Love’s Travel Stops is poised for growth again in 2025 with plans to build new locations, renovate others, increase truck parking, and install grant-funded electric vehicle charging stations at sites in multiple states.

What started with one store operated by Tom and Judy Love has grown into a family-owned company with 655 locations of travel stops and convenience stores and a footprint spanning 42 states. Love’s now has nearly 40,000 employees and offers fuel and a wide range of services for commercial drivers and the traveling public.

Shane Wharton, president of Love’s, shared a preview of what is coming this year, the company’s 61st year. Last year, the company celebrated a milestone 60th year, but Wharton said it was a somber year with the passing of co-founder Judy Love. 

“As we move into 2025, we're going to continue to honor Tom and Judy's legacy. They've built a strong company and a company with a very strong culture. And we expect that to continue. We have the second and third generations active in the business and leading the business.”

New Locations & Renovations

In 2025, the company will build 20 new Love’s Travel Stops and renovate and upgrade 70 others. According to Wharton, those renovations will be major improvements.

“This is really taking older locations in our network and upgrading them to the standards that we have in what we're building, and have been building, the last few years,” he said. “It's not just a paint and fix; it's a major overhaul.”

Wharton said Love’s has a capital budget of a billion dollars for the year, which will cover the construction of the 20 new stores, the reinvestment in 50 of the existing locations, and some other items.

“A billion dollars is a big number, and that's on top of a billion dollars a year ago,” he said.

Such major renovations can challenge traffic flow and customer service, but Wharton said all 50 stores will remain open during the renovation work. He simply asks for customers to be patient.

More Truck Parking Coming in 2025

Love’s will add 1,000 new truck parking spaces in 2025. While the construction of new locations will predominately drive that parking growth, Wharton said some parking will be added by expanding parking where possible at current locations.

“By the end of 2025, we will be over 50,000 parking spaces helping out the trucking industry,” he said.

TVC Pro-Driver

A little less than two years ago, Love purchased TVC Pro-Driver, a commercial driver’s license (CDL) protection subscription service with more than thirty-six years of experience assisting individual drivers and fleets in reducing or dismissing fines, preventing downtime for court, and protecting Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) scores.

New for 2025 is the staffing of sales reps inside Love’s locations to help answer questions and sign up drivers.

Truck Care & Reducing Downtime

“Truck Care is a business that we've been growing pretty aggressively over the last few years, and we're continuing to enhance that business and optimize the products and services we offer,” Wharton explained.

Currently, there are 432 Truck Care locations, but in 2025, Love’s will add 12 more maintenance bays and six additional roadside service trucks.

Wharton pointed out that last year, Love’s rolled out the ExpressPoint service for Freightliner customers, in which Love’s takes on some warranty work for dealers.

“What we're doing in our shops are those types of warranty repairs that might take two or three or four hours. So, we're helping that driver get that work done without having to wait in line at a dealership, in essence, helping them get back and up and on the road quickly,” Wharton said. “That's been really well received. We see that amping up more in 2025 as more drivers know that we offer that service.”

He also noted Love’s Truck Washes, which started about a year ago, are a good tie-in to the maintenance and warranty work offered by Love’s. Love’s plans to add three to five more in 2025.

More NEVI-Funded EV Charging Sites

Love’s will also continue growing its network of EV charging stations through National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) grants. 

In 2024, the company was awarded $83 million for the construction of chargers in 13 states. This year, construction is expected to start on fast chargers at Love’s locations in eight states, which are:

• Alabama

• Colorado

• Illinois

• Kansas

• Kentucky

• New York

• Ohio

• Pennsylvania

Love’s also will have hydrogen stations coming online and compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in Pennsylvania and California to support transit authorities. Those will not be for public use.

Impact of CARB’s EPA Waiver Withdrawal

Earlier this month, the California Air Resources Board withdrew a waiver request it had submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency. California’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulations cannot move forward without an EPA waiver. If enacted, ACF would have mandated fleets achieve metrics for percentages of their vehicles that transition to emissions-free.

As experts speculate how the transition to zero-emissions vehicles will change without the pressure that would have been applied in California through ACF, and other states that seem to follow similar practices implemented by CARB, how does that impact Love’s plans to roll out EV charging and alternative fuel filling locations?

“There are a lot of things up in the air right now in terms of alternative energy, and a lot of changes have happened or are coming,” Wharton said. “Broadly speaking, we're in the highway hospitality business, and we're in the business of taking care of customers on the road, whether that's a professional truck driver or casual driver.”

“So, we know what they're using today, and we know what they may be transitioning to, whether that's EV, hydrogen, and so forth,” he added. “Whatever energy you want to put in your vehicle, we need to be prepared to provide that. We're going to continue to build, and build in the right places to be where they need us to be, and then be ready to transition.”

Increased Hiring of Military Veterans

The company wants to increase veteran hiring by 10% in 2025 and launch a hiring program for military spouses. 

“We hired 250 veterans last year, and we look to increase by 10% to a target of 275,” Wharton said. 

Love prides itself on offering growth opportunities for all team members. One such opportunity is the recently launched Fuel Your Growth with Love’s program through Guild, which offers free education opportunities ranging from GEDs to advanced degrees.