Walmart has moved decisively into the public EV charging business, and new data show just how fast the buildout is advancing. Between January and June, the retailer opened roughly 46 high-speed public charging stations carrying 380 cords, according to Bloomberg, bringing total charger availability to approximately 326 of its roughly 4,600 U.S. Walmart-branded stores.
Trailing only Tesla in second-quarter expansion
According to EV charging data platform Paren, Walmart added 368 new ports in the second quarter alone, behind Tesla’s 1,185 but ahead of ChargePoint, Red E and Electrify America, positioning itself as the second-fastest-growing public fast-charging network in the country for that period. With an estimated 300 additional locations currently under construction, the company is scaling its direct-operated network at a pace few rivals can match.
The pace reflects a deliberate shift away from hosting third-party equipment toward building and operating a fully branded in-house network.
Walmart is no stranger to EV charging, having hosted third-party chargers, including those from Electrify America, on its property since at least 2018. The company announced plans in April 2023 to develop its own branded network, with the first locations becoming operational in early 2025. The transition gives the retailer direct control over pricing, reliability and customer data at every stall.
400-kW hardware and dual-connector standard
Walmart uses 400-kW DC fast chargers exclusively, each fitted with two ports, one CCS1 and one NACS (SAE J3400), for maximum compatibility, with hardware supplied by either ABB (A400 model) or Alpitronic (HYC400 model) depending on location.
That peak output is among the highest available at any U.S. retail charging site and can deliver a meaningful charge in roughly the time it takes a customer to complete a grocery run.
The Walmart DC fast-charging sites are now live in 17 states, up from 15 states just one month earlier, with Illinois and North Carolina joining the network in June. The company also recently began deploying chargers equipped with card readers, a practical move that widens access for drivers who have not pre-enrolled in its app-based payment system.
The retail-charging logic
The strategy deliberately leverages Walmart’s store footprint, with a store or club located within ten miles of approximately 90% of Americans, to capture charging dwell-time traffic and stimulate adjacent retail revenue. In other words, the time an EV driver spends waiting at a charger is time they are inside a Walmart store.
That fleet has expanded even as broader EV market share has faced headwinds. EV share slipped to 7 percent in July as hybrid models absorbed much of the demand, underscoring why accessible public charging infrastructure matters to sustaining EV ownership confidence.
Walmart declined to answer questions or provide details on how much more charging it will build, but acknowledged in a statement that its nationwide real estate footprint is one of its key advantages.
A Walmart spokesperson said in a statement: “Our broad footprint positions us to make EV charging more accessible for communities while expanding the way we serve customers.”
What comes next
By operating native direct-current fast-charging equipment at competitive utility rates, the network targets plug-in EV drivers, particularly those without residential Level 2 charging access.
That demographic, apartment dwellers, renters and drivers in multi-family housing, is precisely the group analysts say will determine whether U.S. EV ownership reaches mainstream scale in the next few years.
Walmart’s retail-charging push arrives at a moment when publicly funded infrastructure programs face significant uncertainty. The $5 billion federal NEVI program, which allocates funds to states for highway corridor charging, has faced repeated disruptions, including a 2025 funding freeze that was later overturned by a federal court, and Congress has since rescinded a portion of unobligated state funds. That turbulence has left a gap in highway corridor coverage that private-sector operators are increasingly moving to fill. With automaker EV incentives tightening, the availability of convenient charging points is becoming an ever more critical factor in purchase decisions.
Data on Walmart’s total station count and port figures were reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by charging-network consultancy Paren.
