What's the deal with Shell/Volta?

[wilmerfjohnson]

Hi. My 2 go-to grocery stores installed Volta evse. They were rebranded as Shell. BAck in August 2025, Shell said they were all being shut down and would be removed. As of Nov 24 2025, the 4 stations at these 2 stores are all still fully functioning, and showing Shell branding. Not complaining, I get 8kwh from these for free while I shop. Was there a reprieve from Shell? Did someone buy the infrastructure?

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[l!ghtning]

They are still in the Chicaoland area as well, although it's mixed here... most are paid now (especially fast chargers) but some are still free. Didn't realize they were slated to shutdown. It's a shame as they are generally in busy shopping areas where you can top off for free.

 

[TaxmanHog]

The Volta's (Level-2) near me are at a Stop & Shop grocery store, it's been a while since I visited the location, I'll see what's shaking later this week.

 

[hturnerfamily]

all the ones I've ever had to visit and try to use were old, not in great order, if working at all, and not-so-easy to figure out how to activate... thankfully, there are so many more options now.

I want to say, though, that the New RaceTrac station, with two 'DUAL' CCS/NACS units, are actually the same charge provider units, rebranded as 'RaceTrac' 350kw EV Charging, but, the underlying software and small screen seem to look basically the same.

 

[xwing]

The volta station at our local Kroger was free then rebranded to Shell. These level 2 charger were free for a while under Shell. In August the started charging. $1.45 to plug in and .35 per KW. Seems pricey to me for a level 2 charger. Since I charge at home its no big deal, but I did enjoy getting a free trip to the store. I actually did not mind if my wife wanted to shop longer (LOL) with the free charging.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

I keep a mental list of the free charging stations in the near-to-me towns and City.
It is kind of surprising but there are quite a few around this area that are level 3 (120kw) Free chargers, one located at a GM dealership !

 

[TaxmanHog]

I already had a full charge to 95 early this morning for our trip to NH, which was scuttled because the Mrs. is feeling under the weather this morning, so we're staying close to home. We did get out to the nearby Dunkin's for coffee and egg muffins, then I returned her to the house.

I headed over to the nearby Stop & Shop, all the grocery stores are closed for Thanksgiving, perfect time to do a quick test of the L-2 Volta service after the short trip, my SOC was ~93%, the charging spot is a tight fit, head of the row near the store entry, no space considerations for handicap space allocation.

I loaded the Shell app which Volta stations integrated for its EV charging services, the terminal number is on the side of the unit near the instructions, QR code for loading the app and there is a CC reader. I activated the terminal, plugged the J1722 plug into my truck, the handshake completed in about 10 seconds, charging ring went from white to blue. The station is rated at 240v & 9.6 KW, you have 60 minutes of courtesy charging.

I let it run, the automatic shut-off setting was 100% so I lowered it to 95%, the session lasted about 7 minutes, then stopped at 95%, total energy was 0.8273 kWh. I didn't get a Fordapp end of session charging record, but I did get the target charge achieved notification.

Shell/Volta have several locations around the Metro Providence area, many are level-2 shopping center and mall locations and a few are CCS, I haven't explored the CCS services yet.

The start of the session & midway through it.

The start of the session and final record of charge via Shell App.

The starting time was before 8:45 which was the time when I changed the target SOC from 100% to 95%, at that point only ~2 more minutes was needed.

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