Walmart EV Charging Network Plans to Blanket U.S. — First charge experience & review

[Tooney]

I also asked Happel what happens to the chargers that are on the other networks that currently operate on Walmart properties. Electrify America, for instance, has many of its sites on Walmart grounds. Haddad said that Walmart's partners have been great to date, and as they continue to grow the Walmart network, they will reassess how they move forward with their partners.
. . .
Walmart currently operates over 4,600 stores and over 600 Sam’s Clubs in the United States, giving it over 5,200 potential locations. In fact, over 90% of the US population lives within 10 miles of one of its stores, and the remaining <10% live mostly in extreme rural areas where electric vehicle adoption is currently very low.

That fact is important because one of the biggest challenges EV charging networks face is securing locations. Until now, every EV charging network has had to search for potential locations, contact the property owner, and attempt to negotiate a long-term lease deal for dedicated parking spaces to install its chargers and power cabinets. The new Ionna network is a slight exception because it is purchasing the properties for some of its locations, which are typically abandoned gas stations, which we love to see.

Walmart owns most of the real estate where the stores sit, so it doesn’t need to find locations or ask anyone for permission. Plus, as utilization increases, it can simply add more chargers to accommodate more EV throughput without an issue. No other network can do that.

Another challenge facing EV charging networks is the extraordinary capital needed for each site. The cost of a single 10-stall 350 kW DC fast charging site can cost $300,000 to over $500,000 in some cases. Walmart’s 2025 revenue is projected to be over $700 billion, so allocating whatever funds are necessary to build a comprehensive nationwide network isn’t a question of can they, it’s will they.

Additionally, since its retail stores are on-site, so are its employees. So if an EV charging customer needs help, a trained Walmart employee will be there to assist during business hours, which typically range from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm.
https://insideevs.com/news/757648/walmart-ev-charging-network-revealed/

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[refazi]

And a video

 

[Flying ace]

I work for an affiliated company/service provider of Walmart. I'll just say that when Walmart decides to make an investment of this magnitude, they are committed and the product will work.

 

[Jonathan S.]

This is way off:

“The cost of a single 10-stall 350 kW DC fast charging site can cost $300,000 to over $500,000 in some cases.”

The typical NEVI award is about three-quarters of a million dollars for only four 150kW chargers.

 

[RAHRCR]

This is way off:

“The cost of a single 10-stall 350 kW DC fast charging site can cost $300,000 to over $500,000 in some cases.”

The typical NEVI award is about three-quarters of a million dollars for only four 150kW chargers.

Mega purchasing power in action….?

 

[Jonathan S.]

Mega purchasing power in action….?

Those Walmart in-house Great Value brands are good buys!
(I actually use Equate 50 SPF for most of my outdoor activities.)

I suspect that the real explanation is a combination of a mistake in the article combined with the mistaken NEVI award process.
I recently realized that my brother-in-law is the part-time/outside/consulting CFO for the company that spent close to a million dollars for the Vermont NEVI station, whose four chargers are typically half broken and can never sustain the min 150kW for even a single vehicle.
At least though that cost far less than the $2.46m four-plug CFI station near me in Western Mass.
So if all those Walmarts between Western Mass and Northern NH will install chargers, that will totally transform EV roadtripping in northern New England.

 

[cometguy]

I'm not holding my breath on Walmart's doing what I'd prefer -- namely that they install charging stations at non-EA Walmarts (instead of replacing EA -- would rather see Walmart add to what's already there), and that they build out along US highways instead of near Interstate highways. US highways across the nation (including in northern New England) really need much better DCFC infrastructure. Walmart's inferring that they may not build out in more rural areas (read: along US highways outside of urban/suburban areas) because there's not a lot of BEV adoption there yet is not what I and others want to hear.

I do a lot of road-tripping from coast-to-coast in the USA, and for those of us who like to visit friends/family and state/national parks far from Interstate highways, it gets rather challenging to plan out where to charge your BEV (as Jonathan regularly notes in this forum for northern New England). Yes, we need more charging stations along heavily trafficked areas like I-95 along the east coast and all over southern California and Chicagoland, but I'd rather see somebody like Walmart attack places like Montana and South/North Dakota and northern New England and western Texas, because other companies are even less likely to do so.

Many of my grandparents' generation were farmers in Ohio, and I spent some of my childhood summertime on dairy and crop farms in north-central Ohio. I can say with confidence that most farmers would do much better with all-electric vehicles than with gas vehicles for their non-tractor vehicles, because gas stations are often far from their farms and all farmers have electricity, and few farmers ever need to go more than 200-250 miles in a day in their non-tractor vehicles. I'm surprised that BEVs aren't pitched more to farmers, but I reckon that corporate people and advertising people involved with BEVs aren't in tune with farmers and others who live in rural areas. Farmers would never need DCFC unless they go on road trips; all their charging could be done at home overnight. But Walmart adding DCFC infrastructure at Walmarts in less-populated areas where farmers live and shop could be a huge incentive to getting their locals to buy BEVs also. And while Walmart wasn't around when I was a kid, I'm sure that many farmers today do regular shopping at Walmarts.

