7-Eleven Launches EV Charging Network

Recharge your EV while you recharge your personal batteries with a Slurpie or Big Gulp. 

7-Eleven is launching a new, proprietary EV charging network offering fast fast-charging, at what the chain called “select” locations across the USA and Canada.

According to the press release we received, it is a proprietary system called 7Charge, available via the app from the App Store or Google Play, or by visiting 7-eleven.com/7charge.

Since the 7-Eleven system is compatible with most-used plug types, the “proprietary system” seems to me to be nothing more than a branding device to get you to download the 7-Eleven EV app, which opens you to emails and texts from 7-Eleven about whatever else people buy at 7-Eleven.

The presee release says 7-Eleven intends to “build one of the largest and most compatible electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging networks of any retailer in North America with the launch of 7Charge, which is already delivering fast-charging services to customers in several locations in Florida, Texas, Colorado, and California.”

The 7Charge network will offer EV drivers 7-Eleven’s trademark convenience and accessibility. 7Charge sites allow customers to charge any EV make and model compatible with common CHAdeMO or Combined Charging System (CCS) plug types – provided you have the appropriate adapter.

If you don’t, the new network does not provide the  “seamless charging and payment experience” the press release boasts.

Do you even  know what CHAdeMO means, since most of us don’t.  And most EV owners don’t have the adapter required, either.

Subway also announced recently that it is building a national EV charging network – with playgrounds for the kids and bathrooms for everybody, to make charging a positive experience.

The 7-Eleven EV network is beginning construction soon, at those unnamed “select” locations.  Once complete, 7-Eleven claims it “will have one of the largest and most compatible fast-charging networks of any retailer in North America serving communities and customers at charging stations across its entire family of brands including Speedway^® and Stripes^® stores.”

So now you know.

Will availability of EV charging make you decide to stop and shop at a 7-Eleven?  Or at its franchises  Speedway^®, Stripes^®, Laredo Taco Company^® or Raise the Roost® Chicken and Biscuits locations?

Or at a Subway?