Dive Brief:

• Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores now has over 100 electric vehicle chargers installed across its convenience store network, the company announced on Tuesday.
• Love’s chargers are located at 28 of its travel centers across 11 states, the company said. The retailer most recently broke ground on EV charging stations at its stores in Ripley and Waterloo, New York.
• To date, Love’s has been awarded National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding and state grants to add more than 350 EV charging stations across 80 locations.

Dive Insight:

Love’s has been in the EV charging business since 2017, but one of its more notable moves in the space occurred in 2020, when the company announced a partnership with charging company Electrify America. Their agreement called for the installation of 28 chargers across Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, Florida, New York and Arizona.

Last year, Love’s received millions in federal NEVI funding to build out its charging stations. The company said in Tuesday’s announcement that it will break ground on four NEVI-funded charging stations in Pennsylvania and four in Kentucky this year. Next year, it expects to begin work on grant-backed charging stations in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

The broader NEVI program aims to invest $5 billion to create a national network of 500,000 EV chargers along 75,000 miles of highways.

“Expanding the EV charging network is not new to us as we first started in the EV space in 2017 and have continued to grow the network,” President Shane Wharton said in the announcement. “These future EV investments reinforce our commitment to meeting customers’ needs regardless of fuel type.”

Love’s offers both level 2 AC charging and level 3 DC fast charging at its travel centers. Future charging stations will be DC fast chargers, the company said on Tuesday. Each new EV charging area is expected to have canopies to protect from the weather, along with trash cans and windshield cleaning supplies.

Customers can use the Love's Connect mobile app to find locations with EV chargers, map their routes, view amenities at each location, and save on in-store purchases.

Oklahoma City-based Love’s operates 649 travel stops and c-stores across 42 states.