Walgreens Installing 800 Charge Stations before 2012

[TomT]

I have to be honest. I don't understand the business model or attraction for L2 at Walgreens... You'd have to spend one hell of a lot of time there to get enough charge to be of any real value except in an emergency... Maybe if they were co-located with a large mall or the like, but that is about it from my perspective. Most of the Walgreens around here are in small mini-malls or the like with not much nearby to hold your attention or to pass the time...

ChargePoint L2 station at the Aliso Viejo (CA) Walgreens is online.

 

[TRONZ]

I have to be honest. I don't understand the business model or attraction for L2 at Walgreens... You'd have to spend one hell of a lot of time there to get enough charge to be of any real value except in an emergency... Maybe if they were co-located with a large mall or the like, but that is about it from my perspective. Most of the Walgreens around here are in small mini-malls or the like with not much nearby to hold your attention or to pass the time...

ChargePoint L2 station at the Aliso Viejo (CA) Walgreens is online.

This is actually a pretty decent location as its right next to the huge AV Town Center. 20 Theater complex, bookstore, places to eat, coffee shop, etc. While I appreciate every charge station installed the one at our local Kohls is a bit of a head scratcher. It's not really near anything and I can only shop for jeans so long.

 

[lukati]

I have to be honest. I don't understand the business model or attraction for L2 at Walgreens... You'd have to spend one hell of a lot of time there to get enough charge to be of any real value except in an emergency... Maybe if they were co-located with a large mall or the like, but that is about it from my perspective. Most of the Walgreens around here are in small mini-malls or the like with not much nearby to hold your attention or to pass the time...

It works great in a suburban or urban setting. I have three Walgreens along my commute as emergency backups and I have used one in a snow storm when I wasn't sure I would be able to make it (and then walked across the mall to a grocery store to do some much needed shopping). I have also used two Walgreens in downtown Chicago that were only 2-3 blocks from the restaurants we were having dinner. That gives you not only free charging, but free parking as well!

I do feel a little bit guilty when I use their free electrons. But I thank the store politely every time and sometimes go inside to see if there wasn't anything that I needed to buy. Added all up, Walgreens probably has made some money on me since I would almost never visit their stores before.

 

[DTB]

I have to be honest. I don't understand the business model or attraction for L2 at Walgreens... You'd have to spend one hell of a lot of time there to get enough charge to be of any real value except in an emergency... Maybe if they were co-located with a large mall or the like, but that is about it from my perspective. Most of the Walgreens around here are in small mini-malls or the like with not much nearby to hold your attention or to pass the time...

While I welcome as many chargers as possible, I do not understand Walgreens logic either. I mean the whole concept of that type of store (Walgreens, CVS, etc) is to be in and out as quickly as possible. I'm usually upset if I can't get in and out in ten minutes. Not even worth the time to plug-in.
It's great that you can walk to do other stuff but reality is that management isn't going to be OK with people parking to charge and then walking accross the street to do something else.

 

[s2kysk]

Have you ever try to pickup prescription medications? It usually takes anywhere between 30 min to a hour. For myself, I am glad they have the charger.

 

[hill]

I have to be honest. I don't understand the business model or attraction for L2 at Walgreens... You'd have to spend one hell of a lot of time there to get enough charge to be of any real value except in an emergency... Maybe if they were co-located with a large mall or the like, but that is about it from my perspective. Most of the Walgreens around here are in small mini-malls or the like with not much nearby to hold your attention or to pass the time...

ChargePoint L2 station at the Aliso Viejo (CA) Walgreens is online.

Jeez Tom - Tronz points out all the tons of junk that there is to do all around the Walgreens (at least this one), and the best that comes out of it is that it's hardly worth their effort because as you said, you'd have to spend a;

"... lot of time there to get enough charge to be of any real value except in an emergency ..."

Doesn't sound like anyone can do anything that'd meet these kinds of super high standards. How much more stuff would you want/need to do to count it as "real value" ?

.

 

[lpickup]

Have you ever try to pickup prescription medications? It usually takes anywhere between 30 min to a hour. For myself, I am glad they have the charger.

Yeah, but nowadays these are usually called in (my last visit to the doctor my physician "wrote" the prescription directly from his laptop right in the exam room!)

Even with additional amenities nearby, it is hard to understand Walgreens' logic for installing L2, other than an altruistic desire to promote "greenness". Why should Walgreens go to their expense to install charging stations just so you can shop somewhere else?

Now if you're talking about QC (even with a pay for charge model), then I can see that Walgreens may be trying to be positioning themselves as the convenience store of the future (if gas stations don't catch on). They've got many of the elements of a convenience store available now, although they may have to re-tool their stores to add a waiting area and refreshment section (e.g. hot coffee). I haven't seen a Walgreens outfit like that, but other pharmacies in my area do have an attached cafe.

