Contact your Costco regarding charging stations?!?

[TRONZ]

I was at our local Costco yesterday and checked out their rather old Paddle style/J1772-2001 charging equipment. Not sure about other locations but seems to me they need to install some J1772-2009 stuff asap. Costco should be the "lowest hanging fruit" for getting new charging equipment or upgrading what they already have. I sent an email to their customer service center just as a heads up that EV's are landing in a little over a week. Was thinking of calling our local store and seeing what's up. Maybe if we all sent an email regarding this it might get someones attention.

Has anyone seen "current" equipment at a Costco yet???

 

[smkettner]

I plan to ask after I have the car

 

[EVDRIVER]

These should be under the CC upgrade plan if in CA.

 

[sdbonez]

They're in the process of tearing down/rebuilding a Costco near me right now and I've been trying to contact them (to no avail yet) to urge them to put in a few new/updated charging spots... we'll see. Haven't found the magical Costco contact that can make this happen yet...

 

[TRONZ]

I just got a callback from the Facilities Manager at out local Costco in Laguna Niguel. He was very receptive and did not even know EV's were being prepared for delivery. We talked about the standardized plug, how quite and smooth the cars are, when HE :!: could get one, etc. He thanked me for the education and said he would kick it upstairs to see who knew anything about dates for new equipment. I recommend that anyone with a LEAF delivery pending and shops at Costco to give your local store a friendly call. Costco stepped up very early to support EV's and I think it would be very nice to see their charging spaces being used right away again. It just seems right and respectful since Costco was there at the very beginning. Its all about education at this point and "assuming they know" was proven wrong to me today. Give your local store managers a heads up!

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Ones around here just have standard 110 volt so an upgrade would be a no brainer

 

[planet4ever]

Ones around here just have standard 110 volt so an upgrade would be a no brainer

I don't follow. Anything with 110 now would still be usable, just slower, keeping you in the store longer. And upgrading 120v wiring to 240v wiring from a distribution panel in the back of the store to a charging station out in the parking lot might be quite expensive.

Incidentally, the CostCo stores around here appear to have a paddle and nothing else. For those an upgrade definitely is a no brainer.

 

[garygid]

We have three Costco stores within about 5 miles, and another at 10 miles.

I have not seen the 120v sockets, but will look next time in the areas.
If there, they might be inactive, like some/many/most of the "older" charge stations.

 

[PaulScott]

Calling your local Costco is a good idea. It doesn't take more than a few people asking and they'll act on it. Also, once the L1 or L2 stations are installed, be sure to thank the manager of the store each time you use it.

As for swapping out the existing old style chargers, about 600 of the Avcons will be switched under a CEC grant given to Clipper Creek, the company that installed the original Avcon chargers. The "paddle" chargers are of two types, Large Paddle Inductive (LPI) and Small Paddle Inductive (SPI). The LPIs were used by the EV1s and Chevy S-10s and the SPIs are used by the RAV4 EVs.

The LPIs are pretty much not used at all anymore. There are only a handful of the Chevy S-10s left and they aren't using many of the LPIs in the public sphere anymore. Many of the SPIs, however, are still being used by the several hundred privately owned RAVs throughout CA. Some of these have migrated out of the state, but most are still here. We want to keep many of these chargers for those who drive the RAVs until the cars are all gone. I'm still driving mine, but intend to sell it when my LEAF arrives.

 

[garygid]

Do you know if Clipper Creek is planning to replace the SPI stations?

 

[planet4ever]

The "paddle" chargers are of two types, Large Paddle Inductive (LPI) and Small Paddle Inductive (SPI). The LPIs were used by the EV1s and Chevy S-10s and the SPIs are used by the RAV4 EVs.

The LPIs are pretty much not used at all anymore. There are only a handful of the Chevy S-10s left and they aren't using many of the LPIs in the public sphere anymore. Many of the SPIs, however, are still being used by the several hundred privately owned RAVs throughout CA. Some of these have migrated out of the state, but most are still here. We want to keep many of these chargers for those who drive the RAVs until the cars are all gone. I'm still driving mine, but intend to sell it when my LEAF arrives.

