Dive Brief:
- Circle K has opened its first electric vehicle charging stations on the West Coast, a spokesperson from parent company Alimentation Couche-Tard confirmed.
- The retailer held a grand opening event to commemorate its West Coast charging expansion on Aug. 11 at a Circle K in Corona, California, about 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The site includes two 180-kilowatt fast chargers, each capable of charging two cars simultaneously for a total capacity of four vehicles at a time, the spokesperson said.
- This location is one of about 20 Circle K EV additions Couche-Tard is “planning to activate over the next year” in its West Coast business unit, the spokesperson said.
Dive Insight:
In May 2022, Couche-Tard set its sights on opening 200 charging stations in North America by 2024. This past April, the retailer said it expected to have 40 sites active in the U.S. and Canada before the summer, and was still aiming for its original goal.
This trailed the company’s EV charging station count in Europe, where, as of April, it had close to 1,400 chargers across 300 locations.
Couche-Tard’s spokesperson did not specify where else on the West Coast the company’s EV charging stations will open. Circle K’s West Coast business division covers California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii.
Although the retailer held the grand opening event at the store in Corona, it had “a few others” in the region come online “very recently,” the spokesperson said. The Corona site was chosen for the grand opening since it’s closest to Couche-Tard’s West Coast business unit headquarters, they noted.
The grand opening event featured Circle K food samples, giveaways and more, according to a LinkedIn post from the company.
Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard operates more than 5,700 c-stores in the U.S. It is the second-largest c-store company in North America behind 7-Eleven.
