ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Waitrose, the British grocery chain, and Shell have announced plans to install up to 800 of electric-vehicle charging points in the supermarket’s car parks.
According to Shell, the charging points should be at available at as many as 100 Waitrose shops by 2025. Each location is expected to have six 22kW and two 50kW rapid-charging points so customers can recharge while shopping.
The first Waitrose location is expected to launch EV charging early next year and will be Shell Recharge’s first move into “destination charging,” whereby customers charge their vehicle while parked at a location that customers are primarily visiting for another activity, such as shopping or dining. Shell plans to grow the Shell Recharge-branded network to 5,000 charge points on forecourts and other locations by 2025.
“This is great news for EV drivers across the U.K., knowing they can easily, quickly and reliably charge up at Shell charge points while shopping at Waitrose,” said Bernadette Williamson, general manager Shell U.K. Retail. “We want to make EV charging as hassle-free as possible and support our customers wherever they want to charge.”
In addition, the companies agreed to increase the number of Shell Select stores offering Waitrose food by an additional 68 U.K. locations for a total of 125 by 2025. John Lewis’ Click & Collect service, which lets shoppers buy online and pickup or return merchandise, will be available in as many as 80 new Shell forecourt shops this summer. The move will boost the total number of locations where the service is available in the U.K. to more than 1,000.
A new report from the Fuels Institute Electric Vehicle Council, “EV Consumer Behavior,” provides invaluable insight to help guide those entering and involved in the EV market. The report includes information about the habits and practices of current EV owners and how those might change over time.
“The EV landscape continues to change at a rapid pace,” said John Eichberger, director, Fuels Institute Executive. “The Electric Vehicle Council recognized that the charging infrastructure must be built to satisfy the needs of not just current drivers but also those drivers yet to purchase an EV … This report aggregates current published knowledge about these behaviors and needs to help build an EVSE system that effectively satisfies EV driver demand now and tomorrow.”
As more and more consumers are purchasing EVs, read “The Future of Mobility Includes Electric” in NACS Magazine to see how the market is accelerating and how you can take advantage of the trending technology to drive traffic to your convenience store.