Taco Bell chooses Tritium as it opens its first EV fast-charging station

Fast food and EV fast charging don’t often come together, but that’s what Taco Bell, a fast food restaurant chain, will be offering its customers in the US. The Mexican-inspired fast food chain has started to offer Tritium fast chargers, with the first Californian site opening this week.

The 6 DC fast chargers are located at a restaurant site in California with another 120 sites on the cards. These sites will be operated by ChargeNet Stations which are expecting this trend of EV charging at fast food restaurants to catch on.

The opening of the first station in California fits in with the state government’s timeline to ban all ICE vehicle sales by 2035.

The recent EV uptake in the US is outpacing ICE vehicle sales growth. Consumer reports suggest that over 70% of US drivers have expressed an interest in EVs. This is at an all-time high. Similar trends are being seen in other western countries too. 

As EV adoption increases, so will the EV owners that prefer to visit fast food restaurants like Taco Bell and others. 

On top of Tritium DC fast chargers, Taco Bell sites will be using ChargeNet’s software. This will be used to integrate solar energy and energy storage solutions. Each Tritium fast charger can deliver 160 km of range in 20 minutes at a cost of $20 USD.

“Call it quick food, quick charge,” ChargeNet CEO Tosh Dutt said.

“You can get an EV charge and a chalupa all in one easy stop. We are committed to catalyzing the EV revolution to ensure it spans all demographics. This is why we are working with quick-serve restaurants, where an estimated 120 million Americans eat every day.”

In Australia, there have been fast charger sites located next fast food restaurants, such as the Tesla supercharger in Canberra. This 6-stall site opened in Majura Park opened back in 2018 and continues to operate.

https://twitter.com/JudeBurger/status/1045829851167436801?s=20&t=iskvGRkANz87o9clDwWPxw

As EV adoption increases here, so will similar partnerships to offer a new experience to existing customers that also happen to be EV owners.