Where do EV drivers eat while charging?

Summer is road trip season in America. Between July and August 2025, millions of drivers crisscrossed the country — and for EV owners, every long journey comes with a question: where do I charge, and what do I do while I wait?

Charging isn’t just about plugging in. It’s about comfort, coffee, food, and time well spent. At Paren, we wanted to know: which Quick Serving Restaurants (QSRs) are truly capturing EV drivers’ attention during charging stops?

So, we dug into the data.

Our Methodology

Dataset: US fast charging sessions nationwide, July 1 – August 31, 2025
Scope: QSRs located within 50 meters of a fast charging station
Filter: Only QSRs present at five or more stations; convenience stores excluded
Paren datasets used: US Nationwide Metadata, Utilization, Amenities

Takeaway #1 – Starbucks Dominates

If you had to bet on one brand winning over EV drivers, Starbucks wouldn’t be a bad choice — and the data proves it.

12 networks have at least five stations within 50 meters of a Starbucks, for a total of 105 charging sites near the coffee giant.
Over the two-month summer period, we counted 359,340 charging sessions near Starbucks — twice as many as Subway, the second-ranked QSR.
Drivers stayed longer too: 34 minutes on average, compared with the 30-minute average at other QSRs.

The combination of coffee, WiFi, seating, and brand familiarity makes Starbucks the natural winner for EV drivers who need both a charge and a break.

Takeaway #2 – More Stations ≠ More Sessions

At first glance, Subway looks like an EV-friendly partner: it has 118 stations within 50 meters, operated by 13 networks. That’s the second-highest station count in our analysis.

But utilization tells a different story:

Subway drew 174,770 sessions, but that translates to just 1,481 sessions per location — the lowest in the top 10.

Contrast that with Panda Express:

Only 11 stations operated by seven networks were near a Panda Express.
Yet, those sites recorded 68,956 sessions — averaging 6,268 sessions per location, the highest in our dataset.

This means that scale alone doesn’t guarantee desirability. Brand power, site quality, and location context matter more.

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Takeaway #3 – Fast Charging is the Norm

EV drivers pairing a meal with a charge aren’t willing to wait. Across the QSR dataset:

63% of stations had four or fewer ports, but distribution across port counts (1–2, 3–4, 5–8, 8+) was fairly even for most QSRs.
72% of stations delivered at least 150kW, signaling that fast charging is becoming the baseline expectation when dining nearby.

Two brands stood out: Dunkin’ and Subway, where over 70% of stations had just 4 ports or fewer. This could impact throughput during peak travel times.

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Conclusion – QSRs as EV Magnets

In just two months, more than 1 million charging sessions were recorded within 50 meters of QSRs. Put differently: about 1 in 20 charging sessions this summer happened next to one of the top 10 QSRs.

Starbucks is the volume leader, drawing the highest number of sessions and the longest dwell times.
Panda Express surprises as the per-location leader, showing that fewer sites can still deliver outsized impact.
And across the board, high-power charging (150kW+) has become the norm when drivers stop to eat.

For QSRs, this signals a growing opportunity: EV drivers aren’t just passersby, they’re a captive audience for 30+ minutes. For charging networks, it’s a reminder that brand adjacency can be as important as kilowatts.

As EV adoption accelerates, the big question is: will restaurants seek out charging partners, or will drivers continue to shape the map of desirable charging stops on their own?

💡 Want to dive deeper?

👉 Contact us to request your copy of the data, or book a meeting with our team to discuss insights for your network.