VW's Electrify America to install EV chargers at Walmart stores

Volkswagen AG unit Electrify America will install electric vehicle charging stations at more than 100 Walmart Inc store locations in 34 US states by mid-2019 as part of Electrify's plans to bolster charging infrastructure across the country, the two companies said on Wednesday.

 “We recognize that electric vehicles are going to grow and become more relevant,” Mark Vanderhelm, vice president for energy at Walmart, the world's largest retailer, told Reuters. “We are trying to get out in front of that.”

The Walmart charging stations are part of a broader Electrify America project to install 2,000 chargers at nearly 500 charging stations across the country by June 2019.

Wayne Killen, Electrify America's senior director for infrastructure, said that 80 percent of the Walmart charging stations would be at store locations alongside highways, while the remaining 20 percent would be in metro areas.

Killen said the highway locations will primarily provide chargers for trips between US cities but also cross-country journeys along Interstate 10 between Santa Monica, California and Jacksonville, Florida, plus Interstate 80 that runs from San Francisco and Teaneck, New Jersey.