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Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years

evchargingstations.com

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Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years

#61

Post by rchowe »

daft_pink wrote: post #48

While I really hope that they do a great job with it, I have no faith in Walmart to offer an effective charging network. Doing everything on the absolute cheap leaves a lot to be desired. They were great when they were expanding and had great stores to lure you away from the competition, but now they operate under maintained not well staffed stores with confusing self checkout and obtrusive surveillance everywhere. I…

The quality of store management seems to affect a lot when it comes to Walmart. I have been to some Walmart stores where I have never seen any unfolded clothing. I have been to some Walmart stores where I have never seen any folded clothing.

An organization as large as Walmart has the wherewithal to put together an effective charging network if they decide it is a priority. One of the nice things about being first-party is that they will likely have a preventive maintenance program and emergency maintenance program for the chargers, and some of that can be done by the company electrician.

I have a Tesla, and due to various factors (apartment living, other family members with Teslas), I almost exclusively use public chargers. I have some opinions of what amenities I want at a charger (bathroom, cold diet coke), but in general the chargers at gas stations, grocery stores, and Walmarts are the best for me. Restaurants and malls are actually not great amenities because that's often not the mood you are in when you arrive at the charger.

Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years

#62

Post by mixmastamyk »

Aurornis wrote: post #42
johnea wrote: post #3

> and offer access through its own Walmart app. 8-( I've _never_ been required to "join the club", or "run the app" to purchase gasoline. Why does charging an EV require use of an app? This is an accessibility issue and as such should be illegal...

The app says that credit card access will be available in the future “at least” in states that require it. > This is an accessibility issue and as such should be illegal... Assuming it was app-exclusive, you would have a hard time convincing anyone that someone might be capable of driving an EV on the road while also having enough of a disability to make it impossible for them to use a phone app. There are already me…

Not what they mean. Card doesn't need power, screen, OS, BigTech approval, etc. Cash requires even less.

Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years

#64

Post by autoexec »

mayneack wrote: post #5
johnea wrote: post #3

> and offer access through its own Walmart app. 8-( I've _never_ been required to "join the club", or "run the app" to purchase gasoline. Why does charging an EV require use of an app? This is an accessibility issue and as such should be illegal...

It definitely sucks, but it seems likely that gas stations would require it if they were invented today.

I doubt they'd get away with it. If they thought they could they'd already have done it, but it'd probably result in a lot of legislation and companies don't want regulation. The only reason Walmart can get away with it is that very few people have an electric car.

Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years

#65

Post by manmal »

constantcrying wrote: post #53
manmal wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EV prices are just way too high. As a father of three, I can decide between a used BMW 2 which goes 1k km on a full tank, for €17k, and a Kia EV 7 seater for €70k. Guess which one I went with. There are some other, cheaper, EV models with 7+ seats (40k+), but they charge so slow and need so much power in winter, you‘d get max 200km out of them and then need to charge 1h. Generally, most EVs you can buy in the EU are…

>I can decide between a used BMW 2 which goes 1k km on a full tank, for €17k, and a Kia EV 7 seater for €70k. Guess which one I went with. I assume you are talking about the family van 2 series? And not the sporty 2 door 2 series. (Why didn't you buy a Touran?) You are also comparing used car prices to new car prices which is pretty insane. >EV prices are just way too high. Sure.

The Touran is quite a bit pricier than the 2er Grand Tourer, not sure why you are bringing it up. It’s an expensive car.

> You are also comparing used car prices to new car prices which is pretty insane.

I don’t care if the car is used or new tbh, I need 7 seats. I get that that’s not a super common situation, and that the comparison is unfair. The 2er was 40k when new. The thing is, there‘s basically no usable used 7 seater EVs in the non-crazy price range.

Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years

#66

Post by manmal »

thebruce87m wrote: post #59
manmal wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EV prices are just way too high. As a father of three, I can decide between a used BMW 2 which goes 1k km on a full tank, for €17k, and a Kia EV 7 seater for €70k. Guess which one I went with. There are some other, cheaper, EV models with 7+ seats (40k+), but they charge so slow and need so much power in winter, you‘d get max 200km out of them and then need to charge 1h. Generally, most EVs you can buy in the EU are…

> a used BMW 2 which goes 1k km on a full tank, for €17k, and a Kia EV 7 seater for €70k A used lower end model from one manufacturer vs a new high end model from a different one doesn’t seem like a fair comparison.

I only had this choice though, because the EV family van market has been underserved from the start, and there are no usable used EVs that qualify. I know it’s an unfair comparison, but a pragmatic one.

Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years

#67

Post by theshrike79 »

This is what made the charging infrastructure in Finland boom.

We have two major grocery chains (a duopoly pretty much), and they started competing for the growing EV customer base by installing chargers at every store of theirs.

Now just one of them has over 300 charging stations with about 2000 plugs, 5 years ago they had next to nothing.

Turns out it's good for business when families stop to charge for 30 minutes, they drop a bunch of money for other services while they're at it.

And I'll rather stop at a store to grab cheap snacks and ready to eat meals vs. paying through the nose for gas station prices. (We actually have some cups, plates, and cutlery in the car just for this)

Re: Walmart plans EV Charging network which will blanket the US within a few years

#70

Post by [deleted] »

lordnacho wrote: post #12

Makes a lot of sense from my amateur perspective. It takes a bit of time to charge a car, and you might as well use it to buy your groceries. Plus I'm sure WM can get a sensible bulk discount on electricity. Add to that, you can make people use your app and show them targeted adverts. You can get them to buy any bulk goods for pickup when they are charging the car.

[deleted]
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