Walgreens chargers no longer free?

[WetEV]

Walgreen's is making a huge mistake charging for using these units and will, rightfully, get very little store traffic as a result. No need to boycott them -- most people simply wouldn't bother using them and their chargers will sit there unused.

Walgreens is making a business mistake providing these units, free or any other price. Walgreens doesn't gain much, as most people don't spend enough time at Walgreens to get significant change. Hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, RV parks, and resorts, for sure. Casinos far from any other charging, now there is a business case for "free charging". Restaurants, movie houses, playhouses, jazz clubs, ball parks, probably. Grocery stores and Costco, maybe. Look at where people spend their time.

I'm grateful for Walgreens for providing these, and will happily pay on the very rare times that I would stop and charge at one, or if still free, I will buy something at Walgreens. Yes, I would probably walk to some place else for most of the time.

<quote>Most people in cities rely on public chargers.</quote>

Perhaps now. Unsustainable longer term.

A sustainable answer for city dwellers would be for charging stations, perhaps L1, to be an optional part of parking rental.

 

[hyperlexis]

Who sits around at walgreens for three hours anyway? FTS, if that's the ev story you're never going to move down the adoption pyramid beyond the enthusiasts in the pointy little section at the top as long as there are barrels to be fracked.

We don't. Walgreens doesn't mind letting you park there while doing other stuff. Most Walgreens are located in shopping centers where you are walking distance to restaurants and retail - often entertainment too. Those of us who do biking and running find that the Walgreens with charging stations are often near trailheads.

At the Walgreen's by me there are often nice little signs in the parking lots. Leave, and they tow you. Better lock that charge coupler to the car.....

(Although probably if you ask the manager nicely they will leave your car alone...)

 

[Oliverovan]

Wow, I didn't think the general tone would be "good for them". I can easily switch my paradigm to getting a prepaid access card and using the chargers less but still using them to do out of town trips.

Perhaps if initially SemaConect had me sign up, use a card to access the chargers and THEN was notified by auto-email that my favorite Walgreens was about to start charging for its use then I'd be less chafed. It is a PR thing. This new network of chargers and living an EV lifestyle is an adaptation and new habits will be formed.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Walgreens is making a business mistake providing these units, free or any other price. Walgreens doesn't gain much, as most people don't spend enough time at Walgreens to get significant change. Hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, RV parks, and resorts, for sure. Casinos far from any other charging, now there is a business case for "free charging". Restaurants, movie houses, playhouses, jazz clubs, ball parks, probably. Grocery stores and Costco, maybe. Look at where people spend their time.

Walgreens is trying to make their image more appealing to liberals. They may succeed with this move, regardless of actual usage.

 

[cgaydos]

We don't. Walgreens doesn't mind letting you park there while doing other stuff. Most Walgreens are located in shopping centers where you are walking distance to restaurants and retail - often entertainment too. Those of us who do biking and running find that the Walgreens with charging stations are often near trailheads.

At the Walgreen's by me there are often nice little signs in the parking lots. Leave, and they tow you. Better lock that charge coupler to the car.....

(Although probably if you ask the manager nicely they will leave your car alone...)

I've seen those signs, but when I asked at our local Walgreens I was told that they never enforce it unless a car has been sitting there semi-abandoned for at least a day or two.

I suspect those signs - along with everything else - are part of the boilerplate for a modern Walgreen's store but that except for locations where there is parking competition the signs aren't enforced.

 

[ksnogas2112]

Why should charging be free forever?

Why not boycott any store that does not have a free charger out front?

+1 On boycott where they aren't.

But really, these are loss leaders. I support Walgreens with my dollars instead of the CVS across the street from them because they risked putting up devices in the first place. Now that they assess a fee that doesn't detract from the fact that corporate Walgreens supports EV's and that gets my money.

 

[Elephanthead]

Obviously most people in this thread have never waited for a prescription to be filled at a Walgreens or you wouldn't be saying who would be there for 3 hours. I think the sicker you or your loved one is the slower they count out 30 pills.

