Unlike the refueling of gasoline-powered cars, the experience of keeping an electric vehicle charged is a struggle. Home chargers need extensive work to be installed, while the charging experience at public chargers can widely vary.
Retail stores can be a key to building out the EV charging infrastructure. Offering charging can be an added incentive to get people in the door, and most retail centers are located near major roads and highways.
However, a new study by Consumer Reports shows that there is a lot of progress to be made when it comes to EV charging availability.
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According to the report, only 1% of the 270,000 individual stores that Consumer Reports looked at actually offered EV chargers. That means that EV chargers are at one out of every 14 big-box chains like Walmart or Target, one out of every 15 grocery stores like Hy-Vee and Whole Foods, and one out of 40 department stores like Kohl's.
Although CR found that big box stores like Target and Walmart had the highest percentage of retail locations with EV charging, their data shows that one only one retailer managed to offer charging at more than 10% of their locations. Ikea was the friendliest towards EV owners, offering charging at nearly 100% of its 54 stores across the United States. Costco, Target and Walmart only offers charging at about 10% of its locations, while BJ’s Wholesale Club has charging at less than 1 percent of its stores.
The availability of charging is slightly better at grocery stores, as Amazon's Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods brands, as well as regional supermarket chains like Big Y, Hy-Vee, Meijer, and Raley’s offer charging at over 10% of their locations. On the other hand, big-name grocers like Trader Joes and Aldi only offer charging at 10 total locations across the country.
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Department Stores offers the third largest percentage of retail locations with EV charging, but Kohl's is the only retailer with over 10% of locations with EV charging. According to CR, Macy's and Nordstrom have begun to install charging, but major chains like the brands under TJX Co., Dillard's and JCPenney have installed less than 10 total charging stations combined at their combined 6,000 stores across the country.
Consumer Reports emphasizes the importance of what offering EV charging can do for retailers' bottom line. According to their data, they found that adding charging boosted foot traffic by average of 4% and increased revenue of 5%.
Additionally, most retailers could take advantage of tax benefits that could absorb up to 30% or $100,000 of the cost of installing EV chargers, per charger for qualifying retail store locations.
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