Dive Brief:
- Pilot Company has opened electric vehicle charging sites at more than 200 of its travel centers across almost 40 states, according to an announcement last week.
- Recent openings include Pilot’s first EV charging stations in Colorado, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
- This puts the program, which is being developed through a collaboration with General Motors and charging infrastructure company EVgo, nearly halfway to its goal of 500 locations and 2,000 charging stalls.
Dive Insight:
Pilot is building many of its chargers in rural areas because fewer than half of rural counties had any public EV charging infrastructure, the company noted in its announcement. These could not only be a resource for customers in more remote areas, but can also encourage stops from road-trippers with electric vehicles.
Pilot travel centers are typically located along interstates, which carry more than 20% of total traffic in the U.S., according to the announcement. Its travel centers, which offer on-site restaurants and free WiFi in addition to their 350 kilowatt fast chargers, give customers plenty to do while their cars charge. They also feature Plug & Charge payments for compatible EVs.
“Our collaboration with General Motors and EVgo continues to bring highway-based charging to more routes where this critical infrastructure is needed to enable coast-to-coast EV travel,” said Shannon Sturgil, senior vice president of alternative fuels at Pilot.
To date, Pilot has received $15 million in funding help from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. While the Trump Administration has made some changes to the NEVI program, that funding could still help Pilot, GM and EVgo build more sites.
Pilot said it expects to reach 1,000 stalls in 40 states by the end of this year.
