Need to park and charge during your travels? With BP Pulse’s DC fast-charging gigahubs coming to LAZ Parking, options are set to open up in the next few years. LAZ Parking, which describes itself as the largest, fastest-growing privately owned parking operator in the United States, intends to add DC fast charging for electric vehicles at its sites. With the company’s vast network of 1.6 million parking spaces in over 3,800 locations in 42 states and 477 cities in the US and Canada, electrification of even a small part would be a noticeable boost for EV infrastructure.

LAZ Parking has recently entered into an agreement with BP Pulse to bring DC fast-charging hubs to 20 cities over the next five years. The brief press release does not include an exact number of chargers, but considering that it means the installation of at least several at each site and at least one site per city, we are talking about a three-digit number of new chargers.

The chargers are expected to have a power output of 250 kilowatts or higher and be open to the public 24/7. Additionally, EV drivers will get up to one hour of free parking while charging. The company noted that in many cases, a charging session might be completed within 30-45 minutes, depending on the vehicle type and other factors.

The main topic for now will be identifying the best-suited locations for DC fast-charging hubs. The partners intend to “focus on key metros and other areas with a high density of vehicles including those with high tenancy housing, universities and hotels”.

Alan Lazowski, Chairman and CEO of LAZ Parking, said:

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with bp pulse. This agreement builds on LAZ’s mission to provide value to our clients and opportunities for our employees. By focusing on embracing emerging technologies, and collaborating with major stakeholders, like bp pulse, we are driving positive change and propelling the parking industry toward a resilient and more efficient future.”

Sujay Sharma, CEO of BP Pulse America, said:

“This collaboration with LAZ supports the delivery of our strategy to bring EV charging to major metro areas at locations where drivers are already going in their day-to-day routines. bp pulse is proud to be to working with like-minded partners who have long term commitments to the EV transition and are propelling the EV industry forward. These LAZ locations will be a welcome addition to bp’s own extensive real estate footprint across the US and bp pulse’s existing third-party relationships like our recently announced plans with Simon Property Group, amongst others.”

For BP Pulse, becoming LAZ’s preferred partner for ultra-fast nationwide charging is another step toward its goal of expanding its EV charging network in the US. Earlier this year, the company entered into an agreement with Simon Property Group, a real estate investment trust, to build 75 charging gigahubs with 900 individual stalls. In 2023, BP Pulse also ordered $100 million worth of Tesla DC chargers.

BP Pulse Gigahubs are to be rolled out at 75 Simon locations in the US.

The first BP Pulse DC fast-charging site in the US was installed at BP America’s headquarters in Houston, Texas. The general plan is to deploy more than 3,000 chargers by 2025.

Globally, BP aims to have more than 100,000 charging points of various types (AC and DC) by 2030. Currently, it has more than 35,700.