I’m in an apartment and would love if my grocery store had a charger
this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2026
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Is this for apartment dwellers who own EVs? I don’t think that’s a very big owner demographic.
Most people charge their car at home and/or at work. And since most cars have “tanks” that go over 200 miles when full, they rarely need to charge in town.
Where more chargers are needed are at comfortable stops on interstates and highways. Places like Starbucks where you will be finished charging by the time you stop, plug in, grab a bite, and use the restroom. People need fast chargers on long trips out of town. Not a ten minute stop at Kroger to pick up bread and eggs.
They keep building these charging sites in town, and at places you don’t want to hang around — like gas stations. And they sit empty.
You are correct that apartment dwellers (more accurately, people that can't charge at home) don't typically have EVs. But that's BECAUSE they can't charge at home, meaning the whole thing will be a terrible experience.
I'm not sure how much it will help to have fast chargers at a grocery store. Even the slowest charging vehicles are done (10%-80%) in about an hour, with most done significantly faster. That limits your shopping time.
All of that said, Electrify America has been doing the same at Walmart for a few years now. They even charge you if you remain connected for more than 15 minutes after charging is complete. So I guess the model must be working for them.
EA ripped out their chargers at the Walmart in town near me. They kept the ones at the Walmart on the interstate though. Maybe it ended up being more profitable?
WalMart says it’s building out its own charging network. I suspect this is to charge their electric delivery vans without having to pay anyone else. I haven’t seen any of these yet, so I dunno if it’s available to customers to use.
Yeah Walmart are supposedly putting in their own charging hardware and presumably some kind of network they control and profit from directly.
The ChargePoint chargers at a Sam's Club near me have been inoperable for about 4 months and when I reported it, ChargePoint said the "owners of the stations declined to repair them".
So I assume that means they are pending rollout of their own charging. Really inconvenient for now though.
Personally, especially on trips across town (say, 45 minutes away) I enjoy that these are an option. In my area (the PNW) these stalls are frequently used.
kinda wierd to have it at gas station, which is a sketchy place to linger at best, grocery store, or mall that people can understand.