Wawa-branded EV chargers are coming. As a South New Jersey resident, this is very exciting news. While there are already plenty of Wawas with EV chargers, the brands vary and it’s kind of hit and miss, as they aren’t always the kind of charger or speed you need. For example, the majority of Wawa charging stations near me are Tesla Superchargers, and only one of them allows non-Tesla vehicles. So while that’s helpful, it isn’t helpful for everyone. However, that’s going to change in the coming years, as Wawa just partnered with Electrify America to put its own branded chargers at its gas stations.
This partnership is part of Electrify America’s White Label program. The program supplies third-party brands with an EV charging network that the brands can then customize. In this case, Wawa designed the look of the chargers, the experience, and even came up with its own pricing. Electrify America builds the network and handles things like maintenance and customer support. So when you pull up to a Wawa charger, it will feel like its own thing, not just an EA charger at a Wawa. Wawa usually has the cheapest gas near me, so I’m hoping it carries its typical values into its EV business. Also, Wawa, if you’re listening, it’d be cool to see a price per kWh on the big digital gas signs.
To start, eight Pennsylvania locations will get Wawa-branded chargers. Five of them will have have NACS and CCS ports with up 400 kW, while the other three will CCS-only and support up to 350 kW charging. EA’s press release doesn’t say how many actual chargers there’ll be at each location, though.
Photo by: RivianTrackr
At the moment, Wawa has 280 chargers across the 14 different states it operates in. Since Pennsylvania is its home turf, that’s where these new chargers will go first, but it should start expanding outward in the coming years.
“This move to testing Wawa branded chargers demonstrates our ongoing commitment to meeting our customers’ fueling needs—whether they require electric charging or traditional liquid fuels,” Rich Makin, Wawa’s senior vice president and chief fuel and development officer, said in a statement. “By owning Wawa branded chargers, we are always striving to deliver a more seamless, reliable, and consistent experience and this allows us to provide more options throughout 14 states for our customers.”
I shouldn’t be excited about anything that comes from the Philly area (eww Birds, go Giants), but I can’t help but have love for Wawa. Every road trip must start with a Wawa run, with a few more coffee stops sprinkled in between, depending on how long the road trip is. Now, that’ll be the case for more and more EV customers, too.
