Sawtelle-based electric vehicle charging company EVgo Services has announced plans to go public via a reverse-merger with Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. 

EVgo expects to net $575 million in proceeds from the transaction, which values the combined company at approximately $2.6 billion. 

Following the transaction’s anticipated close in the second quarter, the company will be renamed EVgo Inc. and will be listed under the ticker EVGO.

EVgo is one of the leading U.S.-based electric vehicle charging businesses. Established just over a decade ago, the company operates more than 800 charging stations across 34 states. It currently serves roughly 220,000 customers in 67 metropolitan areas, according to the company.

“Just a few years ago, electric vehicles were considered niche,” EVgo Chief Executive Cathy Zoi said in a statement announcing the deal. “Today, improved technology, lower costs, greater selection, and a better appreciation for the performance of EVs is increasingly making them the vehicle technology of choice. With that, the need for fast charging is on the rise.”

EVgo is the latest in a long line of companies in the electric vehicle sector to go public via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, over the last year.

Manhattan Beach-based Fisker Inc. merged with a SPAC backed by Apollo Global Management Inc. in October in a $2.9 billion deal. The company was followed by Torrance-based electric vehicle developer Canoo Inc., which went public in December through a SPAC merger valuing the company at $2.4 billion.

SPACs are investment vehicles created to raise capital from public investors. The entities, which are sometimes referred to as blank-check companies, have no operations of their own. Managers use funds collected from a SPAC public offering to target a company looking to go public through a reverse merger transaction.