News

Seeing green: U.S. McDonald’s unit installs electric car stations

December 15, 2010

Shortly after a McDonald’s restaurant in The Netherlands installed charging stations for electric cars, a franchisee in West Virginia has followed suit.

Tom Wolf, who owns and operates 14 McDonald’s units, added Level 2 Electric Car Charging Stations to his newest restaurant in Huntington, W. Va.

According to The Herald-Dispatch, the store, which opens today, is the first McDonald’s in the country to include a component for charging electric vehicles.

Wolf said the addition fits the nature of McDonald’s, which is always evolving, makes the restaurant more “user-friendly,” and helps put money back into the state of West Virginia.

Level 2 stations are capable of charging an electric car within four hours. A half-hour charge equates to about a gallon of gas.

While electric cars aren’t ubiquitous at the moment, Wolf anticipates that to change.

From the story:

"I hope the community sees this as a progressive effort, a part of the solution, because that's what I see it as," Wolf said. "I hope we can all look at this with a progressive attitude toward the community and toward the customer, and we'll see what the future holds.”