When the Racetrac chain of convenience stores was deciding whether to install electric vehicle chargers, project lead Rushi Patel started with a blank Excel sheet and a lot of questions. Did the financials make sense? Where is the best to install them? What features should they have? The answers to questions like these could go a long way toward establishing an economic argument for building out America’s public EV charging infrastructure.
“We found our guests using new types of fuels, like electrons, and we wanted to be with them as part of that journey,” said Patel, the diversified energy manager at Racetrac’s parent company Metroplex Energy. But he was clear that “it’s important to have an offer that does make money.”
Patel slowly started to populate his spreadsheet in 2021, filling cells with EV adoption rates, utility prices, construction costs and a range of other metrics. He also took the company’s executives on a two-hour tour of charging spots in Atlanta, where Racetrac is based. One was tucked behind a shopping plaza, the other was deep within the ... Read more
