Wheels Blog: Shop While You Charge: Consumers and Retailers Are Plugging In

Ikea Ikea’s Portland, Ore., store is one of 16 locations where it offers E.V. charging in the parking lot.

Brian Wynne, president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association, recently drove his Chevrolet Volt to a dinner date with his wife at Stone’s Cove Kitbar in Herndon, Va. Nothing unusual about that, but Mr. Wynne was parked and on his way in when his wife pointed out that he could have plugged the Volt into the restaurant’s E.V. charger. It’s right out front.

“I think this kind of public charging, at restaurants, retail stores, malls, movie theaters and coffee shops, is going very well,” Mr. Wynne said in an interview. “Walgreens, Starbucks, Whole Foods, they’re all E.V.-friendly. The owners want to attract people to their stores, which is terrific. And you often encounter chargers in places that surprise you.”

On June 27, the Ikea retail chain announced it would add 24 additional ECOtality Blink chargers at seven stores in Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas, as well at its corporate office outside of Philadelphia. When the installations are done at the end of the summer, Ikea will have 55 charging stations at 16 of its 38 stores in the United States, Joseph Roth, a spokesman, said in an interview.

Mr. Roth said that Ikea stores draw customers from outside the immediate community, and the presence of chargers assures shoppers they can not only get to the store in their plug-in vehicle, but home, too. “Because of range anxiety, they might not otherwise have that comfort level,” he said.

Greg Fioriti, chief revenue officer at ECOtality, said in an interview that businesses featuring chargers, often right out front, “are making a statement that can be ‘we’re sustainable,’ ‘we’re leading edge’ or ‘we’re pro-consumer.’ Most of our customers are saying one of those things, and it leads to them deciding that E.V. charging is the right thing to do.”

The advantages go beyond image to the bottom line, supporters say. According to ECOtality, 79 percent of consumers will look for “green amenities” while shopping and 43 percent “are likely to return weekly to retail locations with E.V. chargers.” The Blink network can also provide retailers with useful demographic data, including how far charger users traveled to get to the store.

The relatively lengthy charge times of electric vehicles may keep their owners shopping for longer periods. “The fact is that E.V. consumers stay in the store longer and are more loyal,” said Mr. Fioriti. He cited a retailer he declined to identify whose Blink E.V. charging customers stayed in the business an average of an hour and 33 minutes, about double that of regular shoppers. “The company was blown away by those numbers,” Mr. Fioriti said.

John Gartner, who heads smart transportation research for Navigant, said in an e-mail that consumers have warmed to the idea of charging their cars while they shop. “Knowing that they will be adding miles to their driving range at little (or in some cases no) cost is a strong incentive to remain at a store,” he said.

Mr. Roth said that consumers using the Ikea chargers, even if they weren’t planning to shop, “could get something to eat, walk the floor and maybe end up purchasing something.” Ikea provides the parking spaces for E.V. charging, but for this customer and others, ECOtality installs the chargers and manages the Blink network, which charges members $1 an hour to plug in. Nonmembers can charge for $2 an hour, provided they arrange for prepayment.

Mr. Gartner said that kind of model works for many businesses. “The actual revenue from E.V. charging will often not be as significant as the other benefits to the property owner, so enabling a third party to manage the power delivery and account management makes sense,” he said.

According to the Electric Drive Transportation Association, other major retail companies that have either set up E.V. charging for their customers or are planning it include Macy’s, Walgreens, Whole Foods, Kroger, Tim Hortons, 7-Eleven, Cracker Barrel, Best Buy and Chili’s, as well as several major hotel chains. “Having a visible charger is a good thing,” said Mr. Wynne. “It sends a message about the company, and it provides an amenity in the process.”