EV Charging at C-Stores: 3 Key Numbers From Electric Era's Retail Index

Over the past several years, dozens of convenience retailers have announced the launch or expansion of their electric vehicle (EV) charging programs. Yet once the chargers are installed, public attention often fades. Charging equipment manufacturer Electric Era has now taken a closer look at the EV charging networks of dozens of retailers, publishing its findings in a new Retail EV Charging Index.

“The index is not intended to be an opinion or judgment,” wrote Jordan Con, head of marketing for Electric Era, in the introduction to the index. “Rather, it’s a reflection of where retailers stand on key dimensions.”

Electric Era says its rankings consider four metrics: scale, or the number of sites a retailer has; experience, which rates how integrated the charging experience is with the overall site; quality, which takes into account data from JD Power’s public charging experience study along with driver ratings; and momentum, an AI-assisted score that estimates how likely the retailer is to keep building its network.

In this week’s “3 Big Numbers,” we examine Electric Era’s rankings and what they reveal about the state of EV charging in the convenience store space.

The index evaluated 50 retailers across convenience, fuel, grocery, restaurant and big-box segments. Fuel and convenience store companies together accounted for just over half of the companies evaluated, yet they secured seven of the top 10 positions in the overall rankings.

Wawa took the top spot, followed by BP, Applegreen, Pilot Company and Walmart — all of which have extensive plans for expanding their charging infrastructure. Applegreen and BP each operate their own EV charging arms; Pilot has a broad partnership with EVgo and GM; and Walmart has chargers either operating or coming soon across 29 states.

The Pennsylvania-based retailer topped the list in part because of a strong quality score across its 275 fast-charging locations, which earned it nearly 60 points — the 12th-highest quality score among the selected companies. Wawa is working with EV network Ionna to place its EV Rechargeries at Wawa c-stores. The company is also moving from simply hosting Tesla EV chargers to owning the hardware at some sites, branding the chargers under its own banner and managing pricing.

While Wawa claimed the overall top spot, a look at the rankings by quality score brings different names to the forefront. The popular Midwest chain Kwik Trip ranks fourth on this metric, partly due to the strength of its Kwik Charge program. Since debuting Kwik Charge in October 2024, Kwik Trip has added 23 locations to its network, with more on the way, according to the company’s website. The charging index underscores how thoroughly the retailer has integrated EV charging into the brand experience — from the program’s name to the company-branded chargers.

Having its own branded chargers means that Kwik Trip’s name is on the line for any negative experience, rather than a third-party provider like Tesla. That could give the retailer extra incentive to keep its chargers clean, well-lit and operational at all times.