Pilot Co. is on its way to building a nationwide electric vehicle (EV) charging network. The company has 11 operational sites, Pilot’s Head of Mergers and Acquisitions Matt Dunn told CSP Daily News at the 2023 NACS Show. The bulk of the travel-center chain’s first 300 sites with EV chargers are expected to come online next year, Dunn said.
The sites currently offering EV charging span several states including Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee, Idaho, Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Michigan.
In July 2022, the Knoxville, Tennessee-based chain announced it was partnering with automobile manufacturer General Motors and charging network EVgo to build out a network of 350-kilowatt EV chargers at many of its travel-center locations across the United States. It said at the time it planned to install the chargers at as many as 500 store locations over the next three years, aiming for no more than 50-mile intervals between charging sites.
That solution may not work for everyone, Dunn said.
“Some [convenience retailers] may decide I’m going to focus on the coast where the vehicle uptake is bigger, but for us, what’s important to provide our customers is that network so they know if they’re driving to a relative’s house on Thanksgiving, they can get there and get back on a charge,” he said.
Dunn said the chargers are the fastest on the market today, and depending on the vehicle, should allow customers to charge up in about 30 minutes.
“We see this as an opportunity to capture a new customer who may otherwise not have stopped at Pilot,” Dunn said. “These are customers who are spending a little bit more time with us than traditional gasoline customers, so we’re doing our best to learn from them, talk to them, engage with them and really figure out what they need so that we can provide the amenities that they’re looking for when they’re on their road trip.”
Pilot Co. has received some funds through the Federal Highway Administration’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program to help front the cost of these chargers. So far, it has received $9.6 million for 14 sites in Ohio and $2.3 million for three sites in Pennsylvania.
One challenge with adding EV chargers to a story is utility demand charges, or fees for electric consumers for the peak amount of power used at one time, Dunn said.
“Those are the biggest challenges for any kind of retailer who’s trying to install electric vehicles because it can be really big, and you don’t know until the end of the month how big it was. So how do you plan for that?” he said.
However, there is some hope as some utility companies are changing their approach to how they charge these fees, he said.
Once Pilot’s EV network is built out, Dunn hopes that when people hear the name Pilot, they know it’s a safe place to stop on the road.
“If you have to spend 25, 30 minutes on a road trip, you want to stop somewhere where you can get a cup of coffee and go to the bathroom, and it’s a clean, safe environment. And we think we offer that. So we’re most excited about that.”