Waffle House is known for many things: Massive fights, serving as a warning of particularly severe weather, and — much less than those two — waffles. Now, it’s about to be known for something else: EV charging, thanks to a deal with BP’s PulseEV charging wing that promises flood the American Southeast with 400-kilowatt DC fast-chargers.
BP Pulse, the EV wing of British Petroleum, is cagey about some of the details of its new EV effort. The company says it’ll be installing chargers at Waffle Houses in Florida, Georgia, and Texas, and that “other locations in the South and Southeast” will also be included. Every Waffle House graced by BP Pulse’s presence will get six EV charging spots, with “a mix of CCS and NACS connectors.” Beyond that, the only big detail we have is that the 400-kW chargers — an upgrade from BP Pulse’s existing 150-kW units — should be ready to go in 2026. At least, in the first few locations.
What we don’t know
We don’t yet know how many Waffle House locations will get chargers through this deal, or any more specific locations for any of them. Perhaps most importantly, though, we don’t know how BP Pulse plans to reinforce its chargers against the Waffle House regulars — to my understanding, some of the most pugilistic and bellicose people in these United States. Surely these chargers will need to be incased in rebar or Lexan or something, if only to ensure they don’t become collateral damage in the event of a conflagration. Most U.S. EV chargers can’t hit that 400-kW number, with competitors like Electrify America topping out at 350 kilowatts, so it’ll be important to ensure the extra wattage can’t be used as an improvised weapon. Though, maybe building in a defibrillator function wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Waffle House becoming an EV charging hotspot can only be a good thing. Charging infrastructure in the United States is a travesty, a patchwork of chargers that are too often slow, broken, or both, and adding more spots to charge up will help make EVs ever more practical. Add in Waffle House’s famous 24-hour operation, and you have a spot where you can sit down and grab a quick bite while your car charges outside. Just, try not to get into too many fights while you’re there.