I did get in touch with someone at Walgreens corporate in charge of renewable programs, and the sense I got is that they want Walgreens to be seen as the place where you can go to "top off" your charge. Now maybe this is just another case of someone not familiar with charging not understanding the difference between charging an EV (at L2) and filling up a car with gas. I'm hoping that they are ultimately talking about QC stations (the press release mentions that charging station installs will either be QC or L2)

 

[adric22]

Have you ever try to pickup prescription medications? It usually takes anywhere between 30 min to a hour. For myself, I am glad they have the charger.

You took the words right out of my mouth. Even when my doctor sends the prescription electronically, I usually wait between 15 and 30 minutes to pick it up. With the Leaf's 3.3Kw charger I could pick up 5 or 6 miles of range while waiting there. With a FFE or a future Leaf with a 6Kw charger I could pick up maybe 12 miles of range just waiting for my prescription. That may not sound like much, but when you think about it, my daily round-trip commute is only about 10 or 11 miles. So half an hour of charging would be enough to cover that.

 

[HighDesertDriver]

I did get in touch with someone at Walgreens corporate in charge of renewable programs, and the sense I got is that they want Walgreens to be seen as the place where you can go to "top off" your charge. Now maybe this is just another case of someone not familiar with charging not understanding the difference between charging an EV (at L2) and filling up a car with gas. I'm hoping that they are ultimately talking about QC stations (the press release mentions that charging station installs will either be QC or L2)

Perhaps our view of the situation is tilted because current Leaf owners are thinking in terms of 3.3kW charging. 6.6kW would obviously be better, and while not the "car of the masses," Teslas have the capacity to draw even more via J1772. From a 2011/2012 Leaf perspective, most Walgreens L2 charging hookups may just be nice-to-haves; however, the company may have a longer view. For me, I'm looking forward to L3 locations. . . anywhere.

 

[TRONZ]

I guess I forgot to mention that we frequent this Walgreens ALOT already. My wife is on a first name basis with most of the cashiers. A trip down there typically includes shopping at Walgreens then Trader Joes then Farmers Direct for our juicing supplies then maybe I run to Lowes and then the inevitable "I'm hungry" from our rapidly growing kids which then takes us to Taco Bell or Panera Bread. Now if I see that this charge location gets alot of action I have NO plans to "camp out" at this station when our house is less than a mile away. I just know this particular location is great for our neighborhood use pattern.

 

[fooljoe]

I've seen 2 new Walgreens Chargepoint units here in So Cal, one at Valley View and Chapman in Garden Grove and one at Sepulveda and Grand in El Segundo. I just drove by the GG one but plugged into the ES one today and it was free. However, this is in a very busy parking lot and in the 2 times I've been there I've seen 3 ICE cars parked in the spot. Today I got lucky that someone in the next spot over left just as I got there and the cord could reach.

The ES spot and others in the area of the lot are all labeled Walgreens 30 minute only, nothing about EV only, so good luck if you ever really need a charge. And the GG one is only a stone's throw from the QC at Mitsubishi so it doesn't add much value, but I guess it's nice Walgreens is trying.

 

[TEG]

I was driving on El Camino in San Mateo tonight and hit the "find closest charging". There was a new entry for the Walgreens there, just south of Hillsdale mall, so I drove around their parking lot looking and looking. As far as I can see they don't actually have any charging stations there (yet). More frequent charging stations updates pushed to the car are nice, but not if they show locations which don't have charging.

 

[TonyWilliams]

One single "ChargePro" L2

No card needed.

Walgreens
13390 Poway Road (at Community Road)
Poway, CA 92064

(858) 435-7580

 

[garygid]

Maybe they plan on making $50 or $100 a pop from the towing
company for removing non-customers or over 30-minute parking?

Perhaps the spaces are just "bait"?

A few hundred dollars a day per parking space might appear
to make a compelling business case?

 

[Herm]

Perhaps the spaces are just "bait"?

ohh I like the way you think..

 

[JPVLeaf]

The time has come. Looks like many, if not all, of the Chargepoint charging stations at Walgreens' in Orange County, CA are now charging $2/hr. This includes the Walgreens' in Fullerton, Anaheim, La Palma, Buena Park, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo .... The same has been reported elsewhere for charging stations at Walgreens in other areas. mychargepoint.net.

 

[grommet]

350Green, one of the folks Walgreens gave the contract to, now charge $2/hr for L2 on any of their Coulomb units. See: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=9086" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck, 350Green.

 

[Herm]

are the charging spots still getting ICED now that they charge $2 per hour?

 

[grommet]

are the charging spots still getting ICED now that they charge $2 per hour?

Why would it change? ICE-ing is free, unlike charging. :lol:

 

[philaphonic]

are the charging spots still getting ICED now that they charge $2 per hour?

Why would it change? ICE-ing is free, unlike charging. :lol:

Hmm, maybe they should put a meter on the parking space and not the charger!