Mercedes-Benz plans to place its branded electric vehicle charging stations at some of Buc-ee’s convenience stores and Simon Property Group's malls as the automotive industry gets ready for a potential wave of EVs.

Mercedes will install chargers at 30 Buc-ee’s locations by the end of 2024, including stores in Texas, Alabama, Florida and Georgia, Mercedes said in a statement. Its charging equipment is also expected to be installed at more than 50 Simon mall locations in the U.S. and Canada by mid-2024. The Buc-ee’s and Simon locations are part of a broader $1 billion effort by Mercedes to install chargers at about 400 sites in North America by 2030.

The automotive industry is spending billions to construct plants to make electric vehicles and the lithium-ion batteries that power them. But EV sales have recently slowed partly because consumers are worried they will run out of power while on the road and have nowhere to recharge. The U.S. needs to quadruple the number of publicly accessible charging stations to meet expected demand, according to a recent S&P Global Mobility report.

Both the public and private sectors are aggressively trying to address the perceived problem of so-called range anxiety with new initiatives to install charging stations. The Biden administration said it will provide states with $7.5 billion to install EV chargers. On the private investment side, carmakers, convenience stores and real estate developers are all pushing to make more charging stations available for public use.

Mercedes opened its first branded charging station in North America on Wednesday at its U.S. headquarters in Sandy Springs, Georgia. The Mercedes-Benz Charging Hub has a lighted canopy and features equipment that can charge at rates of up to 400 kilowatts. That can recharge a battery on some vehicles from 10% to 80% in as little as 20 minutes.

“Our strategy is clear: focusing on where EV drivers are and where they are going to enhance the North American EV charging map while setting new standards for quality and customer experience,” Franz Reiner, chairman of Mercedes-Benz Mobility, said in a statement.

Chargers at the Mercedes-branded stations can provide power to any vehicle, not just Mercedes vehicles. Mercedes developed the station design in partnership with MN8 Energy. The equipment is provided by ChargePoint.

Some Mercedes charging stations will feature indoor seating and beverages. They will also come equipped with 15-foot-high lighted pylons that indicate to motorists the availability of charging ports.

Mercedes drivers will have the ability to reserve charging station slots in advance on an app, and some Mercedes customers will receive between six months and two years of unlimited free charging.

Mercedes did not disclose the specific locations of Buc-ee’s and Simon Property malls where its chargers will be installed except to say the first chargers at Buc-ee's travel centers will open by the end of this year in Texas, Florida, Alabama and Georgia.

Buc-ee’s operates some of the largest convenience stores in the U.S. with some locations having more than 100 gasoline pumps. But the company, based about an hour south of Houston, has seemingly lagged behind rivals in adding electric vehicle charging stations to its properties prior to the Mercedes agreement, which represents a majority of Buc-ee's locations.

Mercedes referred to Buc-ee’s as "the world’s most-loved travel centers" that are located "along key travel corridors and EV charging deserts."

Pilot Travel Centers last year partnered with General Motors to add more than 2,000 charging stations, and 7-Eleven has said it plans to create one of the largest EV charging station networks.

Simon Property joins a slew of retailers including Ikea and Walmart that are accelerating the adoption of EVs and adding charging stations to their properties.

MG2 was the architecture firm and Kimley-Horn was the engineering firm for the Mercedes stations.