On Thursday, a Taco Bell franchise in South San Francisco opened its first ultra-fast charging station in the parking lot.
The restaurant chain, in collaboration with ChargeNet stationsplans to open solar charging stations at 100 Taco Bell locations in California over the next year.
“You can get an EV charge and a chalupa all in one easy stop,” said Tosh Dutt, CEO and founder of ChargeNet Stations. The ChargeNet stations offer an average of 100 miles of charge in 20 minutes for about $20.
@ChargeNetStnUS has its first “ultra-fast” #EV charging stations at a @Taco Bell in Southern California.
More than 100 Taco Bell restaurants in California will install fast charging technology from ChargeNet stations in the coming year.#uspolihttps://t.co/u99lzoD8nv
— Clean Energy Canada (@cleanenergycan) October 19, 2022
The companies say the locations are being chosen to make EV charging available in traditionally disadvantaged communities, providing charging access to those who may not have a home charging station.
California plans to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035, and analysts estimate there will be 64 million electric vehicles in the US by 2040. To date, we have built only 4% of the charging stations needed to charge them all.
That’s potentially a lot of cars waiting in the drive-thru that need something more than a chalupa.
“We’re solving a demand problem that we know is coming,” says Dutt.