The great thing about being from Texas is that you get to talk about Texas all the time and people have to listen. It’s a rule. I don’t understand it but, as a Texan, I’ve long been the beneficiary of such a policy. And yet, for all the listening about Texas that people from less interesting places like Delaware and Colorado have had the opportunity to do, a lot of y’all still don’t seem to get it.
Case-in-point: Mercedes-Benz’s impending charging network, Mercedes-Benz HPC, made the small announcement that it would be partnering with regional gas station chain/borderline cult Buc-ee’s to install some EV chargers in about 30 locations. This shouldn’t be a big deal except many people seem to be losing their minds about this and, seemingly, all those people seem to be not from Texas.
I don’t mean to be impolite, but being from Texas means that I’m not under any obligation to be polite, so: y’all are showing your ass a little bit.
First, let’s just clarify exactly what Mercedes announced here so no one gets it twisted:
Mercedes-Benz HPC North America LLC (Mercedes-Benz HPC NA), which is launching a network of premium EV charging stations across North America, announces a new strategic agreement today with Buc-ee’s, operators of the beloved and world-renowned chain of travel centers, marking a significant milestone in the journey to create a national charging network that redefines convenience and quality for drivers across the country. Mercedes-Benz will build charging hubs at most Buc-ee’s existing travel centers, starting with about 30 by the end of 2024.
Mercedes-Benz HPC NA has already begun work on charging hubs at numerous Buc-ee’s locations across the country, with some to be open by the end of this year. This collaboration underscores the commitment of both organizations to provide exceptional value and an unparalleled experience to their customers.
Though primarily a Texas chain, Buc-ee’s is expanding and will likely continue to expand along major travel corridors and therefore a relationship like this makes sense. I don’t feel like I need to explain what Mercedes is to people, since this is a car site, but I’ll attempt to explain Buc-ee’s. [Ed Note: Oh god, a Texan explaining Buc-ee’s. Buckle up. -DT].
The first store was opened in Lake Jackson, Texas in 1982 by a guy with the extremely Texan name: Arch Aplin III, aka Arch III. He gave the story a mascot, a beaver, and was committed to making it just a little nicer than your usual grocery store. Here’s a great description of where it started from this Texas Monthly profile:
“I think you’ll see it’s the nicest, prettiest store around. It’s very sharp looking,” Aplin told the Brazosport Facts on the store’s opening day. “I believe everyone who comes in will be in awe over the way it looks.” He made clear his ambitions were bigger than that one location. “If this one goes like we hope it will, you never can tell, we might have a chain of Buc-ee’s.”
If he dreamed that one day his creation might become a Texas icon, a temple of roadside convenience and everything’s-bigger abundance, and that it would even reach a point, in 2019, when it would outgrow Texas, he certainly didn’t share the thought at the time. He was just a kid from Lake Jackson following in his family’s footsteps.
Even Texans with modest ambitions tend to overachieve people, and in the years since Arch III has expanded the concept until he wound up with the world’s largest gas station in Tennessee, which has 130 gas pumps and more than 350 employees.
To call a Buc-ee’s a gas station is to call the Sistine Chapel a church, or the Taj Mahal a gravesite. Your average Buc-ee’s these days is a shopping mall, a restaurant, and as close to a spa as you’ll find on most major highways and interstates. They are enormously popular and I have, I will admit, withheld my micturatin’ for an unhealthy period so that I might spend my nickel at a Buc-Eee’s.
What makes them so beloved? First, they pay their employees above-average wages. The result is you don’t end up with gas station attendants who look as if they’re about to murder you or, perhaps, would be happier if you murdered them. The stores are extremely clean and well-lit and the brand advertises itself as having the nicest restrooms anywhere.
Plus, they have food. A lot of food. And drinks. They have jerky as far as the eyes can see, freshly made BBQ sandwiches, beaver nuggets, candied pecans (a personal favorite), and breakfast tacos. Is this the greatest food you’ve ever had? No. It’s arguable that the BBQ you can get at Buc-ee’s isn’t even the best BBQ you can get from a chain of gas stations in Texas (the best is from a random dude with a smoker and a giant worn Igloo-brand cooler setup in a parking lot of a place called, like, Major Brand Gas, the second best is probably Rudy’s). But it’s food in a safe and friendly place to park your car and get some gas.
