick update on the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, or NEVI, and other government initiatives. Policy continues to provide an important tailwind, not just for EVgo, but the whole sector. A couple of highlights for 2022 and looking forward. Last year was a very active year in terms of utility proceedings, with outcomes in states such as California, Colorado, and Georgia yielding material electricity savings for EVgo's owned and operated business. Similarly, prior legislative interventions in Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts led to state regulatory proceedings that are expected to yield multimillion-dollar benefits to EVGO's business both in the incentive and in electricity savings. As we work to accelerate that 12- to 18-month charger deployment timeframe for the whole industry, utilities and local permitting authorities continue to be important partners. In January 2023, EVgo announced the first Connect the Watts charging heroes. In all world, charging heroes include utilities National Grid and PSE&G, site hosts like CBL and ShopCorp, and contractors like OWL and WB Engineering. These companies are all in on the roles they are key to playing in transportation electrification. Timeframes are unfortunately not accelerating across the board though. With respect to utility processes, I would note that we and our peers are seeing some utility timelines get longer rather than shorter, arising from delays on transformer procurement, as well as from competing utility priorities of grid management and system upgrades. EVGO will continue to work collaboratively with utilities and be helpful where we can in reducing bottlenecks in their processes. With implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act underway, Billions of dollars of incentive funding are poised to accelerate EV charging deployment and EV adoption overall. The IRA contained an expansion and extension of 30C, the alternative refueling property tax credit. With a new transferability provision, that should make it easier for companies like EVgo without federal tax liability to monetize the value of the credit. The IRA also revised the consumer EV tax credit under 30B, as well as first-time tax credits for used and commercial EV sales under 25E and 45W, respectively. On the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Federal Highway Administration finally issued a final minimum technical standard early in 2023 for the $5 billion in NEVI formula funds flowing through state DOTs to build out charging infrastructure across priority corridors and other projects. I would caution, however, that there are some critical details that will influence how quickly those funds actually impact outcomes for every charging company pursuing federal incentives. For 30C, the tax credit has geographic restrictions tied to certain census tracts and particular labor requirements related to the availability of apprenticeship programs or other factors. For 30D, there are critical materials and domestic content requirements that have limited the applicability of the full tax credit for many EVs. And for the NEVI funding, there are actually 50-plus different programs, with each state having an approved plan and wide discretion on processes, timelines, and program specifics. At this point, most states are already behind the originally anticipated schedule for funding awards, given the delay in final technical standards being promulgated. EDGO continues to engage directly with state DOTs to reduce friction and avoid further delays on the time to deploy charging. but notes that the funds have still not begun to flow from the states to charging project partners. And the recently finalized federal Buy America waiver for NEVI-funded projects will likely present significant near-term supply chain challenges, as the whole EV charging industry works to onshore the production of EV chargers, especially 350-kilowatt fast chargers. While EVGO wholeheartedly supports the goals of Buy America and has been working with our suppliers on their on-sharing strategies for many months, the reality is that a meaningful domestic supply chain comprised of numerous manufacturing and assembly facilities will take time to be able to produce at scale. Across the sector, we anticipate delays from contracting to installation for most applicants as this supply chain ramps. The upshot is that due to equipment supply uncertainty, recipients of NEVI funds under the currently crafted Buy America rule may see potential 2023 projects shift to 2024. But notwithstanding the potential near-term delays arising from new government requirements, the trend line is up and to the right. The opportunity ahead of EVGO to build state-of-the-art charging infrastructure that meets our rigorous financial criteria remains vast. As Oda will describe, in 2023, we expect to continue our site development and revenue growth to deliver financial results that capitalize on the accelerating electrification needs of the transportation sector. With that, I'll turn the call over to Irigo's CFO to talk about our 2022 results and our guidance for 2023. Thank you.

Irigo ends the year with strong growth momentum as we continue to rapidly build out our network and execute on our contracts. I will first cover results for the fourth quarter and then for the full year of 2022. EasyGo's active engineering and construction stall development pipeline grew by 29% in 2022 versus 2021, ending the year at approximately 4,000 stalls. EasyGo added over 180 new stalls to our network during the quarter. and sold in operation or under construction were over 2,800 at quarter end. First quarter revenue of $27.3 million grew 283% year over year. This substantial increase was driven by increased retail charging revenue and continued execution of our easy-go-extend contract with Pilot Flying J in partnership with General Motors. Under this multi-hundred-million-dollar multi-year contract, we recognize revenue in four phases for every site. The first one, re-engineering work is done on site. The second one, charging equipment delivery. Revenues recognized when charging equipment changes title upon arrival at our facility and subsequent payment by PFJ. The third one, construction. Revenues recognized proportionally to work being done on the site. And then finally, the fourth one, operational months and fees once the site goes operational. In the fourth quarter, we accomplished 33 engineering works and took delivery of the first charging equipment shipment. Adjusted gross margin declined from 28.2% in Q4 2021 to 18.3% in Q4 2022 due to a decrease in the percentage contribution of regulatory credit sales to the revenue mix in the year-over-year reduction in LCFS prices. We reported adjusted EBITDA of negative $20.1 million in Q4 2022 versus negative $16.3 million in Q4 2021. Adjusted G&A as percent of revenue declined from 257% in Q4 2021 to 92% in Q4 2022, illustrating the leverage EVGO started realizing from its investments in GNA, both administrative and growth-driven payroll and non-payroll investments. CapEx was $66.4 million during the fourth quarter as EVGO accelerated charter deployments and continues to execute against our long-term strategic plans. As a reminder, all our charging infrastructure deployments go through a rigorous underwriting process and pencil to our targeted financial returns. EVGO raised $10.4 million in net receipts by issuing 1.6 million shares of Class A common stock through an at-the-market equity offering in the fourth quarter. We anticipate using the ATM opportunistically going forward. Now, turning to our full-year 2022 results, EVGO added nearly 670 new stalls to our network during the year versus approximately 290 added in 2021. an increase of 131%. Again, those in operations or under construction were over 2,800 at year-end, with approximately 2,200 of those being operational. Customer accounts increased by 63% year-over-year, and year-over-year throughput growth of 69%, exceeded year-over-year operational stall growth of 29%. 