 

[davewill]

... Yeah well a coke machine doesn't earn its owner a huge special tax break for installing it....

But Coke machines cost almost nothing to install...and they make money instead of costing money when you operate them.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I drove 145 miles and needed a charge. There was my nearby Walgreens (that I arrived at in turtle mode), with it's newly minted 49 cent per kWh charge.

The beauty of that is that I really needed the charge, and the Ford plug-in that I saw there every day, all day, is no longer camping out on the charge station. Secondly, I didn't need much to get home; a couple kWh's.

So, I plugged in and tried to call a human at Sema... what a joke. An answering service that clearly knew nothing about the business. They could "take a message". I asked how that might get me charging, and was hung up on.

So, I tried the online version. It never worked. Then, I called back and tried the automated system. Voila !!! I was charging.

Total bill, $1.96 for four kWh's in the time I ate a gyro across the street.

Walgreen's, your service is garbage, but the 49 cent thing is awesome for when I really needed it. It would not have been available had it been free.

 

[KJD]

There are very, very few public charge stations in Utah. Most of them are at Walgreens stores.

I ordered my 20 dollar pre paid card today. I would rather do that than buy oil from the middle east.

 

[mbender]

Hey hey... isn't this (experimentation with, discussion of, and feedback about public charging) the proverbial free market at work? I think everyone -- from retailers to municipalities to manufacturers and dealers, to entire states and nations -- are basically feeling their way through this new landscape and just waiting for the numbers to get big enough to be able to draw reasonable conclusions.

So everybody continue with your own principled, random or desperate behavior, and between big data, big brother and the law of averages, no doubt the most-profitable solution for your neighborhood will be coming to your neighborhood, soon.

 

[johnrhansen]

I'm happy there are so many Walgreen's with chargers, and initially was very pleased with them for providing free charging when I needed it. most of the time I charge my car at home at night, so I can go through my day without visiting a charger. When I needed a little extra charge and I stopped at Walgreen's I made sure I went in there and spent some money. Usually it ended up being 15 bucks or so, and I only charged up there long enough to get enough juice to get straight home. And if I needed drugstore stuff, I shopped there even if my car did not need charging. With their recent clumsy introduction to charging at these exorbitant rates ($0.49 per KWH) the goodwill for this company in my heart has now been destroyed (are you listening Walgreen's?) I can charge up at a Blink network level 2 charger for a buck an hour and they have those all over Seattle. With a 6.3 KW charger, it would cost me $3.09 at Walgreen's for what I could get for a buck at a blink network. You should be providing these chargers as a service for your customers, and charging what you pay plus a little for the electricity. I looked at commercial rates in the Seattle City Light service area, and it's way under 10 cents. I think 15 cents is fair. After all your front door cost you money, and it breaks with usage, but you don't charge me for walking through it! Yes I bought a SemaCharge pass in case I need it, but I swear to God, I will never set foot in your store again. I'll just sit out in your parking lot and fume. Hopefully I can just find a Blink charger instead. And their fast chargers are still free if you can find one!

 

[KJD]

I'm happy there are so many Walgreen's with chargers, and initially was very pleased with them for providing free charging when I needed it. most of the time I charge my car at home at night, so I can go through my day without visiting a charger. When I needed a little extra charge and I stopped at Walgreen's I made sure I went in there and spent some money. Usually it ended up being 15 bucks or so, and I only charged up there long enough to get enough juice to get straight home. And if I needed drugstore stuff, I shopped there even if my car did not need charging. With their recent clumsy introduction to charging at these exorbitant rates ($0.49 per KWH) the goodwill for this company in my heart has now been destroyed (are you listening Walgreen's?) I can charge up at a Blink network level 2 charger for a buck an hour and they have those all over Seattle. With a 6.3 KW charger, it would cost me $3.09 at Walgreen's for what I could get for a buck at a blink network. You should be providing these chargers as a service for your customers, and charging what you pay plus a little for the electricity. I looked at commercial rates in the Seattle City Light service area, and it's way under 10 cents. I think 15 cents is fair. After all your front door cost you money, and it breaks with usage, but you don't charge me for walking through it! Yes I bought a SemaCharge pass in case I need it, but I swear to God, I will never set foot in your store again. I'll just sit out in your parking lot and fume. Hopefully I can just find a Blink charger instead. And their fast chargers are still free if you can find one!