This would be approximately the best place to put an electric car charger as, in my experience, the average person intends to spend 5 minutes in a Buc-ee’s and ends up spending approximately an hour and walks out with four pounds of meat, six bags of candy, and an ornamental lawn sign in the shape of a golden retriever that says “HOME IS WHERE THE ARF IS.” That’s plenty of time to charge your Mercedes.
So why are people being dumb about this?
Here’s a comment I saw today from the excellent Odd Lots Discord this afternoon:
First, rich people go to zoos.
Second, where do you think Mercedes drivers fill up their gas-powered cars? Do you think there’s some secret rich person, fancy place to drop off your GLB for some premium gasoline? Is every Mercedes electric charger supposed to be at, what, the Menil Collection? Get off yer high horse, buddy.
This isn’t isolated, though, look at all these responses to Sawyer Merritt’s tweet about this:
Nothing screams German luxury like a beaver in a trucker cap.
— Firworks (@firworksyt) November 10, 2023
You know what? If you took the average transaction price of every full-sized pickup at Buc-ee’s on a regular day and every Mercedes, my guess is the trucks would be worth more. Just saying!
Would love to see the Venn diagram of Buc-ees frequenters and Benz owners.
— Ross Nesbit (@RossNesbit) November 10, 2023
Guess what: For people who have to travel near a Buc-ee’s it’s a damn circle. You know why? People who buy a Mercedes-Benz EQS also like not using a bathroom where every surface is mysteriously wet. I’m sorry, Ross, that you’re too good for a great gas station. To the Citgo with you!
The greatest irony of these people kvetching (I live in New York now, I can use that word) over this news is that, at least on Twitter, many of them seem to be Tesla stans based on their social media profiles and the fact that they’re following Sawyer. Why is that ironic? Because Bucc-ee’s is already home to what I believe is one of the largest Tesla supercharger stations outside of California.
If it’s good enough for Tesla fans I’m sure it’s good enough for Mercedes owners.
They purposely discriminate against truck drivers, I can understand not wanting them to be truck stops, but to kick out truck drivers that are not pulling trailers or to even refuse to sell fuel to a day cab with no trailer is wrong. I will never go to one again and I tell my family and employees that anyplace that depends 100% on truck drivers to keep them in business and won’t sell the truck driver soda is a terrible place. That is not hyperbolic speech, there are many stories of bucees employees kicking drivers out or off the properties for being there in just the cab of a truck.
Once stopped at the Bucc-ees outside of Florence SC. There was a traffic jam on the highway ramp and in the parking lot. It is the size of a small Walmart or Target and was overloaded with people. Could not get out fast enough.
They did have a long line of Tesla Superchargers.
No one goes there anymore, it’s too popular. I agree. The bathrooms are clean but I have to wade through a mob of beaver-clad mouth breathers to get there.
It’s better in the morning, before the touristas show up.
I only go there when I need gas.
“Hell is other people”. – Sartre
Some people like Beaver Mouth Breathing…just sayin’…
I’ve resisted stopping there when heading to visit family in Fl b/c I feared exactly that from what I seemed to see from the road – I feel better that my prejudice was in fact correct in this case!
The clean bathrooms aspect is appealing, as a traveling sales rep primarily in Pennsylvania & Delaware, it does get a bit old after awhile having to stop and pee at a Wawa or Royal Farms and hoping that the liquid you’re ankle deep in is water, but knowing it most likely isn’t.
It’s likely mostly water by volume. It’s that last 5% or so that is so disgusting. Does that make you feel better? (It shouldn’t.)
Last time I was in Texas I charged my rental Tesla at Bucc-ee’s, I specifically went there after my friend’s house because imhad never been to Bucc-ee’s and was really wanting to experience it. It really was outstanding. Great food and any trip necessities you could want. I really don’t care who it is partnering with them for EV charging because it’s going to make sense. Bucc-ee’s is superior to any “gas station” or travel stop we have in California by a massive margin. They have room for the chargers and have been implementing them and this partnership helps streamline that process. With pretty much everyone onboard with NACS it really doesn’t matter anymore and I don’t want Tesla to be the only charging option that’s worth a damn. I feel like Bucc-ee’s and Mercedes will actually care enough to have reliable charging to maintain their great reputations.
