Just last year, Love's Travel Stops, a chain of 520 stores based in Oklahoma City, announced they were bringing electric vehicle charging stations to seven locations in six U.S. states with a total of 28 EV chargers. General Motors also announced plans to install 2,700 new electric-vehicle chargers across the U.S. in order to boost demand for battery-powered cars. In fact, the company already invested an undisclosed amount to help charging operator EVgo, which owns and operates 1,000 fast-charging locations in 34 states. Of course, we already see many stations since Tesla's network of more than 17,000 North American chargers are installed at various locations.
And, in the next year, various auto makers will add to the electric vehicles trend that Tesla, the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Bolt have been leading. The industry predicts that more than 60 electric and plug-in hybrid models are slated to reach dealerships. Ford Motor Company is another auto maker that is making a serious push into electrified vehicles and said they will have 40 hybrids and EVs on the market by 2022. Nissan also plans to launch eight new EVs by early 2023 and electrify most of Infiniti's lineup by 2021.
Outside of Tesla's supercharger network, the nation's charging infrastructure is largely a patchwork of systems and is not ready for the onslaught of EV. C-stores must be ready to lead in this area, and we predict big changes as the EV market comes rushing into play.
C-stores have a huge opportunity to add to their existing infrastructure and prepare for the impending for charging stations. This will significantly change the current layout and vibe of the c-store industry as we have come to know it. Here are some changes we expect to see.