EV drivers are potentially key to building a bigger basket size, since the extended time it takes to charge (up to 30 minutes) means they might spend more time in the store—if you can get them to walk through the doors.

An important part of drawing EV drivers away from the charger is understanding their secondary mission after needing to charge. NACS Convenience Voices surveyed EV owners to learn why they visited a convenience store. While many of the reasons were similar to those of all convenience shoppers, EV drivers stood out in several ways.

EV owners’ responses indicated that they saw their charging time as a window of opportunity to top up on in-store offerings: 12.1% of EV owners stated their mission to enter a convenience store was to fill in a few missed items and 11.7% stated they needed to stock up. These two reasons were about two times higher than all shopper responses.

EV drivers also tended to look for an experience: 11.1% indicated that the mission of their trip was to try something new and interesting, compared to 7.1% of all shoppers. Stopping for a treat was another high-scoring need. Almost three in ten (28.4%) EV drivers wanted to treat themselves to an indulgence, compared to 16.4% of all shoppers.