Inside Walmart’s push to build its own EV charging network

Walmart installed its first company-branded EV charger last year. Now, the retailer has 838 charging ports in place at a hundred stores, and construction is underway at a hundred other sites. Last month, it grew faster than any electric vehicle charging network other than Tesla’s. And by 2030, the retailer has said that it plans to have a network that extends to thousands of locations. The expansion could have an outsized impact. Roughly 90% of Americans live within 10 minutes of a Walmart store, and the stores are adjacent to most major highways, putting the company in a unique position to help fill charging gaps throughout the country. “We absolutely have the opportunity to serve places that may not otherwise have that infrastructure,” says Shayne Wahlmeier, senior vice president of Walmart Energy. [Photo: Walmart] The work started with customers. “Customers are actively asking for EV charging, and so we thought that we could provide that in a way that feels like Walmart,” Wahlmeier says. The company had third-party charging stations in place at many stores, but it wanted to have its own equipment both so that it could control the chargers—keeping them well-maintained and in wor…