Philadelphia Wawa unveils electric car charging ports as gas prices swell

As gas prices continue to balloon across the country, a Philadelphia Wawa unveiled a new bank of charging ports for electric vehicles.

PHILADELPHIA - As gas prices continue to rise at a historic pace, a local Wawa unveiled a new bank of charging stations for electric cars that many experts believe is the wave of the future.

Electric vehicles amounted to less than 3% of U.S. new auto sales last year, but forecasters expect big increases in the next decade. Consumers bought about 400,000 fully electric vehicles. According to a Consumer Reports survey, anxiety about limited range and the availability of charging stations were among the top concerns consumers had about owning an EV.

Currently, electric vehicle owners charge their vehicles at home 80% of the time, making the need for EV charging stations at colleges, apartment building parking lots or even public streets less urgent. But that is likely to change as more people who don’t have a garage to house a charging station buy EVs.

The Wawa on Aramingo Avenue in Philadelphia unveiled four new EVGO Fast-Charging Plugs on Wednesday. As gas prices on the Wawa marquis board read over $4 per gallon, EVGO Vice President Ted Brooks said the timing of the new charging ports could have been better.

"If ever there's a day to extoll the virtues of public fast charging, it would probably be right here and right now," Brooks said.

Gas prices saw another increase overnight into Wednesday, yet again setting a new record for the highest price, AAA reports. The average price of a gallon of regular in Pennsylvania costs $4.39, while neighboring New Jersey and Delaware hover near $4.30 per gallon on average.