Thanks! I was obviously showing my ignorance. When I saw paddles I assumed they were for EV1 only, and I knew there weren't any EV1's around any more. Just so I can further educate myself, and avoid suggesting something to CostCo that would cut off RAV4 folks, an LPI is obviously bigger than an SPI, but if I see one in isolation, how do I know which one it is? More than a foot long? Different shape? Obvious markings?

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Do you know if Clipper Creek is planning to replace the SPI stations?

Yup:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/30/electric-cars-ipod-technology-costco.html

Costco and its ilk are in luck, because the state of California has just approved $1.9 million for a company called EV Connect, working with the longtime charging supplier Clipper Creek, to update approximately 600 of the old inductive chargers used to plug in such venerable campaigners as the Ford Ranger EV and the Honda EVPlus.

 

[LEAFer]

Costco and its ilk are in luck, because the state of California has just approved $1.9 million for a company called EV Connect, working with the longtime charging supplier Clipper Creek, to update approximately 600 of the old inductive chargers used to plug in such venerable campaigners as the Ford Ranger EV and the Honda EVPlus.

Except that the Ford Ranger and the Honda EV+ use CONDUCTIVE (not inductive) charge stations. So ... there's an error there. In reality the conductive AVCONs are being upgraded via that grant and in cooperation with ClipperCreek. The fate of the SPIs (paddle inductive) is a different matter and would be considered based on RAV4EV needs. (They can't be upgraded, and if needed, should stay, be maintained/repaired.)

 

[TRONZ]

So I decided to stop by my local Costco before they opened and parked my LEAF in the "EV" charging spots. The equipment appears to be in-op and now have bright red "Tire Center Parking Only" signs in front of them. Snapped a few pics on my phone and am thinking of sending Costco Corp a friendly email with the pics. Just want them to know how proud I am that they stepped up so early on to support electric cars and that real mass market EVs will be ready and waiting for them this time.

 

[EVNation]

So I decided to stop by my local Costco before they opened and parked my LEAF in the "EV" charging spots. The equipment appears to be in-op and now have bright red "Tire Center Parking Only" signs in front of them. Snapped a few pics on my phone and am thinking of sending Costco Corp a friendly email with the pics. Just want them to know how proud I am that they stepped up so early on to support electric cars and that real mass market EVs will be ready and waiting for them this time.

Where was this Costco TRONZ? I want to make sure it is added to our list of chargers. I see both Costco Laguna Niguel Marketplace 27220 Heather Ridge and Costco Laguna Niguel 27972 Cabot Road near you. Neither show as J-chargers yet. Also if you can, mail me the images at jeff @ ev-nation dot org, or upload them to http://electric.carstations.com/ That would really help out people.

 

[TRONZ]

It was Laguna Niguel and the EV equipment is in-op (non functional). I just want Costco to know that as soon as they get their gear back online, we will be there to use it.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

It was Laguna Niguel and the EV equipment is in-op (non functional). I just want Costco to know that as soon as they get their gear back online, we will be there to use it.

Oh. I took "in-op" to mean "in operation". My bad.

 

[Spies]

The equipment appears to be in-op and now have bright red "Tire Center Parking Only" signs in front of them.

So where you there to pick up tires? :lol:

 

[TRONZ]

So where you there to pick up tires? :lol:

Seriously! I think they "re-purposed" out of convenience for sure. The facility manager did call me back again a few weeks ago. Says that Corporate knows about it but not much else. A very nice guy who was very interested in what was going on with Electric Cars. Will be interesting to see what happens and when.

 

[RickS]

I don't know if he still works there or not, but the Costco corporate person in charge of EV Charging was Craig Peal.

I have to admit I'm a little bitter at Costco still over this. I have a converted Saturn which uses any regular 240 volt outlet I happen to have a plug for. Well the Costco near me was the last one in AZ that had a charging station installed and they were also the only one that had a 240 volt outlet installed next to the paddle charger. They kept a garbage can in the space and mostly used it for piling shopping carts in before they pushed them in to the main area, but after I started showing up and charging after a while I had their parking lot attendants trained to move the garbage can for me! Well one day I pulled in and out of the blue the charging station was gone! Talked to several managers and didn't get far, according to one of the parking lot attendants an old lady pulled in thinking it was a handicapped spot and apparently plowed right over the charging equipment.

Still if they installed a new charging station (the conduit and wiring is still under the ground) they would definitely atone for this in my book.