Chipotle Charging into an Electric Transition 

Remember when we broke the news that Subway planned to build EV “oases” where you could charge your car while a sandwich artist builds your dream sub? Well, in same vein of energy news you are hungry for, the Mexican restaurant Chipotle is spicing things up and going even further with electricity.

What happened: Chipotle announced plans to build new restaurants that have all-electric equipment powered by 100 percent renewable energy. 

• They won’t be retrofitting their existing 3000 locations with electric grills or heat pump, but they do plan on more than doubling their restaurants to 7000 locations so more than half of their restaurants will be electric.

Chipotle aims to bring their emissions down 50 percent by 2030, and this “responsible restaurant” design would help with that goal.

Join the club: More retailers are joining the fray with big names like Walmart, 7-Eleven, and Taco Bell all building out electrified infrastructure.

• 7-Eleven has even come up with their own EV fast-charging network called 7Charge (they could have tried a little harder with the name).
   
• Walmart already has 1300 chargers at 280 locations in the US and will install thousands more by 2030.

Don’t expect this electric fiesta to come with a free side of guac

Customers will likely have to pay to charge their vehicles, though these companies haven’t spilled the beans on their charging plans just yet.

Zoom out: As we’ll talk about in a moment, consumers are still hesitant about purchasing EVs due to concerns of limited charging infrastructure, but with the investments being made by retail chains to build out more charging stations, this will help with EV adoption.