There are more than 5,300 Walmart stores and Sam’s Club warehouses in the US.
1,300 Walmart and Sam’s Club already have Electrify America chargers.
Have a charger and they will come. This seems to be the idea behind Walmart’s plans to install charging stations at all its stores by 2030.
Approximately 1,300 Walmart stores and Sam’s Club warehouses already have fast chargers set up through Electrify America (EA) as part of a three-way deal with Volkswagen. The new stations will be added but unlike the EA association, Walmart will own and operate its own EV chargers. According to the mega-store chain, this will help address reliability and cost issues.
“We have the ability to address range and charging anxiety in a way that no one else can in this country,” Vishal Kapadia, Walmart’s recently appointed senior vice president of Energy Transformation, said in an interview as reported by Reuters.
On average, four fast chargers will be installed at each store, which equates to over 21,000 chargers nationwide. Currently, there are about 30,000 fast-chargers in the US. As some can cost up to $100,000, there’s no saying how much money Walmart will invest but the sum will inevitably be considerable. But they should manage ok as they get about 240 million customer visits per year…
No word on whether Walmart in Canada will follow suit.
