What if you could get a Slurpee and a car charge all in one place?
7-Eleven says it will bring 500 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to 250 US and Canadian locations by 2023, per TechCrunch. The Texas-based convenience store chain currently operates 22 stations at 14 stores in the US.
The convenience chain will own…
… and operate all of the new Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) stations.
It’s a good move for 7-Eleven because it has ~1800 locations — 19% of its US stores — in California, which will require all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2035.
Other retailers are plugging into the trend:
- Walgreens currently offers EV stations at ~400 locations throughout the US
- IKEA now offers EV charging at all stores with parking
But we still need more!
There are 5k+ EV stations in the US, per the Department of Energy.
But, as Bill McKibben of The New Yorkers’ “The Climate Crisis” notes, some only offer slow charges. This was an issue for him when trying to drive his Kia Niro from rural Vermont to suburban Boston and back.
As an optimistic start, President Biden’s American Jobs Plan includes $15B to be invested in building 500k stations nationwide.
But is it OK to drive with a brain freeze?
