5000 locations, 650 billion in revenue, plenty of free space, a huge profit opportunity, and a big FU to Trump Administration.
Above, long form video has details.
Happel explained that the retailer intends to install Walmart EV charging stations at “thousands of its locations by 2030” and continue installing more in the next decade. He didn’t offer any specific number of stalls per location, only that “each site stall count will depend on market conditions”. Happel said they will take into consideration the number of EVs in each specific market as well as how many other networks operate nearby.
If there aren’t any other EV charging stations in the area, Walmart will install more charging stalls than if there are other fast charging options. He also explained that Walmart will monitor utilization, and the sites will be designed to easily add more chargers when needed to prevent customer queuing.
After testing charging equipment from various vendors, Walmart has selected Alpitronic and ABB as suppliers for its initial sites, although I was told it is brand-agnostic. Customers use the Walmart app to initiate and pay for charging, and the process will be the same regardless of the brand of charger at the site.
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. Happel 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.
I visited Walmart’s first official network site (there are currently two other sites—one in Texas and the other in Arkansas, but they are pilot test sites) in McKinney, Texas, to test out the network and charged a rented GMC Hummer EV on a 400 kW Alpitronic charger. That site has four chargers that serve eight charging bays. Each charger has one NACS and one CCS1 connector and can charge two EVs at once, dynamically splitting the 400 kW and offering each cable up to 600 amps. Unfortunately for Nissan LEAF owners, there will not be CHAdeMO connectors at any of the locations.
The Hummer took in over 300 kW for a while, and I charged from 1% to 53% in 27 minutes, and the charger dispensed 100 kWh of electricity. I was billed $42.00 as this site is currently set to charge $0.42 per kWh. Happel told me Walmart won’t have consistent pricing throughout the network. Instead, it will do as most other EV charging networks do, which is adjust pricing from site to site depending on local electricity rates. Happel also indicated that Walmart Plus customers may get a discount on charging, just like they do on other goods and services offered by the company.