South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. are planning to join BMW, General Motors, Honda Motor, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis to collectively invest at least $1 billion and build thousands of electric vehicle chargers in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. 
 
The move is seen as an effort to ease a shortage of EV charging spots and slam the brakes on Tesla Inc.’s growing dominance in the EV market, driven by its supercharger network, accounting for 60% of the EV charger market in the US. 
 
In the absence of a standardized EV charging system, Tesla’s charging network is the industry’s largest and a main pull to EV buyers. 
 
The seven-member group is aiming to install around 30,000 fast chargers in urban and highway areas, more than Tesla’s fast charging stations of around 18,000. 
 
The seven carmakers’ joint venture to be formed in the US is modeled after a similar charging company in Europe, Ionity, established in 2017 by the Volkswagen Group and many of the abovementioned automakers, including the Hyundai Motor Group. 
 
They will make equal contributions to the JV, which is said to qualify for the US government subsidies.