Thousands of EV Charging Stations Coming to Walmart, Sam’s Club Stores

Walmart plans to build an electric vehicle charging network with fast charging stations at thousands of its stores by 2030.

Walmart says(Opens in a new window) the EV charging stations will be placed at thousands of Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, to help make EV ownership “more accessible, reliable, convenient and affordable.”

Walmart already offers 1,300 EV charging stations at over 280 stores in the US in partnership with Volkswagen subsidiary Electrify America. The planned new fast charging stations will be owned and run entirely by Walmart, a move a company spokesperson tells Reuters(Opens in a new window) will help Walmart “address reliability and cost issues.” 

Vishal Kapadia, Walmart’s SVP of Energy Transformation, says the company has “the ability to address range and charging anxiety in a way that no one else can in this country.” As it notes in a press release, Walmart has more than 5,000 stores located within 10 miles of 90% of Americans.

Walmart plans to offer its shoppers EV charging at Neighborhood Markets, Supercenters, and Sam’s Clubs. An average of four chargers will be installed per store, Reuters reports.

The move comes amid a push by the federal government to build a network of 500,000 public EV chargers by 2030. The infrastructure bill approved last year(Opens in a new window) allocated $5 billion over five years. Walmart’s EV building plans are reportedly not being yet funded by government grants, though it is being considered, Kapadia says.

As Reuters notes, the US currently has about 30,000 fast-charging stations that can fully charge an EV in an hour or less. EVs are taking off in popularity, and according to a forecast(Opens in a new window) from consultancy firm AutoForecast Solutions, they could make up a third of the total on-road North American vehicles by 2029.