Walmart has shared fresh details about plans to roll out a massive network of electric vehicle chargers across the United States, Charged EVs reported.
In 2023, the company announced that it would install chargers at thousands of Walmart and Sam's Club locations by 2030. Three pilot sites are now open, with two in Texas and one in Arkansas.
"We're talking about thousands of locations with tens of thousands of chargers online by the end of this decade," according to charging industry expert Tom Moloughney.
Drivers will be able to start a charging session through the Walmart app by scanning a code on the charger, per Charged EVs.
Walmart operates more than 5,200 stores across the country, and 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart or Sam's Club, the company estimates.
This broad reach means the rollout can make fast public charging more accessible to millions of drivers who struggle to find a place to charge their vehicle.
The average gas-powered car releases over 5 tons of harmful air-polluting carbon each year. EVs, on the other hand, produce no tailpipe pollution.
Even plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles produce far less tailpipe pollution than gasoline vehicles.
EVs are not only better for the environment, but they're also better for your wallet. EV owners spend about 60% less each year on fuel or charging costs than owners of comparable gasoline vehicles.
In this case, prices at Walmart and Sam's Club could be lower than the cost of charging at other stations — Moloughney paid about 42 cents for each kilowatt-hour of electricity at one site, slightly less than other options in the area.
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Walmart's new stations will be powerful enough to add hundreds of miles of driving range in less than half an hour, Charged EVs added. The retailer's stations will feature the two main types of fast-charging plugs in the U.S., which are CCS1, used by most non-Tesla electric cars, and NACS, the slimmer plug design created by Tesla that many carmakers are adopting.
Other major companies are making similar investments — Ikea has expanded EV charging access at its stores, for example.
For customers with EVs, this news could mean faster charging and more access to stations, reducing travel planning stress and making EV ownership even more practical.
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