Ugh, as annoying as Texans are when talking about Texas … Everything is bigger in Texas, especially the egos … I completely agree with everything single sentiment in this article.
Mercedes makes commercial vehicles too, remember. The Sprinter, Unimog, and the Metris we’re not getting anymore 🙁
At least we got them for a tiny bit – I still enjoy seeing Sprinters with proper Mercedes badges, compared to the original Dodge-badged ones. We could handle the truth, Mercedes.
Original were freightliner badged! Then Mercedes, then Dodge, then ram, then back to Mercedes. (Source, I’m in Ladson SC and pass the factory almost every day).
I would have liked Sprinters much better if had they bothered to include at least a little corrosion protection. The first generation of Sprinters in the US rusted very quickly. I stopped looking when I saw how badly the Sprinters were rusting after only five years.
As a Texan who lived LITERALLY 2 BLOCKS from a buccees that opening in 2016, I love buccees. I love it even more now that most (all?) have superchargers for my car and the cheapest diesel on the interstate for my bus. I usually fill up in New Braunsfels on my way to the coast
Man, you even typed New Braunfels wrong… It’s funny that the Town’s marketing campaign is based on everyone pronouncing the name wrong.
https://www.playinnewbraunfels.com/summer-in-new-braunfels/
I love it! Ya know how many times I had to correct different other misspellings in my autocorrect to still spell it wrong?!
As a Texan and previous Mercedes owner and current Tesla owner, this is a great idea. We actually told the managers at Baytown Bucees thanks for letting Tesla install their chargers there. We always try to schedule a stop at the Bucees in Baytown, Texas. As everyone has mentioned it’s super clean, has everything you need on a road trip and the Baytown Bucees already has Tesla Superchargers. Typically we are charged enough to continue our trip before we are finished in the store.
Wasn’t Mercedes one of the first automakers to start putting lit-up, look at me badges on its products? This sounds like a reasonable partnership to me.
Only down market trim levels.
I am English, is Texas very very odd, or just odd. America just seems unnecessarily peculiar sometimes.
Texans are generally in love with Texas. After having lived there for 6 years, I still don’t understand why.
I lived in South Carolina for three years.
It’s an acquired taste. I really love about 60%. Lots of fun stuff to do and amazing things to see but it is stupid hot and people generally suck.
As an adoptive Texan (I grew up there but was not born there), they’re all very aware of how odd and excessive the state is, and will complain about the parts that are genuinely bad. However, if you aren’t from there, then the general rule is that you aren’t allowed to talk bad about it. Texas is definitely its own thing, and its residents are extremely proud of that. If you meet a Texan that isn’t proud of their state, then they’re likely from California.
An interesting fact about the UK is that without London, it is poorer per capita than Mississippi, the poorest state in the US. The good news is that with London the UK would only be the 44th poorest state in the US.
Unlike the UK, while Texans like to joke about leaving the Union to which they belong, we’ve never been stupid enough to actually do it.
Texas has more Fortune 500 headquarters than any other state, passable weather except for Houston (and Houston makes up for it with chopped and screwed rap, grilles, swangas, and lean), brisket, ants that stand their ground, and no state income tax (the reason I moved there along with passable weather).
As of earlier this week, Ohio, of all godforsaken places, does have better laws on choice and marijuana, but one cannot win them all.
Texas was in fact stupid enough to leave the Union once. Didn’t work out for them. Cause you don’t mess with Maine!
That reminds me of another way Texas is winning. It is the state that people born in are least likely to leave, with 82 percent of people born in Texas still living there. By contrast, only 63% of people born in Maine stay there, with 37% of the people actually born in Maine not wanting to mess with Maine.
They’re trying to leave, but the state is so damned big it’s taking a while.
We have the headquarters for American and Southwest and two of the top five airports in the country, so I doubt that is it. People are somehow managing to get out of Maine, which may not even have air travel.
You know why Oklahoma is so windy? Cause Texas sucks!
