Walmart (WMT) announced that it is planning to add thousands of electric vehicles charging stations at its stores and locations across the nation by the end of the decade. The company already has almost 1,300 EV charging stations across 280 stores and Sam’s Club locations in the nation. It has started identifying suppliers to expand the number of its charging stations.
The Thursday announcement by the giant retailer also noted that it will own as well as operate these electric vehicle charging stations. Reuters, who reported this news, said that the retailer would ramp up its infrastructure to increase the number of charging stations. The big box retailer has a deal with Volkswagen unit Electrify America, which is one of the biggest open public EV networks in the nation, and that there are over a thousand charging stations available in over 280 locations, as of now. The new fast charging stations are expected to be available across stores.
In an interview with the outlet, Vishal Kapadia, who has recently been appointed as senior vice president of Energy Transformation, said that Walmart had the “ability to address range and charging anxiety in a way that no one else can in this country.”
Kapadia also said that Walmart would address reliability and cost issues by owning its chargers. He added that the new electric vehicle chargers would be direct current (DC) fast chargers, and that each store would average roughly four chargers. He did not share financial details and said that the company was in the process of finding a supplier.
In its recently concluded 2023 Investment Community Meet, Walmart mentioned that its stores were becoming multifunctional and also spoke of omni channel business model. Increasing operations such as electric vehicle charging stations in existing stores will scale operations that would not require huge investments on infrastructure as Walmart already has over 5,000 stores and Sam’s Club locations across the nation, where it can possibly add these electric vehicle charging stations.
AutoForecast Solutions, a consultancy predicts that electric vehicles could become one third of the North American auto market by 2029. Walmart’s goal of adding thousands of EV charging stations by 2030 would make the big box retailer ready to tap into this large base of electric vehicle owners who would require a large network of charging stations across the U.S.
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