News

It’s Electric! Dutch McDonald’s offering vehicle charging stations

November 23, 2010

One McDonald’s franchisee in The Netherlands is really thinking ahead. Panky Nefkens, who operates McDonald’s in Lelystad and Almere, is now offering his customers the chance to charge their electric cars and scooters.

According to EV World, two EV-Box Charging Stations were put into service at the quick-service restaurants on Nov. 11, which is marked as “National Sustainability Day” in The Netherlands. It does not cost money for customers to charge their electric vehicles at these locations.

McDonald’s Corp. is no stranger to implementing environmentally-conscious practices. For example, 20 years ago, it became the first Fortune 500 company to work with an environmental group toward achieving sustainable solutions. In Switzerland, the company installed dry urinals to cut water consumption in 2008, and began converting cooking oil into biofuel to operate delivery trucks. Also, a handful of franchisees have subscribed to stringent LEED certifications in overhauling their specific locations, prompting the company to turn their iconic Golden Arches green.

With his units’ McDrive feature, Nefkens said it was important for him to stop talking about the environment and act. In addition to implementing the stations, he also issued an electric vehicle for the restaurant manager and an electric scooter for staff.

From the story:

"I’m very pleased that within days after talking to EV-Box the branded charging stations were put in place in front of our restaurants. Our clients can now benefit and charge their vehicles for free," Nefkens said. "We are striving to make the staff think ‘green’; they can win an electric scooter if they do well at the national quality competition of McDonald’s Netherlands, early 2011."