Seven-Eleven
7-Eleven is launching its own charging network. The convenience store chain has launched 7Charge. It “provides a convenient and reliable fast-charging experience at select 7-Eleven stores in the U.S., and is coming to Canada soon,” it said. Apple and Google already have smartphone apps in their stores, but there’s no word on how many chargers 7-Eleven plans to roll out or when that timeline will be.
7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto said: “Now, we are innovating again to address where our customers are, by expanding our business to bring future convenience to EV drivers…today.”
7-Eleven says its proprietary network “provides a new level of convenience and coordination for customers seeking a seamless charging and payment experience.” This may mean including “plug and charge,” an ISO 15118 protocol that handles charging after the vehicle has shaken hands with the charger, but plug and charge is not universally implemented in new EVs. I can’t say I have. After playing with the app for a few minutes, you can also pay by scanning her QR code on the charger.
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The 7Charge app is already live, but is currently only available to a small percentage of EV drivers in the US.
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Colorado has more 7-Eleven chargers than California.
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There are currently no 7Charge chargers outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.
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Central Florida is representative. But these he said most of the chargers in the four states came before a promise to roll out 500 new charger ports by the end of last year fell through.
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The app also displays the charging status.
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We can expect the 7Charge charger to work with both CCS and CHAdeMO plug types, but we don’t know the expected power levels. Today, chargers already deployed reach up to 90 kW.
There are currently 32 DC fast chargers in the 7Charge network, split between California, Colorado, Florida and Texas. That’s only slightly more than in 2021, when 7-Eleven said it would roll out 500 charging ports by the end of 2022. For context, in the US alone he has over 9,000 of his 7-Eleven stores.
It’s also unclear if 7Charge chargers will only be deployed in company-owned stores. Most 7-Elevens in North America are franchises and may not have the funds or willingness to go through the permitting and installation process. Ars has reached out to 7-Eleven for more information and will update this article when we have more information.
