TRONZ
Well-known member
tomsax said:
Done!
COSTCO has officially removed ALL existing EVSEs
- Thread starter mxp
- Start date
Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:
Done!
GoingGreener
Well-known member
+1 and dropped off note in suggestion box in SF Airport store today.
TomT
Well-known member
Redacted
Caracalover
Well-known member
+1 Additional link to take action now! (Same destination)TRONZ said:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Hjq%2FNUrf1pIE07w2BitVylqoXUC%2FWE6I
thankyouOB
Well-known member
done
abasile
Well-known member
Finally got around to doing something about this. Here's my letter:
Packet
Well-known member
Up here in Washington state, Costco never installed any chargers in the past. However, there's a huge local push -- especially on the eastside -- for charging infrastructure, and Costco's headquartered locally (hence why their store brand is 'Kirkland Signature'). I wonder if that could be used to help push the idea... plus, I think lots of EV drivers would be more than willing to have pay-to-park charging spaces.
(Mind you, my local Costco is right across the street from the Nissan dealer I got my LEAF at, so I'm covered; I can just pull in there, plug in, walk across the crosswalk to Costco.)
(Mind you, my local Costco is right across the street from the Nissan dealer I got my LEAF at, so I'm covered; I can just pull in there, plug in, walk across the crosswalk to Costco.)
VikeKen
Active member
Done.
And maybe those full mailboxes are a good sign!
And maybe those full mailboxes are a good sign!
thew
Well-known member
me to!
+1
+1
Caracalover
Well-known member
Burbank (still) has a charger, it is along the north wall, about 20-30 spaces away from the door - a nice shady spot in the afternoon.mogur said:
TomT
Well-known member
J1772 or old style?
Caracalover said:
Desertstraw
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Messages
- 250
Who needs Costco chargers, the parade is passing them by? Here is my post from the Phoenix thread:
This is an item in today's news: "Sixteen electric-vehicle charging stations being installed at Pima County libraries this month are part of a network of 125 stations slated for the entire Tucson area by the end of 2011, officials said Friday."
It was stated in the article that the same program will put charging stations in Phoenix. Does anyone know the details.
There are only two or three Costco stores in Tucson.
This is an item in today's news: "Sixteen electric-vehicle charging stations being installed at Pima County libraries this month are part of a network of 125 stations slated for the entire Tucson area by the end of 2011, officials said Friday."
It was stated in the article that the same program will put charging stations in Phoenix. Does anyone know the details.
There are only two or three Costco stores in Tucson.
KeiJidosha
Well-known member
I understand the lack of enthusiasm outside California. But here, one of the issues holding up public charging infrastructure is finding site owners willing to host a charger. Costco is the low hanging fruit as the construction and permits are already in place an paid for. And the update is FREE. If you can’t persuade Costco to except free, something is wrong with the business model for public charging infrastructure, or the EV community is non grata.
Electric4Me
Well-known member
Desertstraw said:
Who needs more chargers? We all do. 18 opportunities to charge is mo betta than 16. :lol:
EVDRIVER
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2010
- Messages
- 6,753
saywatt said:
Their EVSEs are used by many in some markets and drive revenue, I know this as a fact. It is not going to drive up prices for free units and added incremental revenue as a result. In addition, it is more costly for them to remove them over taking the free ones. This is complete foolishness.
occ
Well-known member
KeiJidosha said:
Also done. And also got the same email return message...so did you get any other notification KeiJidosha?
Costco 'Voltaville' chargers are no more
Well, just stopped by the chargers at Vacaville Costco store and they were just pouring in the cement into the empty conduit. The maintenance lead who was doing this told me that there are no new electric cars out there - I had my red Leaf parked right there in front of him and the guy wanted to tell me that it wasn't electric and new. So I did my little free promotion for the Nissan Leaf - showed him the connectors etc. He was a little embarrassed at the end and promised to take out the cement from the conduit if the chargers come back. As it is now all chargers had been removed - I guess this work was done yesterday.
I had a long talk last week with the 2 managers in charge for Vacaville - they had absolutely no objections the chargers, there were no problems with not enough parking spaces or being iced - they were just instructed by Costco's main office to make them go away.
Very sad!
If anyone holds Costco stock - please bring it up at the next stockholders meeting if you have the strength. Otherwise I will reduce my shopping at Costco as much as possible.