Texas certainly has strong suction power when it comes to corporate headquarters, R&D facilities, cutting-edge factories, tech and biotech firms, and educated, talented, highly productive people. That has allowed it to have an economy larger than Brazil, South Korea, or Australia, produce 22% of US exports, and have the second largest economy of any US state, on track for number one.
Guess which state is #1? Hint: one that understands the concept of zoning, so that some MF’er can’t build an oil refinery next to your house.
California has, at best, a decade as the number one economy, probably less. Then it will be Texas
It’s more Houston than the entire state that has absolutely no zoning. But California’s hypocritical NIMBYism means that it can’t build multi-family housing for all of the homeless people shooting up on the streets of LA and SF.
I don’t know if being stuck here is anything to brag about.
“People born in Texas can’t afford to leave. Hooray Texas!”
I was wondering how they forgot the civil war???
The state is so economically dynamic that, like the Democratic Party, we forget we were on the wrong side. I’m from a state that was on the right side, and everyone I know in Texas is from a state that was on the right side, or Latin America, so it is easy to forget. People don’t talk about the “lost cause” like in the Deep South.
Understandable. Kind of like how Virginia seems like part of the north east now.
They keep saying Virginia is purple, but it’s not. NoVA is blue—then the rest is red with scattered blue enclaves. My side of the street I live on in SWVA is blue, and across the street is red. But, I will say we do pretty well: few signs, and we don’t talk about it, just treat one another as neighbors. As it should be
Texas has become part of the West instead of the South. Houston is really the only part that was ever Southern, and the influence has shifted to DFW, Austin, and San Antonio.
Being Canadian, living in Houston for 15 years, and now moving to DFW, North/East Texas has more of the bad qualities than Houston does. It’s the damn Bible Belt.
Eeeeeeh, having spent a lot of time living in northeast Texas alongside a ton of family there, I’d argue that the whole eastern chunk is pretty damn southern, with parts of that identity leaking over into DFW and parts of central Texas. That southern identity is strongest further east, though, where you get kick-ass cajun food, solid pork BBQ and a very, very, very similar vibe to Louisiana and the rest of the South. (Right down to the gossipy tendencies, full embrace of “bless your heart” as the ultimate screw-you, and sometimes deceptive “nice to your face” manners.) We weren’t included in The Southern Belle Handbook for nothin’.
Most of the state does see TX as our own similar but separate thing, though.
I’m a Texan that lived in the uk for 6 years. I find that statistic hard to see anecdotally. While I’m not doubting you, I’d love to see your source. I am looking it up myself just because I’m curious.
My family and I plan to move back to the uk in the next few years. Regardless of if, barring London, the country is poorer per capita than Mississippi, the quality of life is most certainly higher from my experience.
https://www.ft.com/content/e5c741a7-befa-4d49-a819-f1b0510a9802
Cool, thank you, I’ll have a read.
Alright, I get it. Texas is wonderful. And very very odd. And stupidly hot. And peculariaianly Texan.
Let’s not go mental.
It’s the Scotland of the US.
Also, depending on where is South Carolina you were you may have had a rather peculiar experience of America and not even known it!
Nice comparison from what I know of Scotland, which, granted, is from following headlines. Not a native but lived in Texas for 10 years in the 90s. What I remember was the pride people took in their state, which was very different than the other states I’d lived in.
I’m a Texan married to and English woman living in Texas. We are a bit mad, but when my in-laws come visit, Buc-ee’s is a requirement for them. Every single time. As many times as possible. I require as many Nando’s stops when I go to the UK, the require as many Buc-ee’s trips.
Nandos.. there’s a trip down memory lane!
They sell sauce at Walmart and HEB now. My wife buys me bulk packs off Amazon every Christmas. Now if they could get some Mr. Porkys, we’d be good
Yes, Texas is odd.
I lived in Texas the first chunk of my life and thought it was the best place in the world. Then I left and very quickly found out I’d been bamboozled. There are mountains and streams and autumns and springs out there! And walkable cities and decent public transportation and jazz clubs! There are actual places outside of Texas in which prideful ignorance is seen as a negative.
