Dive Brief:
- Wawa is adding more self-branded electric vehicle chargers to its network through a new agreement with Electrify America’s white label program, the companies announced on Wednesday.
- The chargers will be added this year to stores in Bristol, Allentown, Quakertown, Upper Darby, Phoenixville, Media, Williamsport and Reading, Pennsylvania, according to the announcement.
- This announcement comes after Wawa revealed earlier this year that it would buy and self-brand Tesla chargers for some locations.
Dive Insight:
As Wawa leans more heavily into self-branding its EV charging infrastructure, the retailer is betting on creating a quality charging offering at those locations — placing risk in its own hands, since either good or bad driver experiences will reflect directly on the company.
“By owning Wawa branded chargers, we are always striving to deliver a more seamless, reliable, and consistent experience and this allows us to provide more options throughout 14 states for our customers,” said Rich Makin, senior vice president and chief fuel and development officer for Wawa, in the announcement.
The chargers in Upper Darby, Phoenixville, Media, Williamsport and Reading are capable of speeds up to 400 kilowatts and offer both North American charging standard and combined charging system connectors. Those in Bristol, Allentown and Quakertown are capable of speeds of up to 350 kW and only offer CCS connectors.
Representatives from Wawa and Electrify America could not be reached by press time when asked if any of these sites already had EV chargers and how many chargers are being deployed at each site.
Wawa has been one of the more prolific convenience retailers in the EV charging space and is approaching 300 locations with EV charging across its footprint.
In addition to Wawa’s self-branded chargers and Tesla chargers hosted on its properties, the retailer also agreed last year to install EV network Ionna’s Rechargeries at some locations. While the companies did not share the scope of the partnership, Ionna called the agreement its largest EV charging commitment to date.