If you need a picture of the crime scene rush me a short email
greetings
eugen
Well, just stopped by the chargers at Vacaville Costco store and they were just pouring in the cement into the empty conduit. The maintenance lead who was doing this told me that there are no new electric cars out there - I had my red Leaf parked right there in front of him and the guy wanted to tell me that it wasn't electric and new. So I did my little free promotion for the Nissan Leaf - showed him the connectors etc. He was a little embarrassed at the end and promised to take out the cement from the conduit if the chargers come back. As it is now all chargers had been removed - I guess this work was done yesterday.
I had a long talk last week with the 2 managers in charge for Vacaville - they had absolutely no objections the chargers, there were no problems with not enough parking spaces or being iced - they were just instructed by Costco's main office to make them go away.
Very sad!
If anyone holds Costco stock - please bring it up at the next stockholders meeting if you have the strength. Otherwise I will reduce my shopping at Costco as much as possible.
If you need a picture of the crime scene rush me a short email
greetings
eugen
Originally I wasn't going to post this publicly but since there's been repeated reports of Costco spending money to pour concrete when they could have spent no money and upgraded their chargers, here's my email exchange:
From Craig Peal on 8/8/2011:
Kevin,
I wanted to respond to your inquiry below. There has been no corporate directive to remove all existing electric car chargers from all Costco locations. We have recommended to locations that if they have older style car chargers that are not operational that they should be removed, donated and the wires capped for safety reasons since these chargers are out of production and are not compatible with the newer electric cars arriving in the market. Many of these older style chargers never see any use so individual locations have the authority to remove additional older style chargers if they wish.
We have ongoing conversations with most of the car charger manufacturers regarding their products and their ability to service those products in the field. We do not currently have any defined plans to roll out new car chargers. When, where and how many EV chargers we install will be driven by member requests at each location and understanding how we can respond to those requests in a way that makes sense for our business and our members.
We are just now starting to get a sense of what the real market penetration of electric vehicles with our membership base is and we learned the hard way 10 years ago that building out a network of chargers based on industry projections is a risky endeavor.
Thanks for your interest and feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
Craig Peal
AVP Energy & Bldg. Controls
Costco Wholesale
[email protected]
From: Kevin
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 2:31 PM
To: Stephanie Grant
Subject: Fwd: Other
Stephanie,
Because you are listed on the Costco.com website as the membership contact, I wanted to forward the below email exchange I had with customer service to you. My concern is that Costco was a leader in the green movement by putting electric vehicle chargers in place many years ago but for some reason, despite Costco's other green initiatives, the corporate direction seems to have been going backwards on this one. Also, it's quite a disservice to members to fail to take advantage of free programs to upgrade this infrastructure. I could understand the decision if there was a cost to the corporation, but since the equipment and logistics are being handled through the grant program, there really is no cost to Costco to have this benefit for members continued.
Thank you for your time,
Kevin
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Costco MemberServices <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Subject: Re: Other
To: kevin
Dear Kevin,
We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale.
Your feedback has been forwarded to our Corporate Office. Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with us.
Thank you,
Sue
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Sue,
I appreciate your taking the time to reply to me. I cannot understand the lack of foresight and decision not to upgrade the existing chargers since it is FREE!! The vast majority of the chargers are installed in California and the State of California has provided a grant to cover the complete cost of updating the chargers. To not take advantage of free money to the benefit of Costco Members is simply irresponsible. What makes the situation all the more maddening is that Costco needs to do nothing to have the existing chargers upgraded other than fill out a form. The Center for Sustainable Energy will then handle all the logistics.
This matter needs to be reviewed again.
Sincerely,
Kevin
On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 10:48 AM, Costco MemberServices <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Kevin,
We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale.
As of today's date we have no plans to update the outdated electric vehicle stations. It was presented to upper management but the decision was to not embark on a major installation as of yet.
The decision was primarily made because of the use (or should we say non-use) of the units a few years back. PLUS sales of the electric car are currently minimal,so once the trend starts to shift is when it will be revisited.
