George S. May Business Blog

North Carolina McDonald’s installing electric car charging stations

“A new McDonald’s restaurant will open July 14 in Cary, NC, and will become the first location in the fast food restaurant chain in more than a decade to offer electric car recharging. The deployment of a ChargePoint charging station for plug-in vehicles is part of the Cary restaurant’s efforts to go green. Ric Richards, the independent owner of the McDonald’s, is building the new restaurant with eco-friendly materials and technologies.

“Our customers will have a dedicated place to park and recharge their vehicles,” said Richards. “McDonald’s is enabling a better environment for future generations by supporting zero-emissions transportation infrastructure.” The new “green” McDonald’s in Cary will open on July 14.

A McDonald’s location in Phoenix, Ariz., installed a charging station in the late 1990s to accommodate a previous wave of electric cars. There are also plans to install plug-in car charging stations at McDonald’s locations in Sweden.

Widespread adoption of plug-in cars will partly depend on the establishment of convenient recharging locations where drivers live and work. ChargePoint and other providers are installing its first charging stations to anticipate the introduction of electric cars and plug-in hybrids-not expected in significant numbers until 2011 or later. Analysts forecast that as many as 1 million charging stations will be installed throughout the United States by 2015. ChargePoint is a private fee-based network of charging stations, providing grid access and related services for owners of plug-in cars.

After decades of criticism for its questionable environmental practices-including destruction of the rainforest to make way for cattle ranching and production of millions of tons of unnecessary packaging-McDonald’s has recently improved its policies regarding energy and waste. The charging station parking spot at the Cary McDonald’s could be empty for a number of years-until plug-in cars are introduced and sold in North Carolina. At this stage, the usefulness of charging a car for 30 minutes or so-the length of a fast food meal-remains uncertain.” (source)

What hit me most about this story, is what an ‘about-face’ the move is in comparison to back in 2006 when they were criticized for giving away all of those toy Hummers with Happy Meals. For those who don’t remember, critics said that Hummers were the worst example of the lack of commitment to cleaner and more efficient vehicles by General Motors and other American automakers-and should not be promoted to children. Now, less than 3 years later, McDonald’s are coming equipped with WiFi and electric car charging stations.

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