WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The United States on

Thursday offered EVgo ( EVGO ) a conditional loan guarantee of

up to $1.05 billion to expand public electric vehicle-charging

infrastructure across the country, some of which in marginalized

urban communities.

If finalized, the loan guarantee from the Loan Programs

Office (LPO) at the Department of Energy will support EVgo's ( EVGO )

deployment of about 7,500 public stalls with high power chargers

that can power two EVs simultaneously at nearly 1,100 stations.

The financing should help EVgo ( EVGO ), which has a high cost of

capital, compete with Tesla's network of chargers,

Jigar Shah, the head of the LPO, told Reuters.

"The key is helping the company really achieve far higher

customer service scores, (which) will mean that more people want

to charge there, and it'll mean that they'll be able to pay back

our loan faster," Shah said. EVgo ( EVGO ), which is not yet profitable,

currently has more than 3,500 fast charging stalls.

It was the first financial aid for an EV charger company

from the LPO and comes from the office's innovative clean energy

program, which has about another $70 billion of loan authority.

The EVgo ( EVGO ) chargers, meant to be built over five years, will

complement a federal program created in 2021 that aims to put

chargers every 50 miles (80 km) on highways, Shah said. That

federal grant program has been criticized for slow progress.

More than 40% of the 350 kilowatt EVgo ( EVGO ) fast chargers, which

are designed to charge all EVs, are planned to be built in

disadvantaged communities where the company believes they will

be used by car-share services and individual car owners alike.

"They're ideally suited to those individuals who don't have

access to a private driveway," EVgo's ( EVGO ) CEO Badar Khan told

Reuters. "It's a key aspect of our business, to provide access

to clean air through transport electrification to those that

don't have charging at home."

The announcement "is a meaningful mile-marker as the private

sector sprints to build the infrastructure to meet consumer

demand," said Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate

advisor. "This partnership will help us continue to accelerate

expansion from coast to coast."