Electric vehicles (EVs) have clearly gained a foothold. The technology has reached a point where there is consumer demand for these vehicles, more so in some markets than others, and not just a regulatory push for
their adoption.

According to the Transportation Energy Institute (TEI), 21.6% of light-duty vehicle sales were electrified as of May 2025. Of this, 7.2% are battery electric (BEV), 12.4% hybrid and 2% plug-in hybrid. BEV sales are up 13% in the first five months of the year compared to the same time frame last year, despite reduced policy support. Tesla’s market share has dropped to 42.4%, reflecting greater market diversity.

TEI’s Charging Analytics Program (CAP), whose data set now covers roughly 11 million charging sessions per month, provides insights with nuance and feedback from the field. For example, the introduction of J3400 (Tesla) charging connectors significantly improved success rates. Charging sessions peak from midday to the afternoon, and businesses can leverage charging dwell time (about 34 mins on average) for cross-promotional sales. 

While there have been more questions than solid answers about charger deployment strategies, it appears that charger operators (convenience retail and otherwise) have made some good initial decisions.

“As might be expected, 73% of chargers are currently located on or adjacent to highways,” said Karl Doenges, executive director of the Charging Analytics Program. “When you expand the analysis, those chargers see 140 sessions per month compared to 134 for those further away. You’re seeing an almost identical utilization rate, which I derive as a naturally balanced market.”

Significant expansion of EV infrastructure is required to meet the needs of growing consumer demand. As TEI noted in an analysis by the EV Council Working Group, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the U.S. will require 182,000 Level 3 (Direct Current Fast Chargers, DCFC) public fast chargers and another 28 million Level 2 chargers (single family/multifamily/workplace/parking facilities) by 2030. While charging infrastructure is growing rapidly, there were still less than 13,000 DCFC station locations (57,032 ports) and less than 63,000 Level 2 public station locations (160,708 ports) available in the United States as of June 19, 2025, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center.

Show Me the Money

While the Biden administration was heavily focused on electric vehicles, the Trump administration has pulled back aggressively from those initiatives. The full implications have yet to be determined as each program is under review, with a tight focus on the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program. Removing federal funding for NEVI charger deployment is clearly an administration priority. Legal actions are expected if any program that was created, authorized and funded by Congress is defunded. 

The recommendation under the previous funding environment was to basically take advantage of every opportunity available to subsidize EV charging networks. However, Doenges noted that the free money has likely led to some less-than-optimal deployment decisions. Plus, the federal programs came with a range of requirements that caused issues for many retailers.

As TEI outlined in the EV Council Working Group analysis, there were a number of factors that hindered the use of public funding, including stringent compliance requirements, long approval processes, complex application procedures and restrictions on the use of funds. 

The analysis further noted that individual states experienced delays in the rollout of NEVI funding due to various administrative and logistical challenges. While some states have taken full advantage of federal funding opportunities, others created unintentional or intentional delays. Many organizations therefore moved forward without federal funding.

“Without the federal funding, retailers are not tied to any type of reporting schema,” Doenges said. “[The reporting was] driving people crazy, especially since some of the requirements were not emphasized beforehand. ‘You expect me to record my profits every year? No, we’re not going to do that.’ They’ve since tweaked things a little bit, but it was very intrusive with a lot of strings attached [to the funds]. Now, you’re going to see people coming in that are more serious.”

Profit Potential 

There is considerable anecdotal evidence that shows charging can either be a success or failure for a retail operation. A core focus behind CAP is to analyze charging data and take the formula for success or failure from anecdotal to scientific. 

“ROI really boils down to three buckets,” Doenges said. “First, how are you going to make money on moving electrons? And there’s a subset into that of demand charges and utility tariff rates. Then you have conversion into the store, and that gets into the physical process of how you convert EV drivers into store customers and then increase the basket size. Are retailers offering what the convenience customer wants? And the third aspect is monetizing the environmental attributes such as through carbon credits.”

Profit and Electrons

Profiting on the charge itself still faces a range of issues. A key one is demand charges, which sets an electrical rate based on the peak electrical usage in a month and can eliminate any possibility of a profit in a low-volume site. While this has been identified as a significant issue for years, little progress has been made with the electrical utilities—though a variety of short-term, limited solutions have been offered in some markets, like demand charge holidays.

Some retailers and solution providers have developed workarounds.

“Retailers saw that this is a very big issue, so they took matters in their own hands and they do managed charging,” said Jeff Hove, vice president at TEI. “They throttle back their charging session so they never hit that peak where the demand charge starts to kick in. The downside is the consumer is getting a slower charge.”

Some solution providers also provide chargers with battery storage. And demand charges cease to become a significant issue if the site has high volume, encouraging well-thought-out EV deployment strategies and the appropriate offers to bring in EV customers.

“We’ve had some groups that said it’s just a non-issue. ‘With our model, we know how to handle it,’” Hove said. 

Maximizing Store Profitability

There are a variety of charging outlets ready to serve the EV driving public. Convenience stores need to become a destination of choice for these customers. 

“The drivers are going to demand convenience items, and this can either be filled by the people that already have a convenience store or by different site hosts that haven’t historically offered convenience items,” Doenges said. “If a non-conventional site happens to have a bar with a little restaurant where customers can get a quesadilla while they’re charging, these locations will figure out a way to meet the customer’s demand. So, you might see a hotel morph into a little convenience store because that’s what the customer wants.”

Doenges noted that highway-adjacent locations must be on their game, and if they are, they’ll have significant profit opportunities.

“These drivers are probably traveling longer distances. Their batteries are more depleted so they’re going to be charging for a full 30 minutes or more,” Doenges said. “Do these locations have the right amenity mix? Or are they not offering what the driver wants, and so that person is walking across the street to a fast-food chain as opposed to going into the convenience store to get food?” 

This is one area where CAP can really help retailers fine-tune their offers. While there are other sources of data, CAP is directly focused on retailers and supplies information in a transparent manner and without hidden agendas.

“CAP is set up to generate aggregated data to really understand charging behavior, and how the business vertical, location, connector type or power level affect usage,” Doenges said. “The rest of the available data really looks at company-specific type arrangements, but with CAP you can see the trend lines and what’s really happening.”

Profits From Carbon Credits?

The final profit basket involves the potential for carbon credits. Carbon markets are set up to handle a range of industrial sectors, though that is currently not the case for transportation. TEI is working on changing that.

“We crafted a methodology so that you can generate credits on charging events,” said Hove. “As long as your system has a network system, you can pull those kilowatt hours going into the vehicle. We calculate how many metric tons of CO2 is avoided compared to a gallon of gasoline on a lifecycle basis. In doing that, this methodology can create the voluntary carbon credit.”

The potential outcome is $22 to $30 per metric ton, yet there is still a way to go before it can be calculated on a per-charge basis. TEI is currently adding data so that the model can be tweaked, proven and finalized.

“Fuel retailers are doing more than anyone else [to reduce carbon] with biofuels and with EV charging, and we’re just not getting rewarded,” Doenges said. “Now, because of TEI, we’re going to unlock the potential to truly be recognized, rewarded and incentivized for all the great work our industry is doing.”

So, what should retailers consider when making their charger deployment decisions today? The core original advice to the industry remains largely unchanged. Take advantage of any offers that remain to fund charger deployment. Look to expand charging in specific markets and even individual sites where the customers exist to support the service. And finally, keep up with all the research being conducted so that retail operations can be maximized to serve these customers.