News

Oct 25, 2024

Costco jumps back into EV charging, puts their brand on it

Costco is putting charging back into its offerings—with a DC fast-charging location at its new warehouse store in Ridgefield, Washington, and what sounds to be the start of a new focus on EV charging

Costco is putting charging back into its offerings—with a DC fast-charging location at its new warehouse store in Ridgefield, Washington, and what sounds to be the start of a new focus on EV charging for the retail giant.

The firm tasked with charging at this location, Electric Era claims that it has been able to deploy this new fast-charging station in just seven weeks—from contract signature all the way to station launch.

That’s warp speed, even by Tesla Supercharger standards. In California, for instance, where an accelerated buildout of public charging is needed, charging stations have sat for months waiting for last steps—and according to a recent report, utilities typically take 17 weeks after work on a charging station is completed to simply connect it to the grid.

Electric Era, calls itself an “end-to-end EV charging solution partner.” It builds battery storage into its charging stations from the start, with software utilizing AI to help manage load and keep it under a particular peak—cutting the necessary transformer size by more than 60%. It boasts that this station will deliver 98%+ uptime per port.

Costco Electric Era EV charging station

The partnership with Costco focuses on reliability, cost efficiency, and “unmatched access-to-market,” according to Electric Era, which allows an approach that’s “tailored to the needs of large retailers like Costco,” according to the company. It claims to have autonomous monitoring of its stations “via high-rate telemetry” and 24/7 on-call operators who can troubleshoot and dispatch.

Electric Era says that its system offers customizable 32-inch full-screen displays for personalized messaging and promotions.

Especially of note here is that this charging station is branded with Costco, not Electric Era. Green Car Reports has reached out to Costco to clarify the extent of the arrangement, but for now the closest thing to compare it to might be Walmart, which in 2023 signaled a parting of ways from Electrify America with an announcement that it would be shifting toward its own Walmart EV fast-charging network.

For now, the charging company told GCR that it's in "ongoing discussions with Costco to explore potential future locations."

A Consumer Reports study from earlier this year found that big-box stores and fast-food chains aren’t providing enough EV chargers to support customers or the communities around them.

EV charging station at Costco

Costco isn’t new to EV charging. It was one of the first big-box retailers—in the late 1990s—to install destination (L2) charging stations at many of its California locations. Most of those didn’t have J1772 connectors to plug easily into the Nissan Leaf and, with an adapter, the Tesla Model S, but Costco instead opted to pull the plug on its EV chargers in 2011 and 2012.

The retailer has for a long time relied on its gas stations as a traffic-driver for its retail stores, and it currently operates gas stations at the majority of its warehouse stores, with most open 24 hours a day. And like shopping at the stores themselves, gassing up at Costco requires a membership.

A top executive said just last year that it had no plans to retire those lucrative gas stations. But perhaps by keeping that and adding EV charging to the menu it can win even more retail hearts.

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