2022 revenue of $54.6 million grew an impressive 146% year-over-year, driven by an increase in retail charging revenue, extend revenue, primarily through execution of the PFJ contract, and the full-year contribution of plug share revenue, versus partial in 2021. Adjusted gross margin of 24.3% improved by 90 basis points over 2021, driven by accelerated LCFS credits in the first half of 2022 and the full year of contribution from the plug share acquisition. Full year adjusted EBITDA was negative $80.2 million compared to negative $51.4 million in 2021. Adjusted G&A as percent of revenue declined from 255% in 2021 to 171% in 2022, illustrating the leverage EVgo started realizing from its investments in G&A. We relentlessly look to optimize and leverage our investments in the company and remain agile in our cost structure as the industry growth projections evolve. In 2023, we are optimizing our G&A spend around charger pipeline growth and execution and delivering of contractual commitments. CapExWars $200.3 million in 2022, led by the new sole deployment, and including $4.6 million of the new capex, $15.9 million of land purchases, and $14.3 million of capitalized payroll and non-payroll expenses. Turning to network trends in the year. As you may know, EVGO's revenue is leveraged to increasing EV adoption, as greater number of EVs on the road help drive throughput and increase utilization as EV goes past charges. For the year 2022, EV goes throughput growth significantly exceeded stall growth. Again, 69% growth for throughput versus 29% growth for operational stalls. EV sales continued to climb throughout the year with over 2.2 million EVs in operation compared to 1.5 million in 2021. And we have observed increased utilization across our network. This was driven by an increase in retail throughput of 74% year-over-year and fleet of 65% year-over-year. For fleet, rideshare partners continue to add EVs leading to addition of high-frequency customers to EVgo's public network. EVgo's partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies are also positioning us to benefit from the emerging adoption of self-driving robotaxis and delivery services. We are also off to a great start in 2023 with average daily throughput volumes quarter-to-date in Q1 2023 approximately 20% higher than in the previous quarter before 2022. As Cathy mentioned, as of the end of 2022, EVgo has several markets that have double-digit utilization. Looking at these markets more deeply, we see that each of them is fairly developed with high EV penetration rates and a strong EV station footprint. This reinforces our strategy to deploy stations and markets with strong or accelerating EV penetration and offering charging in the best locations, an excellent customer experience, flexible pricing plans, and additional data-driven services. In an environment where competition intensifies, it is even more important to focus on delivering the best customer experience, which includes enhanced reliability, and convenient interfaces and services such as auto charge. Sales of EVs outside of California continue to increase. In 2022, 63% of all EV sales were in markets outside of California. These markets are important to EVgo as we continue to build out our fast charging network. In 2022, 41% of our kilowatt hours were dispensed outside of California, up from 32% in 2021, demonstrating that the market for EV electrification and consequently EV charging is becoming truly national. EVGO is well-prepared as two-thirds of our 2022 new stall additions were outside of California, and in 2023, we expect to continue to build across the country. Now, let me give an overview of EVGL's charging network pricing strategy. Philosophically, our strategy is centered around flexible pricing tariffs for our customers versus a one-size-fits-all approach. We're working towards introducing fully dynamic pricing all the time, similar to Lyft and Uber approaches, and are already offering certain elements of such dynamism today. We have time of use pricing with early bird and off-peak hours, allowing drivers to unlock lower prices at certain times of the day. There is also location-based pricing to incorporate attributes like availability of other businesses in the area, utility-specific tariffs, traffic intensity, overall attractiveness, and other market attributes. If you go subscription plans, offer value for drivers based on their frequency of expected charging. Our subscription plans have been gaining traction among our customer base, and we continue to experiment with such plans' designs. Turning to 2023 guidance. EVGO is introducing 2023 full-year revenue guidance of $105 million to $150 million. This guidance range is informed by the Buy America requirements for nearly funded projects issued at the end of February, which are more restricted than previously expected, given the nascent state of domestic fast-charging manufacturing capacity. As a result, inputs on specific project timelines remain uncertain and are dependent on domestic capacity coming online. EVGO's current main suppliers, including the Pilot Flying J project, have factors under construction with U.S. charge of production planned for late 2023. These developments have affected our 2023 TFJ execution plans and shifted some anticipated revenue from 2023 into 2024. Other factors informing the guidance range are the implications a potential economic recession may have on EV sales, the LCFS price environment, and the speed of rideshare electrification. We expect to provide quarterly updates to our annual guidance and anticipate updating the market accordingly in our earnings calls. we expect full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA of negative $78 million to negative $60 million. We expect to have a total of 3,400 to 4,000 DC fast charging stalls in operation under construction at the end of 2023. This metric includes PFJ stalls. With this, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions.