Did you know that 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart? That’s a wild fact, and it speaks to how ubiquitous the big box retailer is. Did you know that one of the fastest growing charging networks in the United States is also Walmart? The Morning Dump is getting Socratic this morning because I have a lot of questions, and the answer to those questions appears to be Walmart.
Bill Clinton once famously said that there’s nothing wrong with this country that can’t be fixed with what’s right with this country, and the poignant irony of Walmart being the potential savior of the electrification project in America isn’t lost on me. Maybe the same can be said for Ford, which joined GM in having another good quarter (well, if you overlook the EV writedown) thanks to what it does well: trucks and SUVs.
BMW’s position has been a little shakier lately, and the company will join its German competitors in cutting back jobs. The difference, it seems, is that BMW is focusing its workforce changes more on managers than workers. Audi, more than almost any German automaker, is hurting, and last night it debuted a new vehicle it hopes will help turn things around in the United States.
Wally World To The Rescue
I will admit that, as a city-dweller, I gave into a sort of kneejerk anti-big box phase in my youth, with Walmart as the biggest target due to its success. Mostly, I viewed it as a symptom of a larger move towards sprawl and lower-density development. The hollowing out of American industry and the related China Shock can also be, in part, connected with the achievements of Walmart as pointed out in this interview with MIT Economist David Autor:
In the case of the China Shock, the benefits were experienced by hundreds of millions of people—everyone who shopped at Walmart, for example. The costs were experienced by only a few million people, but their losses were in no sense commensurate with the gains they got from lower prices. You can’t be like, oh, sure, I have no job anymore, but I can get a big TV.
The past cannot be changed, so we can only look to the future. Electrification is a net good for society, and certainly helps with local emissions (to say nothing of the impact on global weather). Walmart be helping with this, as it’s rapidly expanding its rollout of Walmart-branded EV chargers to its stores as my buddy Kyle Stock at Bloomberg notes:
“They’re steamrolling,” said Bill Ferro, cofounder of Paren, a charging consultancy. “It’s the right time to do this and they’ve got the right locations.”
Through June this year, Walmart opened about 46 high-speed public charging stations with 380 cords, according to the US Department of Energy. All told, there are now EV chargers at about 326 of Walmart’s 4,600 or so US stores, and Paren estimates another 300 or so stations are under construction.
Walmart declined to answer questions or provide any detail on how much more charging it will build, but acknowledged in a statement that it has one of the critical ingredients in an electric pump empire: scads of valuable and widespread real estate.
“Our broad footprint positions us to make EV charging more accessible for communities while expanding the way we serve customers,” a Walmart spokesperson wrote via e-mail.
I don’t live within 10 miles of a Walmart. I checked. I’m 13 miles away as the crow flies, but the crow doesn’t have to cross the George Washington Bridge. I do live close to a Costco and frequently use it as a gas station, and now I’m wishing we had a Walmart close by to act as an EV charging station.
Much like Costco subsidizes the cost of fuel through lower margins in order to encourage you to come into the store, buy things, and get a membership, Walmart is basically doing the same. While you charge your car or truck at Walmart it’s going to be very hard not to want to go inside and buy something. The company, similar to Aldi in Europe, is offering cheaper charging than average, with the lowest-cost charging reserved for Walmart members.
To be super cliché, what many people view as a bug (charging speeds), retailers like Walmart view as a feature.
Because many Walmarts are in more rural or suburban areas with historically mediocre charging options, these Walmart fast chargers could encourage more people who cannot charge at home to charge-at-store. Somewhat presciently, our former contributor Kevin Williams suggested this as the most obvious outcome in a piece for us a few years ago.
Walmart isn’t alone in offering chargers, it’s just doing this at an accelerated speed as it seems to be trying to take advantage of a lull in rollouts from many other companies.
Update: In Discord, TheSpaceCadet pointed out you can track the rollout of Walmart chargers on this site, which is cool.
Ford Loses Money, But It’s Good News
GM reported a strong Q2 last week as the automaker rolled forward with a mix of EVs, trucks, and more affordable vehicles than people tend to remember. Ford also had a good Q2, even though it lost money on paper.
Overall, Q2 revenue was down about $1.9 billion to $48.3 billion, leading to a net loss of $1.3 billion. So why is the stock going up? That $1.3 billion year-over-year loss was better than last year’s $2.6 billion loss, and reflects about $4.2 billion in “special item charges” related mostly to Ford scrapping a bunch of EV projects. Take away those special charges and the company made a couple billion dollars.
Overall, the company thinks it’s going to make more money than originally planned and have more cash, which investors like.
“We delivered another strong quarter and raised our full-year guidance, but the more important story is the growing evidence that Ford is becoming a more profitable, more disciplined and genuinely different company,” said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. “Our iconic trucks, off-roaders and hybrids are commanding real pricing power; our quality is now industry-leading in the U.S.; and profitable new adjacencies, such as Ford Energy, are opening fresh sources of growth.”
Barring any surprise fires, Ford also expects the F-150 production woes to get wrapped up soon, too.
BMW Is Reportedly Focusing Its Cuts On Managers
While BMW has seemingly weathered the disruptions in the car industry better than its rivals, it isn’t immune to them either. The company is looking to cut its workforce, though, curiously, Manager Magazin (which has a vested interest in managers, being a publication expressly for them) is reporting that the new boss Milan Nedeljković is aiming right for the middle.
The chain of command at BMW is clearly defined. Below the seven-member board of management, responsible for production, development, sales, purchasing, finance, and human resources, the automaker is divided into almost 70 divisions with their respective main departments, numerous sub-departments, and various group levels. In total, the DAX-listed company employs almost 12,600 managers across four management levels, with a global workforce of 155,000.
Too much, according to Milan Nedeljković (57) – and at all levels. As manager magazin learned from insiders, the new CEO intends to drastically streamline BMW’s management structure. The number of divisions could be reduced by up to 20 percent, with several units being merged. More than a dozen division heads would become redundant. Further down the hierarchy, BMW would also need far fewer heads of main departments, department heads, and group leaders. The company initially declined to comment. A spokesperson merely confirmed upcoming “personnel restructuring measures.”
Having worked his way up through middle management at the company, Nedeljković has a better view than most CEOs of the way his company operates and where there might be inefficient operations.
Hey, Look, It’s A Big Audi
Audi had a big event in New York last night to show off the new Audi SQ9, which is the company’s first really big three-row SUV. This is sort of the state of thinking at Audi right now, which has been tossed by lower demand for EVs, weakness in the Chinese market, and tariffs.
It’s an answer to the question: What if Audi took the Q7 and just made it bigger? Here’s how Audi describes it:
Audi today debuted its first-ever SQ9, a spacious three-row SUV built for the U.S. market and the performance halo for the brand’s full-sized SUV flagship Q9 model family. Delivering 591 hp (441 kW) and best-in-class 0-60 mph acceleration in 3.8 seconds, effortless performance comes standard in the SQ9. Launching in the fourth quarter of 2026, the Q9 and SQ9 represent a focused commitment to deliver a vehicle designed to meet the needs of U.S. buyers as well as those seeking a prestigious flagship SUV with effortless performance.
Dealers will probably be happy to have something to finally compete with the GLS, Navigator, X7, et cetera. The price of the regular Q9 will start at $87,700 and the SQ9 will begin at $118,000.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Ben Folds Five, the trio, just hit the 30th anniversary of its first album (the one that didn’t have “Brick” or “Army” on it). There are so many great songs on this album, but I’m partial “Underground” for its Laura Nyro-esque piano flourishes and, c’mon, the hilarious backing vocals from Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee. Hand me my nose ring, show me to the mosh pit!
The Big Question
Man, that is a 1995-ass song. What is the most 1995-coded car?
Top photo: Walmart
Most 1995?
Teal Blue Metallic Chevrolet Cavalier sedan
Walmart is the plague.
Costco, however, has long been studied as a rare example of a company that boosts local economies and wages. They also do quite a decent job on promoting and selling local products to the area of their stores.
I’ll continue to support Costco over Walmart.
One of the Costcos near me just added 10 Electrify America chargers.
Forget Walmart, I want chargers at rest areas. Easy access on/off the highway, and I don’t have to get off at some exit and make my way to a Walmart or similar while dealing with local traffic. My Sportwagen has a range of 500+ miles on the highway, which means I can stop at rest areas most of the time. I usually stop every hour or two. Lots of rest areas have actual areas to, you know, rest. Many have walking paths, trees, picnic tables, and covered areas scattered about. In West Virginia we once befriended a cow on the other side of the rest area’s fence. In the time it takes me to walk around and stretch, go to the restroom, and smoke a cigarette, you could add a decent chunk of range to a fast charging EV.
and with decent signs pointing to the EV station. There are huge Gas signs, add one showing the location of the DCFC. many times its at the back or side of the building.
It could make sense, depending on what sort of rest areas you mean. In my part of the country, rest areas are usually in the middle of nowhere, and getting millions of watts to the middle of nowhere is horrendously expensive.
Rest Areas seem like perfect spots but being state run, I can only imagine how terrible the uptime/performance of the chargers would be. Just did a 1300 mile road trip and stopped at every rest top on the way (shout out the freshly potty-trained toddler) all but one of them had bathrooms out of order, vending machines broken, out of order water fountains etc. Seems like a great way to generate some revenue for the state at rest stops to help upkeep the facility. However, I doubt it would be anything more than a way to line the pockets of a charging company with taxpayer funds unfortunately.
Pilot Travel Stops now have EV chargers, and the three we stopped at had at least one of the chargers being utilized. Seems like a good untapped market for most of the flyover states if you can get the electricity out to them
TBQ: A Neon in nitro green.
I came here to say Neon, but I knew in my heart that I was not alone.
I was thinking Neon, but in white. I remember the green ones, but those weren’t common. In the town I grew up, it seemed like every rich kid drove a new or new-ish white Neon their parents bought when they turned 16.
Perhaps not coincidentally, I was never jealous of the rich kids.
Hi!
Minor quibble: The Neon has to be painted in dark blue. The paint that seemingly was completely peeled by the year 1999.
The stereo blasting Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio.
I think the blue too as they seemed to be everywhere but the green was a good color. And it even sort of matched the key.
You just know, one evening when you need a Walmart charger, some Randy Quaidesque RV driver will be parked across the charging spots.
Good. I just went into a client incident meeting (on a client’s own screwup), and there were 19 people there. Four maybe could actually do anything about it, myself included, because they had the technical capability. Should’ve been four to five folks in total, and instead it was 19 people in where it was decided nothing will be done.
Why must 15 managers attend for a blip? Because their whole job is attending meetings to deflect things, protect their own butt, and ensure nothing gets done unless they can personally take credit for it for their next review.
What’s crazier is I signaled that I was done, as I won’t take their money if nothing can get accomplished due to their internal politics (partly for my own liability). They asked what would make me stay. I spiked the rate +60%. … and they’re willing to bite.
Yep. They’re willing to spend hideous amounts of extra money a day (12+ extraneous people, my rate spike, their devs getting nothing accomplished) instead of putting on their adult pants, being tough, and reassigning folk as necessary so everyone can be productive and accomplish things for the company and its customers.
I don’t even…
This is sounding very familiar. I wonder if what you describe is my company.
JK, I know every large corporation does this but it is just as stupid as you describe.
German efficiency, huh?
Walmart locations are usually attached to small shopping areas including other stores like 5 below, some fast food restaurants too (At least inside the city). I notice also Walmart has like a small “cafeteria” area where you can buy drinks, pre made food, snacks, etc like a seven-eleven next to the self checkout.
The only thing that I dont like is “people of walmart” is real…
Every time I go into a Walmart, there is always at least one person that makes me think of the scene in Family Guy where Stewie plucks the banjo.
The suburb that surrounds my small city has TWO Walmarts. Yep, two. They’re about 3.8 miles apart door to door. Somehow both are busy. There are very very very few EVs around here though. Curious if they’ll install charging at the one more likely to receive tourists.
“Selling bloated, gaudy, ridiculously expensive, inefficient, unreliable tech monstrosities that we desperately hope will appeal to the Chinese market isn’t working for us or any of our German compatriots, so we decided the best thing to do was to make an even more bloated, more gaudy, more expensive, less efficient, less reliable tech monstrosity and have a good feeling that it’ll be the one to win over the Chinese market”-Audi, probably.
I know we have some VAG diehards here that’ll flame me, but I irrationally hate everything about the Q9. I hate everything it stands for. It’s a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with the automotive industry today and is a grotesque monument to end stage capitalism that’ll be leased by well heeled suburbanites only to be disposed of in 5 years after its engine kerplodes at 50,001 miles and/or the screens on screens on screens brick themselves.
Hallelujah, holy shit. Where’s the Tylenol…
I guess my question is: Why is the Q9 any different than the similar vehicles that preceed it? X7s, Escalades, Navigators, Grand Wagoneers, Range Rovers, Land Rovers, GLS-Class, Maybachs, Cullinans, and heck, even with the VAG family there’s Cayennes and Bentaygas…
I don’t know what you’re on about with the Chinese. This car was built specifically for the US.
It’s about the same size as a Sequoia (the Toyota SUV, not the tree). The Q9 is slightly smaller than an Armada, smaller than an Escalade and tiny compared to an ESV or a Grand Wagoneer L.
Is it specifically for the US market? I haven’t seen that anywhere. Obviously they mention it being an American market forward product but based on everything we see I imagine they’re going to try to sell these in China because it’s leaning into a lot of trends from that market.
It would be silly for them to not try to sell it elsewhere. The human thirst for big machines isn’t limited to the US, but it was 100% designed as a US first car and it will actually launch here before anywhere else.
The Autopian’s coverage of it is lacking, as usual. It’s surprising for what is an incredibly important car for a brand currently in big trouble, but we’ve got $100,000 800hp yellow pickup trucks to cover. If Toyota launched a Grand Sequoia, there’d be an article on it every few hours for 3 days straight.
I totally get where you’re coming from with giant cars that don’t do anything but go to Whole Foods and expensive daycare centers, but as far as that type of vehicle is concerned the Q9 is on the smaller side, and there are much worse offenders.
Come to think of it, there hasn’t been a Slate or Ford small EV truck article for a few days.
I’m not entirely sure why people come here for breaking automotive news. There are plenty of outlets for that and it’s not the main focus at The Autopian at all. This site exists for weirdos to be weirdos and so the journalists can focus on what they’re actually passionate about without having to stress over the bills.
I don’t necessarily think they’re selective over what breaking stories they cover and don’t, I think it’s just not really the main priority of this site. I’m also just saying this in general, not trying to take a dig at you or angrycarmeowmeow.
The reasons I come here are to have interesting discussions in the comment sections, and to read reviews and opinion pieces from authors who I enjoy. I don’t visit any other automotive site frequently, let alone daily.
I fully understand that some people come for the shitbox articles, the WW2 Jeep builds, the RV stuff, and so on. It’s great that the site caters to many niches. But I also don’t think its fair to say that breaking news and reviews *shouldn’t* be a big part of the site. Some of us in fact do come here for that stuff, and wouldn’t miss a lot of the “weirdness” if it wasn’t here!
I actually like the new Q7. I just don’t really see what the purpose of yet another crossover is for Audi but I do understand how the bean counters found their way to it. I don’t think yet another six figure halo SUV is going to turn the brand’s fortunes around but we’ll see.
Anyone will happily lease you a gaudy luxury boat. What does this do that’s any different from an X7 or GL or GX whatever do? Audi got as huge as they did specifically because they weren’t like other luxury brands. They sold quirky, unique cars with amazing all wheel drive and, usually, good performance.
You’d choose an Audi over a Merc or BMW for those reasons. They were unique. The issue is that Audi is long gone. They’ve morphed into the same anonymous gray tech blobs as everyone else…and in their endless, very German mission to offend as few people as possible by sanding off every edge imaginable they’ve just become…well, bland.
I say this as someone who has loved Audi deeply for 20 years. For a long time an Audi was my aspiration. I’d know I finally made it when I had a new Audi….and now I can actually afford one but nothing they currently sell interests me outside of the RS3…and while that car is rad it’s both too small and too expensive.
The problem is if you wanted an SUV with a usable 3rd row because every summer you take the grandkids and their golden retriever to the lakehouse for a week, you had to leave the Audi store. Most of those people probably ended up at the MB or BMW store two dealerships down.
Per C&D’s article on the Q9 release:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a71938919/2027-audi-a9-sq9-revealed/
Seems weird to think China is the target market for these big SUVs coming out of Germany. It’s always very clearly been the US. The US is the largest market for large SUVs, by far. At the same time, it would be dumb to not try and market them elsewhere, including into the single largest auto market in the world even if that market isn’t the biggest buyer of that segment.
Good news #1: Most leases are three years, so no annoyed well-heeled suburbanites. They show up to the dealer like clockwork every three years for their shiny new Audi with more screens. This one might even have ads for the next Marvel movie right in its screen!
Good news #2: Audi’s warranty is 4 years/50,000 miles, so the dealer can resell the lease return to an
unsuspecting suckeraspiring individual. The dealer can mark it up based on the fact that it will have a year and a few thousand miles of warranty protection left.Good news #3: Most of the kerplody bits and software glitches will render the car useless by year 8, thus forcing the
unsuspecting suckeraspiring person to return to the dealership to buy another lease return Audi, because their last lease return Audi has kept them poor enough to prevent them from affording a new car.Oh, sorry. You wanted good news for the buyers and common folk, not VW/Audi and their shareholders. Yeahhhhh….about that…..
The Walmart near me, which I refuse to enter, has the highest charge rate EVSEs in my city. They are Electrify America chargers that can hit 250-300 kW on a good day. I’ve used them twice, and thank god my Ioniq5 can use that 250 kW juice because I dare not stay in that god forsaken parking lot for more than 20 minutes. I’ve heard anecdotally that this particular walmart is one of the worst in the country for shoplifting and judging by the number of addled meth/fentanyl heads that camp around the parking lot here it makes sense to me.
What is the most 1995-coded car?
Teal Geo Tracker with a white convertible top.
Came here to say this. I had a white Geo Tracker with teal and magenta graphics, and I LOVED it.
Every time I go to my local Walmart the EV chargers are all full, so it seems Walmart’s tactic is a good one. That said I have a Walmart+ subscription which includes free order pickup (I get groceries every 2 weeks for my mom who doesn’t have a driver’s license) so ironically I am currently paying for the privilege of NOT having to go into the store, but I don’t own an EV.
Love me some Ben Folds, saw him at a small venue years ago and recently read his autobiography.
Oh is that a good read?
Dude has been married and divorced a pretty insane 5 times? I’m curious how that comes through in an autobiography lol.
Is that the Ben Folds Five?
Bravo, lol.
He readily admits his screwups in it.
Five times? Jesus. Slow learner, huh.
When I was engaged, a coworker who had been married four times (left each previous wife after getting caught cheating with the subsequent one) tried giving me marriage advice. I just chuckled.
Honestly, might be pretty valuable information. In that I would do the opposite.
Yeah, I enjoyed it. It’s fun to read about the transition from being a poor dirtbag kid who liked music into a well regarded musician himself and the lightbulb moments which indicated to him that he was successful. I felt similarly about Dave Grohl’s autobiography.
SN95 Mustang must surely be in with a shout. The code literally has 95 in it.
Green with tan interior.
GM and others will pay in the long term for taking a knee and regressing. It’s almost guaranteed a new administration will not only reverse every single attack on emissions and fuel economy numbers, but take them a few steps in the other direction. The domestics are once again going to need a bail-out, for taking the cheap route.
I never knew there was a Walmart 5.2 miles due west of me, and in current conditions I’d consider best-case (11am) it will take me 35 minutes to drive there or 34 minutes to bike there according to google maps.
7% of Walmart’s locations currently have chargers, going up to 13%. I suspect the rail from Roanoke to Bristol will be completed before any of the locations near me are offering charging.
That said, how many of these will be full-time occupied by van-lifers in converted Brightdrops?
I think you meant to say they’ll be occupied by “lifted Rams with stanced out rims on low-profile mud tires”. Probably a calvinpissingonsomething sticker, too.
Little of column A, little of column B.
TBQ- FD-generation RX-7.
The Q7 has been around since 2005. One could argue the Q9 is their first proper 3 row SUV, though. It’s also pretty much the new A8.
Sorry, should have written “really big” or “fullsize.” Have fixed.
