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Charging stations and Costco

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Jim Sinegal, cofounder of Costco, drives a blue P85.

Why aren't there HPWCs at Costco!?

Good question. There were legacy chargers at several Costcos, but those were inexplicably ripped out everywhere a few years back. They said not enough people used them, even though plenty of people relied on them. Just ripped out of parking lots everywhere. They were offered free upgrades to J1772 as part of an upgrade program and declined.
 
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Good question. There were legacy chargers at several Costcos, but those were inexplicably ripped out everywhere a few years back. They said not enough people used them, even though plenty of people relied on them. Just ripped out of parking lots everywhere. They were offered free upgrades to J1772 as part of an upgrade program and declined.

Maybe that would be partnership worth developing: Tesla Motors and Costco.
Maybe in addition to (re)installing charging bays and even as a sales connection with TM.
They generally have a car (Toyota, Honda or something) out front of their local stores.
I DO know they could not gain access to certain brands (BMW comes to mind).
 
Good question. There were legacy chargers at several Costcos, but those were inexplicably ripped out everywhere a few years back. They said not enough people used them, even though plenty of people relied on them. Just ripped out of parking lots everywhere. They were offered free upgrades to J1772 as part of an upgrade program and declined.

I guess when you get right down to it they don't need the incentive to get people to shop there especially considering people pay to get in.
 

I guess people like the option of bypassing as much of the dealer process as possible. Who knew :)

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I guess when you get right down to it they don't need the incentive to get people to shop there especially considering people pay to get in.

True, but they do excel at putting the Customer first, and who knows, waaaay down the line they could be a potential seller of Tesla, since they don't confirm to the dealer model, and lots of people like/love Costco. Unlikely I know, and probably shouldn't derail the celeb thread.
 
Costco has since installed J1772s at a few locations. However, locally they're too busy adding giant gas stations to their warehouses. An estimated $6,000,000 invested on pumps compared to zero for plugs.

It might even be commercially viable for them to install CHAdeMO in Quebec. The commercial electric rate is only $0.05/kWh and they would have close to a monopoly on quick charging, so they'd get a lot of signups. I have suggested this via comment card, without response. Someone has recommended I resort to old-fashioned mail.
 
Costco tore out my preferred parking space to build a gas station. Fortunately, Costco provides clean gas.

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:rolleyes:
 
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It's simple, gas pumps make money, electric plugins don't.
That investment they made in to gas pumps is expected to be recovered by those paying for fuel from said pumps. Unless they charge for the electrons the same can't be said of the charging stations (and there's a fair amount of resistance to the pay-to-charge model)
 
I don't really see much value for level 2 chargers at locations like Costco, people aren't there long enough to make a difference. We're generally in and out of Costco in well under an hour, so how many miles are going to be added? Maybe 15? That doesn't seem like a very big deal.

Level 2 chargers at a beach, concert venue, hotel, etc. sounds very useful, but for short term parking like a retail store I don't see how it would be worth much.
 
I'm thinking more along the lines of EVs in general, not just Teslas with large battery packs. There will be people that have both a local EV (small pack) in their garage, along with a larger EV for family trips and times they need more miles available. I liked seeing EVSEs at Costco. It helped to raise awareness with the general public that EVs are here now.

When we get to the Model 3, there will be a lot of education required for people on where to charge, how to charge. The more the public sees EVs in their day-to-day activities, the easier it will be when Model 3 hits. Just my opinion. But I think we need to be concerned about every EVSE, every location ... 'rising tide floats all boats' kind of thing. We need more EVs on the road. Even ones with less range that need to charge while at Costco.
 
It's simple, gas pumps make money, electric plugins don't.

In Québec Costco has actually gone to court trying to charge less for gas. iirc, the minimum markup over wholesale is 3-cents per liter. They would rather charge less in order to drive memberships.

240v would be useful to many EVs and gain Costco memberships.
If they ever installed CHAdeMO, they could charge a reasonable fee for its use and gain many members. There are several Costcos in strategic locations far away from the sole SpC planned for my province, so I'd definitely renew my membership, get the adapter, and often have 1-2 hours to kill shopping while recharging if Costco ever goes that route.
 
I don't really see much value for level 2 chargers at locations like Costco, people aren't there long enough to make a difference. We're generally in and out of Costco in well under an hour, so how many miles are going to be added? Maybe 15? That doesn't seem like a very big deal.

Level 2 chargers at a beach, concert venue, hotel, etc. sounds very useful, but for short term parking like a retail store I don't see how it would be worth much.

But they install them at Walgreens and McDonalds, and I assume most people don't spend more than 10-15 mins at those places. I think it's more of a question of gaining the necessary momentum and infrastructure so that it just becomes a no-brainer, and reduces the widely-held belief that there's nowhere to charge an EV. We (here) all know that's not true, but the big shiny EV charge stations really put the message out there quite effectively.