Convenience stores like 7-Eleven are, well, convenient for those impulse buys while you fill up your tank with gas. What happens to those conveniences once the country transitions to electric vehicles?
7-Eleven wants to get a head start on that slide into obsolescence, with a plan to install 500 direct-current fast charging ports at locations across North America by the end of 2022.
The chain hopes that by providing EV charging options, which will be owned and operated by 7-Eleven, consumers will still come to buy their convenience foods while they’re charging their EVs. That might even give them longer to shop, since charging takes longer than even the largest gas tank to fill, even with the DC fast-chargers.
It’s a win-win on both sides. 7-Eleven locations are more conveniently situated than the shopping malls or big-box store car parks that the current EV charger companies have their charging stations at. Even Tesla’s Superchargers suffer from this same issue, which means drivers have to go out of their way to find a charger.
Currently, 7-Eleven has a total of 22 charging stations, spread out between 14 stores in four states. To meet their self-imposed deadline, 7-Eleven will have around eighteen months to build the rest of the 500 that the company says will be spread across 250 locations throughout North America.
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