 

[Flying ace]

I'm optimistic that WMT will simply let the current EA leases run out and then install the Alpitronic units in its place. The writing is on the wall for EA being kicked out at WMT, bc newer EA stations have been built at other grocers if you search for "coming soon" locations on EA website.

In the rural areas along the highways, it's more likely there is an EA station at a Walmart than in an urban area, hence Walmart is installing these Alpitronic units at urban Walmarts.

 

[ZenicaNC]

I'm not holding my breath on Walmart's doing what I'd prefer -- namely that they install charging stations at non-EA Walmarts (instead of replacing EA -- would rather see Walmart add to what's already there), and that they build out along US highways instead of near Interstate highways. US highways across the nation (including in northern New England) really need much better DCFC infrastructure. Walmart's inferring that they may not build out in more rural areas (read: along US highways outside of urban/suburban areas) because there's not a lot of BEV adoption there yet is not what I and others want to hear.

Yes, we need more charging stations along heavily trafficked areas like I-95 along the east coast

This right here.

 

[cometguy]

I'm optimistic that WMT will simply let the current EA leases run out and then install the Alpitronic units in its place. The writing is on the wall for EA being kicked out at WMT, bc newer EA stations have been built at other grocers if you search for "coming soon" locations on EA website.

In the rural areas along the highways, it's more likely there is an EA station at a Walmart than in an urban area, hence Walmart is installing these Alpitronic units at urban Walmarts.

I'd be skeptical that EA would invest in installation of very expensive DCFC stations with short-term leases at Walmart. I doubt that their leases will run out anytime soon... And EA has been making a marked improvement at their Walmart locations over the past year, in terms of fixing broken stations pretty quickly and making sure that things work well. At many Walmart EA locations along the east coast, more charging bays are needed (not replacements of what's already there). I don't want to see any EA stations disappear because I prefer them to any other DCFC stations out there now, simply because of the ease in plug-and-charge for my Taycan. After you plug-and-charge routinely, it's a real hassle to use my iPhone for any charging whatsoever, and I'd still prefer using a credit card or RFID card if I can't plug-and-charge. (Imagine if you had to use a phone app to fill up at a gas station.) And I doubt that Walmart will let Porsche BEVs plug-and-charge, at least for the next several years...

 

[Jonathan S.]

I do a lot of road-tripping from coast-to-coast in the USA, and for those of us who like to visit friends/family and state/national parks far from Interstate highways, it gets rather challenging to plan out where to charge your BEV (as Jonathan regularly notes in this forum for northern New England).

Even though northern New England roadtripping often entails lots of travel far from interstates, nearly complete DCFC cover for such roadtripping can be accomplished at interstate exits, at least for VT and NH. (I don't have much familiarity with Maine.)

All that's really necessary is, hmm, let's see, maybe North Conway NH, Rutland VT, and somewhere along Route 7 in VT. Which of course is exactly what Tesla figured out a long time ago. Too bad VT and NH DOT couldn't figure this out before NEVI got halted.

Meanwhile, northern New England is a perfect example of the misleading nature of total plug counts, since most of the CCS1 offerings have just one or two plugs per station, with poor reliability, so roadtrip planning can't incorporate them.

For example, for yesterday's ski tour, the Mt Washington summit road doesn't officially open until 9:00 in the morning, so I thought maybe I'd arrive a bit early and top off my battery so that I wouldn't need to charge as much back at my place at Twin Mtn before driving home.
I ended up charging at a respectable ~9kW at the free L2 at the hotel at the base of the mountain before assembling my pack, etc.
(The manager at the affiliated outdoor center is an EV driver and frequently posts PlugShare checkins when driving south.)

But one DCFC in nearly Gorham NH has been broken since at least March 21:
https://www.plugshare.com/location/621272

Another nearby DCFC seems to have broken since Dec 3:
https://www.plugshare.com/location/466576
... with the following add'l caveat:

"Impossible to download app, even once you find it. Says not available in your area. Tried on two iPhones. Even got in the wifi at Walmart."​

"Obscure app required. Good luck downloading it."​

Further south, at the Littleton NH interstate exist, this has been broken since at least Feb 10:
https://www.plugshare.com/location/466576

Another nearby DCFC works (although whether it's 50kW or 180kW is confusing), yet charges $1.61/kWh plus a $1.99 flat fee:
https://www.plugshare.com/location/466576

"##AVOID## $67.84 for 44kWh! Total scam! Wish I had seen the pricing before starting to charge. Follow-up: I received an email from Blink, that the $67 were a pre-authorization charge and that my credit card statement will reflect the correct charge a few days from charging. Now the charge on my credit card increased to $73.68."​

Both Gorham NH and Littleton NH have massive Walmart Superdupercenters (or whatever their official designations might be).
Were they to install DCFC, wow!
(Ditto for all the other northern New England Walmart locations, even if only those near interstates.)

 

[Flying ace]

Walmart Energy is exploding. This gsheet collects those in permitting, construction and open. Plugshare and My Porsche app also has Walmart Energy as a provider.

It'll be an interesting race to the end of the year between Walmart and Ionna to see who opens more sites.

Walmart uses ABB A400 and Alpitronic HYC400 units

 

[Jonathan S.]

^ Wow! And quite the contrast to the $5b in NEVI since 2021.

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