Thank you,
Sue
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Note this message was submitted through the costco.com web site customer suggestion page on 08/05/2011 09:53:27 PST
Comment/Suggestion/Request/Question Text:
There has been really disturbing news on electric vehicle forums that Costco has made a corporate decision to remove all of the existing electric vehicle charging infrastructure at Costco Warehouses. As a Costco member and electric vehicle owner I must say I am very concerned at Costco's direction on this issue. While other corporate entities are jumping at the opportunity to serve the rapidly growing EV market, Costco, once a corporate leader in this area, is moving backwards. Not only is this short sighted, but your latest issue of Costco Connection was touting your green initiatives, while at the same time abandoning one of the greenest things Costco has ever done, supporting a public EV infrastructure. I urge you to reconsider and instead of removing the existing chargers, take advantage of the FREE upgrade to those chargers offered by the Center for Sustainable Energy. If Costco does indeed remove all of its charging stations it will definitely affect my decision to renew my membership or recommend Costco as a place to do business.
From Craig Peal on 8/8/2011:
Kevin,
I wanted to respond to your inquiry below. There has been no corporate directive to remove all existing electric car chargers from all Costco locations. We have recommended to locations that if they have older style car chargers that are not operational that they should be removed, donated and the wires capped for safety reasons since these chargers are out of production and are not compatible with the newer electric cars arriving in the market. Many of these older style chargers never see any use so individual locations have the authority to remove additional older style chargers if they wish.
We have ongoing conversations with most of the car charger manufacturers regarding their products and their ability to service those products in the field. We do not currently have any defined plans to roll out new car chargers. When, where and how many EV chargers we install will be driven by member requests at each location and understanding how we can respond to those requests in a way that makes sense for our business and our members.
We are just now starting to get a sense of what the real market penetration of electric vehicles with our membership base is and we learned the hard way 10 years ago that building out a network of chargers based on industry projections is a risky endeavor.
Thanks for your interest and feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
Craig Peal
AVP Energy & Bldg. Controls
Costco Wholesale
[email protected]
From: Kevin
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 2:31 PM
To: Stephanie Grant
Subject: Fwd: Other
Stephanie,
Because you are listed on the Costco.com website as the membership contact, I wanted to forward the below email exchange I had with customer service to you. My concern is that Costco was a leader in the green movement by putting electric vehicle chargers in place many years ago but for some reason, despite Costco's other green initiatives, the corporate direction seems to have been going backwards on this one. Also, it's quite a disservice to members to fail to take advantage of free programs to upgrade this infrastructure. I could understand the decision if there was a cost to the corporation, but since the equipment and logistics are being handled through the grant program, there really is no cost to Costco to have this benefit for members continued.
Thank you for your time,
Kevin
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Costco MemberServices <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Subject: Re: Other
To: kevin
Dear Kevin,
We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale.
Your feedback has been forwarded to our Corporate Office. Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with us.
Thank you,
Sue
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Sue,
I appreciate your taking the time to reply to me. I cannot understand the lack of foresight and decision not to upgrade the existing chargers since it is FREE!! The vast majority of the chargers are installed in California and the State of California has provided a grant to cover the complete cost of updating the chargers. To not take advantage of free money to the benefit of Costco Members is simply irresponsible. What makes the situation all the more maddening is that Costco needs to do nothing to have the existing chargers upgraded other than fill out a form. The Center for Sustainable Energy will then handle all the logistics.
This matter needs to be reviewed again.
Sincerely,
Kevin
On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 10:48 AM, Costco MemberServices <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Kevin,
We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale.
As of today's date we have no plans to update the outdated electric vehicle stations. It was presented to upper management but the decision was to not embark on a major installation as of yet.
The decision was primarily made because of the use (or should we say non-use) of the units a few years back. PLUS sales of the electric car are currently minimal,so once the trend starts to shift is when it will be revisited.
Thank you,
Sue
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Note this message was submitted through the costco.com web site customer suggestion page on 08/05/2011 09:53:27 PST
Comment/Suggestion/Request/Question Text:
There has been really disturbing news on electric vehicle forums that Costco has made a corporate decision to remove all of the existing electric vehicle charging infrastructure at Costco Warehouses. As a Costco member and electric vehicle owner I must say I am very concerned at Costco's direction on this issue. While other corporate entities are jumping at the opportunity to serve the rapidly growing EV market, Costco, once a corporate leader in this area, is moving backwards. Not only is this short sighted, but your latest issue of Costco Connection was touting your green initiatives, while at the same time abandoning one of the greenest things Costco has ever done, supporting a public EV infrastructure. I urge you to reconsider and instead of removing the existing chargers, take advantage of the FREE upgrade to those chargers offered by the Center for Sustainable Energy. If Costco does indeed remove all of its charging stations it will definitely affect my decision to renew my membership or recommend Costco as a place to do business.
