American supermarket chain, Walmart, is to more than double its electric vehicle infrastructure, adding ultra-fast 350kW charging points to 100 stores in 34 states by June 2019.

Walmart will have 100 350kW charging sites online by next summer.

The points will be installed via Volkswagen subsidiary Electrify America, as part of a $2bn investment programme to extend its network across retail, dining, parking and other facilities over the next year.

These will offer charging at up to 350kW, or seven times faster than today’s 50kW rapid chargers, recovering 20 miles of range per minute plugged in, and readying the network for the next generation of electric vehicles with high-capacity batteries. It’s claimed that these are the first points to use the cooled charging cables from Huber and Suhner, which offer high power handling without requiring thick, heavy cables.

Access will be provided via a smartphone app, with pay-as-you-go functionality using the built-in credit card reader. Chademo and Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors will be fitted to each unit, catering for all electric vehicles on sale in the United States.

Mark McNabb, President and CEO of Electrify America. “EV owners need a convenient, reliable and fast turnaround in recharging their vehicles. Walmart is the perfect partner for Electrify America to bring electric charging services to EV owners who value their time.”