It’s a great place to bird hunt and you can’t beat the coast for wade fishing. I’m confident Houston has the best restaurants in the nation with the exception of NYC. Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy were among the finest writers this country has produced. Also, if you feel like driving from San Antonio to El Paso I’m pretty sure you won’t get pulled over for anything under a hundred, which is a plus because driving fast is fun and that scrubby scenery looks better in a blur. Other than that I recommend elsewhere.
I really missed normal seasons. I used to tell people that Texas (at least, San Antonio and San Angelo) had 6 seasons:
Spring – 1 month
Summer – 2 months
Hell – 7 months
Summer – 1 month
Fall – 2 weeks
Winter – 2 weeks
This is the most accurate take I’ve read in here. There are a lot of things Texas has going for it. There are also a lot of genuinely awful things about this place. Nowhere is perfect. We need more people here who IDK, leave the state and touch healthy, green, living grass.
Texas is probably the most nationalistic part of the country, they have a very strong identity and are proud of it – I’d say, perhaps, California, Hawaii, New York, and Puerto Rico are also pretty close, but have a different way of expressing it.
Texas is a big joke, except to Texans. Lived there 7 years, never going back. This article is clearly tongue in cheek, but many Texans are deep in their own mythology with no irony.
You lived in Houston, didn’t you? Bless your poor heart….
counterpoint: Houston is cool
Well, lookee who’s talkin’ about peculiar, warm-beer guy….
Oh dear. Do… do we finally have to explain this to Matt?
THERE’S A MERCEDES ON STAFF!!
WHY DIDN’T THEY ASK HER???!111?!??
SHEESH, DO YOUR RESEARCH, HARDIBIRD!!!!!
I don’t buy unbranded gasoline. Will Mercedes drivers buy unbranded electricity?
You mean they currently get it exclusively at the dealer, right?
Can you demand only premium grade Exelon-brand nuclear electricity?
Only Enron power will do.
I think that was mostly hydro and wind
Unlike Major Brand Gas, Buc-ee’s is, uh, a major brand of gasoline purveyors here.
Thank you Mr Matt for this fine article. It shows me the likely basis for a larger-than-life character in the Neal Stephenson novel Termination Shock, which I recommend. He’s a rich guy operating a chain of incredibly elaborate gas stops, who decides to take it on himself to address global warming by shooting powdered sulfur into the atmosphere. Just another way The Autopian enriches my life.
Definitely a good book, and the similarity in characters must be intentional
Squeegee Ninja!
Not sure how closely T.R.specifically is modeled on Aplin, but TR Mick’s is 100% Buc-ee’s.
Thanks. Yeah, I’ve never been to Buc-ee’s , but the article instantly rang a bell.
And to add one other element about how big Buc-ee’s is physically and what it means to texas… They will build new on/off ramps and overpasses on interstate highways to accommodate a new Buc-ee’s and put “Buc-ee’s Boulevard” on the highway exit signs (as was done in Denton, TX along I-35E)
Unpopular Opinion (as a Texan): Buc-ee’s sucks. If I want to wait in line to get gas and have it take a half-hour I’ll build a time machine and go back to the fuel shortages and oil crises I hear about from before I was born. Also, some interesting things going on in the Buc-ee’s family if you google Mitchell Wasek.
You’re not alone, I share the sentiment!
Is it fair to dismiss the dad’s stores because the son’s a pervert?
Three cheers for being over it as well.
Buc-ee’s is fine. It’s not worth waiting in line for. It’s only…fine. Just large. This has been my take on it for a while now.
Clean poopers trump everything else. Usually there isn’t much wait for gas, it’s just the crowds and getting in and out that is a challenge. We were lucky in that we lived not far from Lake Charles, and there are a number of “normal” gas stations that were Buc-ee’s Same standards as the megastops, but just your neighborhood store. Still with a small kitchen, and spotless restrooms.
To be fair, the last time Mercedes Benz formed a strategic partnership with a rapidly expanding organization it didn’t go well for most people.
The holidays are upon us and it’s time for corporate shindigs.
Every German company is proud of their heritage and would gladly displays their timeline. Yet for some reason all of them seem to have little or nothing to show for for a 15-year period. It’s almost as if they vanished between the Great Depression and some time before the Berlin Wall went up.
My wife visited a medical instrument maker in Germany. Many of the craftsmen have been there a long time and their guild certificates were posted on the wall… with swastikas.