Walmart doing EV charging is hugely good news. They’re perfectly positioned to help with the road trip issue, which, in my mind, is the main difficulty with EV ownership. Plus them having the Costco model of very low margins would help drive prices down in the surrounding area. If you can just rely on a super Walmart to have fast, cheap, reliable EV chargers, that’d make for such peace of mind.
Costco would make a killing if they also installed chargers in a nationwide move. Think of all the hotdogs and pizza that would be sold, not to speak of all the inventory inside.
Ooh, maybe that’s why they’re tearing up part of the parking lot at my local store. It’s a tight store/lot setup though; I fully expect fistfights when there’s a gas powered car in the spot and a Tesla waiting.
Universal truth: Costco parking is horrendous the world over. I’m surprised there aren’t already more fistfights over parking – maybe it just needs a dose of “people of walmart” to setup the anger.
Its bad because people think they need to be 10ft from the entrance. I just park near the back and never have to wait.
Yours has parking at the back? I’m rather jealous.
Of the three Costcos near me, one is so bad that spills out to the roadway, another is perpetually just “full”, and the last might have parking at the back, but to get there you have to intentionally drive past the entrance area crosswalks.
I recall being at one in Michigan I stopped at that gave you the choice to get to the parking to either go past the entrance crosswalks or past/through the queue for costco gas.
They’d all do well with one of those modular structural steel multi-story carparks solutions.
My local Costco had a pair of chargers. They were pulled in 2017. Big mistake.
Costco by GM 😉
TBQ: A two-tone teal/tan Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer edition.
Who did Farley pay off at JD Power to get top spot in initial quality?
Didn’t realize so few Walmart locations had the chargers. They are very common in Washington state. Even small towns an hour away from bigger cities seem to have them. Maybe local incentives could explain that.
A lot more EVs on the roads in blue coastal states with high gas prices than in the center of the country. Makes sense that they’d start there.
Aren’t most Walmarts in rural-ish areas anyway?
Depends what your basis for comparison is. They are mostly in suburbs, including dense ones, so compared to a downtown core it’s rural and spacious, but truly rural America is almost defined by being a decent drive from a Walmart (and relying on Dollar General, etc instead).
The first two years I had my Bolt, I generally found myself at a Walmart on trips from Portland to Seattle. They were all Electrify America with their seemingly less than 25% uptime, but enough plugs that usually at least two were working, which was often two more than were being used when I needed them. A solid half mile trip to the bathroom and back, but relatively convenient compared to the alternatives, which were so few and often worse kept up in the early 20’s.
The last time I did the trip, GM had opened a station at a Pilot which has the benefit of a shorter slog to the toilet and easier access to the highway. I don’t think I’ve stopped off at a Walmart to charge since 2023.
If Walmart installing chargers finally makes it possible to take a fairly regular EV (something with less than 400 miles of range) across the North mountain states (Montana, Dakotas, Wyoming), I’ll take that as a win. I’ve nearly been caught out of gas in both Wyoming and Montana before. Politics aside, there’s just not much infrastructure out there for humans in general.
Are they Walmart branded chargers or the Electrify America branded ones? It seems they have leased a lot of space to the outside companies and those are apparently horribly managed and maintained.
Although it would seem they would get a lot of data on locations where there are a lot of potential customers to open their own so that may explain why they’re moving to install their own.
I believe Electrify America. They are the chargers made by Signet.
The 1995 Eddie Bauer Edition Explorer
You sniped me by 13 seconds on that answer. 🙂
I have no rebuttal to this answer.
Anything in forest green, but this is the final boss.
I was gonna say 300ZX, but I concede, you win.
Audi didn’t already have a 3-row SUV?! What, do they hate money?
The Q7 is a 3 row SUV… the Q9 is a bigger 3 row SUV. Highlander vs. Grand Highlander style.
Ok, that makes sense now. I got really thrown off by the line “Audi had a big event in New York last night to show off the new Audi SQ9, which is the company’s first three-row SUV”
Sorry, fixed
No worries, every good morning dump has a little friction. In fact, a frictionless morning dump is the worst-case scenario.
Costco is installing chargers too, via electrify america at the Chicago Lincoln Park location at least.