How McDonald’s successfully set up an electric vehicle infrastructure
McDonald’s chose InCharge, the electric charging network from energy company Vattenfall to set up their electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
McDonald’s, a long established, worldwide fast-food restaurant chain has a good number of restaurants with spacious and conveniently located car parks. McDonald’s and Vattenfall in the Netherlands have teamed up to offer rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to a growing number of customers driving an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle.
McDonald’s, a long established, worldwide fast-food restaurant chain has a good number of restaurants with spacious and conveniently located car parks. McDonald’s and Vattenfall in the Netherlands have teamed up to offer rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to a growing number of customers driving an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle.
EV charging made easy.
Electric transportation has a great potential to contribute to a cleaner energy transition (using renewable energy) and the reduction of pollution in the air. Electric cars are on the increase with more people adopting them both for environmental concerns and their low running costs compared to petrol cars.
McDonalds saw the potential of offering electric vehicle charging on their premises and how it would improve their customers’ comfort and reduce range anxiety that can happen in unfamiliar environments. Their goals were to improve their restaurants’ sustainability and attract more customers. Vattenfall set up McDonald’s EV charging infrastructure ensuring EV drivers would have an efficient and effortless charging experience: the charging stations are easy to use with clearly labelled instructions. Customers can charge their electric car using a charge card or via the InCharge app. Benefits of the app include automatic notifications when the battery is full, location and availability of charging stations.
McDonalds saw the potential of offering electric vehicle charging on their premises and how it would improve their customers’ comfort and reduce range anxiety that can happen in unfamiliar environments. Their goals were to improve their restaurants’ sustainability and attract more customers. Vattenfall set up McDonald’s EV charging infrastructure ensuring EV drivers would have an efficient and effortless charging experience: the charging stations are easy to use with clearly labelled instructions. Customers can charge their electric car using a charge card or via the InCharge app. Benefits of the app include automatic notifications when the battery is full, location and availability of charging stations.
The EV charging infrastructure
McDonald’s were looking for a turnkey solution including the charging stations, the installation, the back office software and the maintenance to give them a risk free entry into the market. To start with, they requested 50 kW rapid chargers at 168 McDonald’s branches meaning every location with a McDrive has 2 rapid chargers installed. The electricity is sourced from Vattenfall wind farms in the Netherlands and the tariff is market-based and perceived by Vattenfall. All customer services enquires are dealt by Vattenfall 24 hours/7 days a week.
Results and long term collaboration
Not only do the EV charging stations contribute to a cleaner air but guests are pleased to be able to charge conveniently at the restaurants whilst enjoying a snack.
Bas Klaassen, Director Development Real Estate & Construction at McDonald's in The Netherlands said ‘This agreement signifies an important step towards achieving our goal to make our restaurants more sustainable.’
When McDonald’s will need to implement new EV charging stations to accommodate the growing demand, Vattenfall will be able to provide load balancing to ensure the charging stations equally share the power available to them. Load balancing avoids an expensive power upgrade when more power is asked for by the charging cars than is available in the restaurants’ supply.
Facilitating EV charging for your customers
As more and more people are switching to electric driving, an easily accessible charging infrastructure is a prerequisite for the transition to electric driving. Here are some tips to consider before setting up an EV infrastructure on your site:
Start by mapping where it’s possible to install chargers at your premises (a survey can easily be organised with an InCharge representative).
Check the capacity of your existing electricity network connection to establish how many charging stations can be installed to start with.
Future-proof your plan: Start by installing a few charging stations and monitor usage patterns and consumption to understand if you need to increase the number of charge points as time goes on.
Decide on your goal with the charging stations, such as driving customer footfall or earning money from charging revenues
Vattenfall are pleased to offer both financed solutions where infrastructure can be installed without any cost to the client, as well as standard solutions where the infrastructure is owned by the client.
Get in touch: Vattenfall InCharge
www.goincharge.com/uk
info.uk@goincharge.com
0330 055 24 56
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Get in touch: Vattenfall InCharge
www.goincharge.com/uk
info.uk@goincharge.com
0330 055 24 56
