If you don’t think that all-electric vehicles are going to go mainstream, then consider this: According to EV charging data platform Paren, Walmart has deployed more charging ports than every charging network except Tesla in the second-quarter of this year. Let’s bear in mind that Tesla is an automaker that makes electric cars that need charging, while Walmart is an incredibly powerful and profitable chain of grocery stores. And if we take a good look at Walmart, it looks more and more like a brilliant business move for the corporate giant.
Parking Lots And Data Are The Key
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We wouldn’t think for a minute Walmart wouldn’t be a considerable part of the growth of fast-charging stations unless it saw a profit in the long run. And there has been a sudden expansion for Walmart of 368 new charging ports in the second quarter of this year. That takes them outside the top ten EV charging companies growing the network at the end of last year to just short of Tesla this year so far. And that list includes Charge America, EVgo, and ChargePoint.
The one area of Walmart that doesn’t generate cash flow is its parking lots, which, at the peak of its investment and growth, was creating six parking spaces per thousand square feet of store. Walmart, unlike many outlets, owns its parking lots and, along with the sheer size of them, is why it can offer space for haulage trucks to park overnight. But, along with over 5,000 retail units in the US, including Sam’s Club, and each with a parking lot, Walmart has a huge amount of data to harvest.
Walmart Could Become The Biggest Charging Network In The US
With such a big footprint in the US that Walmart can claim that 90% of the US population lives within 10 miles of one of its stores. And it owns the land, so it just has to navigate the patchwork of utility regulations and local permitting laws state by state to build a network that stretches from the coasts and inland.
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The biggest problem for the growth of all-electric cars so far has been that chargers are heavily concentrated in coastal metro areas, Texas, where a lot of tech companies are going, and the industrial Midwest, where many car brands outside the big three are building vehicles. Walmart is already planning chargers in Nebraska, Montana, Oklahoma, and Ohio. At the rate Walmart is planning its network, it can fill the biggest gaps in America’s fast-charging network.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters
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Walmart could easily become the company that helps EVs build up considerable market share. That’s astonishing, but the thinking seems beautifully simple from Walmart’s point of view, though. The vast majority of people in the US own cars, and they all need to fuel them. Building gas stations would mean using a lot of space, more logistics, employing more people, and gas stations aren’t particularly profitable – hence they always have a grocery store of some level attached.
Charging stations don’t take up much space in a parking lot, electricity doesn’t need to be delivered by a truck, Walmart is already a grocery store, and they don’t have to compete with all the other gas stations and petroleum companies to profit. Customers can plug their vehicles in and spend money while they’re spending money, or just pull in and spend money charging the car.
Best of all, Walmart’s competition has to do deals for space and the financial side when putting chargers in place. Walmart already owns the space and isn’t beholden to anyone else. Its initial cost is its only cost, and the profits are all Walmart’s and the electric companies – there’s no third party involved. Of course, if you’re concerned about Walmart and Amazon shoring up and growing their retail monopolies over the US, this is as terrifying as it is brilliant.
Sources: InsideEVs
