Restaurateurs looking to install charging stations for electric cars on their property might be eligible for financial incentives, two participating suppliers said.
Last week Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. announced plans to outfit 24 locations in its home state with electric car charging stations beginning next spring as part of the EV Project to develop infrastructure supporting alternative-power vehicles.
While it will spend money for some installation-related expenses, Cracker Barrel will have free use of the charging equipment as long as it is part of the pilot project, for which the restaurant company has a contract running through December 2012 and the option to renew for two one-year periods.
Cracker Barrel is working with ECOtality Inc. of San Francisco, manager of the EV Project, which is at least partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. But another company, Coulomb Technologies Inc. of Campbell, Calif., also might be able to aid restaurant companies that want to be part of its ChargePoint America program, which also is partially funded by the Energy Department.
Already using Coulomb’s charging stations are a franchised McDonald’s in Cary, N.C.; franchised Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar restaurants in the Florida cities of Clermont and Kissimmee; and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, Calif.
ECOtality spokeswoman Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen, of Antenna Group, said EV Project slots remain available for restaurants, and the specifics on cost vary from site to site. In general, she said, if a restaurant is able to participate in the EV Project, it will receive the charging stations free of charge. In addition, ECOtality and the potential partner will work out any sort of revenue sharing tied to the hosted charging station, she said.
Interested restaurateurs with locations falling within the 16 project markets should contact the area manager for that region at http://www.theevproject.com/contact.php. EV Project officials said charging infrastructure is being deployed in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; San Diego and Los Angeles; Corvallis, Portland and Eugene, Ore.; Seattle; Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville, Tenn.; and Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston, Texas.
If an interested operator has a facility in one of those markets, Cieslik-Miskimen said, the area manager will start with a site survey to determine if the location can support charging stations, and then move forward with the owner on next steps.
According to Anne Smith, of Smith Communications, a representative of Coulomb Technologies, that company’s ChargePoint America program will provide 4,600 free charging stations in nine regions in the United States. The regions are Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Bellevue/Redmond, Wash., and Washington, DC.
Smith said ChargePoint America is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and three automobile brands: Ford, Chevrolet and smart USA. She added that restaurants in the specified regions with an interest in taking part in the program can get additional information online at www.chargepointamerica.com.
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].