Contact your Costco regarding charging stations?!?

[wa2fast]

Costco is pretty involved in conservation I know this because every store I see has solar panels on the roof.

 

[planet4ever]

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.

I've actually been thinking maybe we should encourage "EV watering holes" in the part of the parking lot farthest from the store doors.

• We don't want people thinking, "Yeah, those snotty Greenies think they deserve all the perks."
• Less chance of being accidentally dinged or intentionally keyed out where there is little foot traffic.
• An extra 5 minutes walking to the store and back to the car would be 5 minutes more of charging.
• There's no reason a little exercise wouldn't do us good (or maybe I should only speak for myself).
• Not to mention all those old ladies with blue placards who won't be running over our life-blood machines!

Ray

 

[smkettner]

Trouble is running a long wire adds a lot to the cost of install. And I agree with you put us near the back with twice as many evse at just 16a. No exclusive parking privaledges needed.

 

[smkettner]

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.

The normal citation and claim on her insurance should be in order.

 

[RickS]

Ray I agree with you , I would prefer the charging spaces to be located further out, but store owners want them where they are most visible and other people will see what a nice thing that store is doing. Plus the install cost can be more also, but often times if a breaker panel or other service panel is in the rear of the building it could be less expensive.

I guess we'll take what we can get.

 

[OrientExpress]

I wanted to add my observations for Costco here in Silicon Valley. Our local Costco on Almaden Expressway has 2 inductive chargers, a small and large paddle installed next to the tire shop. I contacted the store manager, and while initially he did not know anything about upgrading the chargers, he said he would get back to me. I thought well that is the end of that, but abut 4 hours later he called back to say that their corporate offices are looking into upgrading all of their chargers.

I would encourage all of the San Francisco Bay area Leaf owners (or owners to be) to contact their local Costco store manager to follow-up on this.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

I have to admit I'm a little bitter at Costco still over this. ... 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.

If you get involved in requesting or planning a charging station installation, try to make sure there is a physical barrier that protects the charger from cars, pickups, etc. from running over the charger. Bollards - the concrete filled large metal pipes painted bright yellow - are some of the most effective protection. Some cars extend well over the curb before the wheels hit the curb. Other times someone may just accidentally hit the gas and drive all the way over the curb.

 

[DarkStar]

I contacted the Costco corporate office a couple of weeks ago and they let me know that there were no current plans to add charging stations at Costco locations that didn't already have them... No Costco charging here in Portland anytime soon!

 

[TRONZ]

Our local "grey" Volt is also owned by an employee of our neighborhood Costco. I have not met her but have seen her parked there just about every day. I would like to think she has said something to them as well. It should be a no-cost/no-brainer to swap out the old unused equipment since it now says "Tire Center Parking Only" on the spaces.

BTW- What year did Costco's start selling gasoline? Was it after the original EVSE's were installed???

 

[sdbonez]

I contacted the Costco corporate office a couple of weeks ago and they let me know that there were no current plans to add charging stations at Costco locations that didn't already have them... No Costco charging here in Portland anytime soon!

They did a complete demolition of my San Marcos, CA Costco (one of the oldest) a few months back and are rebuilding it now. I got a message from corporate when I inquired that they have no plans to put in new chargers

 

[DrRocket]

I spoke to the manager of the Northridge, CA (just north of Los Angeles) Costco. they have two paddle stations, one of which was knocked over. The manager said that corporate was aware of the upgrade and had put in a request to the City of Los Angeles, but there was an 8 month backlog.

Considering the other posts here, the manager may have been putting me on.

I'll send an email to Clipper Creek--the old EVSE's are theirs and CC will be upgrading/replacing their old units, right?

+1 on the concrete filled steel tubes as protection.

 

[thankyouOB]

what is the point?
Do you really want to spend more than 40 minutes at your Costco?

 

[Devin]

what is the point?
Do you really want to spend more than 40 minutes at your Costco?

Is that possible? Seems like it takes 40 minutes just to check out some times.

In the evenings it usually takes about 15-25 minutes in the queue for the gas. Given that our Costco is about a mile from home you could easily have a fully charged Leaf in less time than it takes to wait in line for gas.

To add to the irony, Costco is the closest big store to us and is within reasonable walking distance yet you could never walk there due to the size and packaging of the products. :roll:

 

[smkettner]

It would give Costco an edge on Walmart..... or does Walmart (or others) have anything in the pipeline?
Was it a government project that installed the original paddle chargers for the EV-1?
If Costco did not install the originals they they may just wait for the next program to update the existing.

 

[bodengroden]

I spoke to the manager of the Mission Valley Costco today. I had left a note last weekend asking if they were planning on installing a new charger. He said there is a pilot project to install some in San Diego Costco locations but since Mission Valley was not one of them he didn't really know any more details. He mentioned the confusion in the past with different standards and the like.

Anyone have any info on this pilot plan?

 

[GreenPowerDP]

I got onto the Costco.com website and sent them a 'suggestion' about upgrading the chargers at my local Costco.

I got a prompt response from the customer service team thanking me and telling me that my suggestion would be forwarded to corporate for review.

 

[Robert]

It sounds like we are all being given the run around. I have been in touch my local Costcos (I live in the San Diego area and there are 3 stores within 7 miles of my house) for months tyring to find out when they will update their charging stations (which as others have said, they are old and outdated).

After months, the store manager for the Carlsbad store told me she had spoken to 'Corporate' and they have no plans to install or upgrade the current units.

She also told me that the brand new Costco in the area (San Marcos) which re-opened on July 8, 2011 (it was torn down and rebuilt from the ground up and I am sure is newest Costco in the chain) did not have them installed which shows they have no intention of installing them.

We are definitely getting the run around.

For me, it is not a matter of depending on them to use, it is the point that Costco should be supporting the idea, like they did 15 or so years ago when they put in the charging stations for the EV1s which we never anything close to the wide spread potential of current electric cars including the Volt, etc.

I am not sure what else we can do.......

Robert

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Follow the money.

http://www.intrinzicitsolutions.com/vb/evconnect/index.html#7

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

Find out who paid for the EV Upgrades and let them know that EV Connect / Costco ran off with the funds without upgrading the chargers.

 

[Robert]

Thanks for the links, but from what I read, it does not say Costco received any money to update their current stations. In fact, the article's title: "Costco's New Electric Car Opportunity" and the subtitle: "Will new legislation get the big box retailer to invest in electric car charging stations again?" implies even back when the article was written almost a year ago (08.30.10) they were not sure if Costco was going to update their existing charging stations. As I said, from what I have learned they made that decision and they decided not to take the grant moeny being offered to update their old charging stations.

If you have other links that show they received money to update their stations I would love it. I would then bring it to the manager's attention. I would also send it to the corporate office to get their reaction.

Based on the article it sounds like Costco opted to not participate in the grant program.

Robert