👋 Hi, everybody! I hope you’re all enjoying some good food and cozy time with friends and family this week (whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not). For one of the biggest travel weekends of the year in the U.S., I’ve got a newsletter for you highlighting a vision for the future of refueling stops in a world not powered by gas. 

And if you’ve got five minutes to spare this holiday week, a reminder that I would still love to hear your feedback about this newsletter — and Grist’s coverage more broadly! Fill out this short survey to let us know what you like, and what we can do to make our offerings even better. I truly appreciate (and use) your feedback, whether you’ve got a lot to share or just want to give us a general thumbs-up. As a thank you, we’re giving away five copies of Grist’s climate fiction collection, Afterglow. Share your email at the end to be entered in the drawing. 🙏

This post originally appeared in Grist’s weekly solutions newsletter, Looking Forward. Not on our list yet? Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Friday.

Plugging in and filling up

A man charges his Tesla model 3 at a charging station at a Sheetz convenience store

A customer named Phillip Stafford charges his Tesla at a Sheetz in Virginia. Benton Graham

I love a good road trip. Although driving is not my favorite activity, there are lots of things I appreciate about traveling this way — the views that go by the window, the impromptu stops at interesting sites, the yaps with friends and family. The excuse to get Taco Bell. But one thing I don’t particularly love is a gas station visit. Sure, I’m happy if the bathroom is clean, and I might consider buying some peanut butter crackers, but generally the name of the game is to be in and out as quickly as possible. 

As electric vehicles take up an ever larger share of the road, that calculus is going to have to change. Technological advancements are continuing to make chargers faster — but for the foreseeable future, refueling an average EV will take longer than filling up a gas tank. And, as freelancer Benton Graham wrote about for Grist this week, that means that fuel stops could be due for a makeover. 

Many have argued that gas stations are the most logical places to site charging infrastructure. They’re already abundant, conveniently located, and recognizable.  

“The problem with a lot of current gas stations is [they’re] not that nice of a place to spend 15, 20, or 30 minutes,” Scott Hardman, the assistant director of the Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis, told Benton. That’s not so much of an issue for drivers who are just going to stand by their cars and fill up with gas, but what about EV drivers who need to plug in and kill some time while the battery tops up?

This need could drive a shift for gas stations competing to offer not just the cheapest fill-up, but the best rest stop experience. “Hopefully in the future,” said Hardman, “we’ll see more of them turn into coffee shops, cafes — places you actually want to be.” 

As Benton wrote, a few gas station chains out there are already known for their dining options. Wawa and Sheetz, beloved East Coast convenience stores that engender devout loyalty among their customers, are among those embracing the future of refueling, with EV chargers currently offered at more than 10 percent of their locations. 

These retailers are banking on making the refueling stop a positive experience. You plug in your car, then pop in for a milkshake or a Big Mozz sandwich while you wait. (From a financial perspective, the in-store sales are where the money is at.)

Whether it will work will depend not only on how good the treats and sandwiches are, but ultimately whether the chargers are reliable and safe. As Benton noted, an Electric Vehicle Council study from 2024 found that security, lighting, and 24/7 access were the top three things drivers wanted from a charging station, and they’re willing to go out of their way to find them. 

What really excites me about the potential for a different sort of roadside stop is not just the opportunity to munch a decent sandwich while I wait for a charge (as previously mentioned, I’ll be at Taco Bell) — but for refueling to be more woven into the fabric of the road trip. I imagine plugging in my hypothetical future EV at a well-maintained, well-lit charger outside a museum, perhaps, or a trailhead, or a kooky local attraction, or any number of other activities that are more than just buying snacks. 

We’ve talked in this newsletter before about an even dreamier vision for the future of travel — one where privately owned passenger vehicles are not the mode du jour. Maybe the greatest American road trip will eventually be on a speedy train, or a comfy long-distance bus. But in that world, it’s still nice to imagine that when we do use cars, even refueling them could be a more communal, fun part of the journey.

Read more:

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In other news

And finally, looking forward to …

… a different form of electrified transportation: e-bikes. Although they may not be the best choice for every type of road trip, two-wheeled vehicles will play an increasingly large role in how we get around — if cities design for them. 

🚲⚡🚲

Although you want to ignore the blinking orange light on your battery, you know it’s time to plug in. You’re just enjoying the ride so much — the rolling dunes, the sea breeze, your daughter giggling in the tandem seat. 

You pull your bike to a stop, and your wife pulls up alongside. 

“I was wondering when you two were going to pause,” she says. “I need to charge, too.” 

“Can we charge somewhere with ice cream?” your daughter chimes in. 

“Ice cream and a walk on the beach,” you say, grinning. “Sounds like a great way to kill an hour.” 

— a drabble by Claire Elise Thompson

🚲⚡🚲

A drabble is a 100-word piece of fiction — in this case, offering a tiny glimpse of what a clean, green, just future might look like. Want to try writing your own (and see it featured in a future newsletter)? We would love to hear from you! Please send us your visions for our climate future, in drabble form, at lookingforward@grist.org

👋 See you next week!