Chrysler?
The Chrysler is silent
I did nazi that coming…
I only have one complaint about Bucc-ee’s: the stars at night are no longer big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas. These places are like little suns, bright enough to burn out retinas if you look straight at them. Otherwise, they’re fine.
“Arch Aplin III” Pronounced “Arch Aplin Thuh-ree”, right?
Never been to Bucc-ee’s, but I think this here is a dam good idear. Allus good to have a place to warsh up and grab some snacks while mah EV gets some lectrons.
(my Mom’s family hails from Grapevine)
Seriously, though, we need more charging stations that are located near food and entertainment instead of in some dingy back lot or dark alley. Good on ya’ Mercedes-Benz!
Gosh, THIS. This this this this this.
I think the point that the (facetious?) detractors were making was that operators of higher-end vehicles will indeed stop for petrol/gas/Benzin – because fuel stops are a necessary evil – but not everyone will want to spend a lot of time wandering around at a Buc-ee’s, shopping for weird stuff and interacting with… rustic folk.
On one of the CarTrek episodes, the guys were traveling through some part of TX and Ed Bolian said something about “stopping at Busey’s”. Someone on the walkie-talkie said “Guess who’s not from Texas…”. 🙂
I had to drive through Texas last summer (a grueling 12 hour round trip from OKC to Houston to pick my kid up from Bush International) and we stopped at Buc-ee’s and I was goddamn ASTOUNDED at how good it was. And how good an EV charging spot it would make. It’s like a nice truck stop without the trucks.
My wife and I love to road trip. It would make me deliriously happy if I knew that no matter where I was headed, I could stop at a Buc’ees to fill the tank in the Bronc and stop in their restrooms. Crikey, I can’t keep the bathrooms in my own house as clean as they do in a Buc’ees!
I live in Michigan. Last year, we drove our Porsche down to Florida, and stopped at a couple of Buc-ees on the way. They are just as fabulous as they claim to be, and we filled up there (both the car and ourselves). Staff is helpful and friendly, bathrooms spotless (and very large), gas cheap (and even with a huge crowd, no waiting with a LOT of pumps), and prices not outrageous. Plus, you could get decent food (including freshly-cut fruit). Next year we’re planning another trip, in our Merc wagon, and you can bet we’ll be filling up there. I also noticed the Tesla charging stations at one of them (can’t remember if they were at the other one we stopped at or not). This makes prefect sense to me.
I am in Houston- my family from other states always want to visit Bucees when they come, they go home with T-shirts, Pajamas and a healthy dose of Americana sold in the “Gas Stations”. Matt hit the nail on the head- 95% of Mercedes owners in Texas stop or would stop at a Bucees, I pull my XC90 between the Bimmers, $120k trucks and AMG G-Wagons every time I go in for my Pulled Pork, Summer Sausage with cheese, a new ice chest, a knockoff beaver branded Yeti, corn for my deer feeders, body boards, beach umbrellas…………..
Oh, that Mercedes
Given how big some Bucees are, I’m sure Mercedes would be happy to help facilitate fleets of loaner fortwos to help get around the larger locations.
I, too, was supremely disappointed that this was not an announcement of Mercedes Streeter’s partnership with Buc-ees. Damnit.
I live in Texas, I drive a lot for work all over the state, I never stop at Bucees unless I have to. It’s so over-rated for what it is, it was fun as a novelty, it’s not fun when they’re everywhere.
Also, side note, I service machines that print a LOT of Bucees shirts!
I dunno, on road trips we usually stop at Bucees because that beaver has the cleanest damn bathrooms in the state.
However, you’re right about it getting crowded though. We made the mistake of stopping at the Bucees in Alabama off of I-10 and we got in and got our gas and drinks and bohemian garlic beef jerky and chocolate covered almonds and pickled okra and a couple of banana puddings a floppy hat and some bbq sammiches with the usual hassle, but then it came time to leave the parking lot… Seriously, no hyperbole, no foolin, it took us over 30 minutes just to get out of the damn parking log and back on the interstate. THAT Bucee’s I would recommend you avoid.
Been to that one also. It truly sucked just trying to get off the I-10. Or back onto.
Love beavers, but not this one…