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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

#71

Post by Lio »

formerly_proven wrote: post #17
Lio wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? I think it's a problem in the UK too. Every charging network seems to have its own associated app. Planning long journeys means having an app for every stop. It really shouldn't.

Yeah, basically every public charger in the continental EU is going to be on the intercharge network.

I'd love it if that's now true, has there been some change in this?

Last time I looked into it InterCharge (OICP) was still just 1 of 4 competing protocols along with OCPI, OCHP and eMIP.

Has OICP displaced the others now or are they still fighting it out?

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

#72

Post by tzs »

autoexec wrote: post #54
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.

If they force you to use an app it'll make their charging stations useless for me and anyone else who refuses.

My guess is that this will be less of a problem for Walmart than it is for other EV charging networks because with the other networks all their app is good for is EV charging at their network.

With Walmart the EV charging is just going to be another thing managed from the Walmart app. I'd guess that a significant majority of people who will be wanting to charge there already use Walmart for other things and have the app.

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

#73

Post by Aurornis »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #62
Aurornis wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Cash requires even less.

EV charging stations that take cash are not going to be common.

Card or app allow unattended use. Cash does not.

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

#74

Post by fnordpiglet »

I’m surprised they can find the transformers. As I understand it even without any government subsidy transformer production backlog is through 2030. We had a Tesla super charger site near us sit idle for over a year waiting for a transformer. A family member is a lead on transformer manufacturing at hitachi and they can’t build transformer production capacity fast enough to keep up with the rate of change of orders.

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/electric-transformer-shorta...

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

#75

Post by tzs »

kposehn wrote: post #7
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...

I think the app will be for plug-and-charge users, while they'll have credit card readers for everyone else. I do agree that chargers requiring an app are a royal pain. We're an all-EV household and I don't bother with local chargers that don't have readers or support plug-and-charge. There's a lot of Shell chargers in our area that require an app to work and almost no-one uses them because of how clunky it is.

It will likely work for Walmart because as of 2021 the Walmart app had 120 million active monthly users [1]. That's almost half of the US adult population.

For all of those people, using the chargers won't require downloading some new clunky app that they only have because of EV charging.

It will be that an app they already have and use regularly and already have their payment information adds EV charging to the list of Walmart goods and services that they already use it for.

[1] https://www.appsrhino.com/blogs/walmart-grocery-delivery-app...

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

#76

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

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...

Vulture capitalists want to know where you live and your income level so they can sell your profile on to other data brokers. Cash is practically a communist plot to give people freedom and liberty.

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

#77

Post by mixmastamyk »

Aurornis wrote: post #73
mixmastamyk wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> Cash requires even less. EV charging stations that take cash are not going to be common. Card or app allow unattended use. Cash does not.

Not common currently. Gas stations with mini-marts figured this out decades ago.

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

#78

Post by dzhiurgis »

SoftTalker wrote: post #20
999900000999 wrote: post #16

Chaotic good, I could imagine Walmart deciding to sell a miniature EV for around $12,000. Imagine something like a two-seater City car, while I'm dreaming I imagine this type of vehicle completely taking over for most City commuting. Since these would be smaller and slower than normal cars, they would be phenomenally safer.

Very few people have purchased the gasoline-engine equivalent of such cars, so not sure why an EV version would fare a lot better.

Especially considering some ebikes are approaching $12k...

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

#79

Post by cbsmith »

fullstop wrote: post #34
cbsmith wrote: post #15

$0.42/kwH is competitive? I think the highest I've ever paid was $0.43/kwH.

It depends on where you live and the time of day. I've seen some above $0.60 in Pennsylvania.

Sure, but in Texas?

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

#80

Post by dzhiurgis »

manmal wrote: post #44
constantcrying wrote: post #30

Germany already has a pretty good charging network, yet EV adoption is very slow. This will not change much. Charging infrastructure is only a small part of making EVs appealing, although it is obviously a necessary prerequisite.

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 don't get the false equivalence. You are comparing compact car vs 7 seater.

Besides 7 seaters are only must for families with 4 kids, AKA less than 10% of households.

I have both - decent sized EV and an old 7 seater. I'd never want to take it for a road trip as EV is just far more comfortable and easier to drive (autopilot 90%+). Its sole purpose is to deal with family visits and when I need to tow something like twice a year.

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