Are electric vehicles here to stay? Judging by the number of charging stations now accessible across North America, it’s difficult to be skeptical.
ChargePoint, which has the world’s largest network of EV charging stations, recently put this into perspective. The company, which has 18,000 charging locations in North America, decided to compare the presence of its stations to the number of locations of several big name fast-food and big-box retailers operating across Canada and the United States.
It turns out there are more ChargePoint locations than there are Starbucks (14,958), McDonald’s (13,890), 7-Eleven stores (8,160) or Walmart retail outlets (5,256).
Creating that context, said ChargePoint chief executive Pasquale Romano, is an important part of driving the popularity of electric vehicles. “When people realize how many places there are to charge an EV, they’re more likely to consider one for their next vehicle,” he said.
In total, there are more than 25,000 locations in North America to charge an electric car, not including residential chargers. That’s more than eight times the number of liquefied natural gas or E85 ethanol pumps.