Now that Blink is going bankrupt, how long do you think these fast chargers will remain free ?
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[johnrhansen]

i didn't know that... It's too bad. I did hear that Blink was going to charge $5 for a hookup to fast chargers, but so far they haven't. How about the AeroViromnent chargers. they are also free, and I don't see any mechanism for them to charge since I got the key Fob without giving them a credit card. How does this work? Who is paying the bill?

 

[GREENEV]

If anyone is interested in knowing this fact:

Car Charging Inc. is the company that owns the Walgreen's Chargers in Colorado. Here is a little excerpt from their website:

Rates for charging your vehicle (as of August 8, 2012)

Due to the recent passing of new legislation in select states, CarCharging has set prices for CarCharging EV charging stations on a per kilowatt (kWh) basis rather than on a time-based pricing structure where permitted by law. We believe that this is a more equitable pricing structure since it is based on consumption rather than time.

CarCharging station rates:
Rates vary by location. Please check specific station rates on our station map.

Per kilowatt hour:

Only $0.49 per KWh.
No minimum energy or time requirements, so plug-in and fill up.
Once your EV is completely charged, please move your car so that the next EV owner can use our service.
Per hour:

$2.49 – 2.99 per hour with a minimum of one hour required.
Rates for all other stations included on the ChargePoint network are set by the owner of the individual station. Please read the information for the specific station as it states the costs associated for a charging session.

 

[cgaydos]

If anyone is interested in knowing this fact:

Car Charging Inc. is the company that owns the Walgreen's Chargers in Colorado. Here is a little excerpt from their website:

Thanks for the detail.

After the initial shock of finding that Walgreen's now charges (and, at the time, that their automatic system for starting a charging session over the phone was down) we've adjusted and are now okay with the situation. I got two SemaCharge cards, one for each LEAF, and if ever we need a Walgreen's charge the process is easy.

Yes, the cost is several times higher than I pay at home for electricity, but then this isn't intended to be a primary source of charging, but instead on a when-needed basis. I'm happy to pay a little extra for the convenience of having so many EV stations, mostly in really good locations. Two additional benefits: 1) previously I would always buy stuff at Walgreen's at a higher price than competitors just because I was using the free station - I no longer feel the need to do that, and 2) although the Walgreen's EVSEs were unoccupied most of the time before, since the charging fees started they are almost always available.

 

[gatedad11]

Just happened to need a charge this past Saturday. Typically, I only use Level I at home, but we were out on a small trip and I realized I'd feel better if I had a few extar "bars" of electricity on my way home. Stopped in to Walgreens and was surprised to see that it now costs $2.50 per hour. As others have pointed out, that's more expensive than gas. In fact, from what I hear, Level III charging is cheaper(somewhere I read $7 fee for 80% charge). My Mitsu I has 3.3 charger so an hour doesn't get me much juice, hard to understand this pricing structure. I didn't have a Sema card, and there was no ph# listed to call to activate me so that I could pay if I wanted to. So, I drove down the street about 4 miles, pulled into local Community College that has 6 free chargers, sat in the car drinking some soda and 30 minutes later I gained 2 bars(enough to take any fear of turtling away). I agree, no one can expect free charging(but we'll take it when we can). But a flat rate per hour such as this makes little sense. If I had a 6.6 on board unit I'd have used 2X's as much electricity for the same price. There has got to be a better system. "Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" is a valid axiom, but there should be a little more reasoned approach. Maybe what will happen is that Level II's will become the norm,not as prevalent as Level II stations, but because they can genuinely validate a higher price and offer much more value, they'll be the commercial success that Level II's will probably never be.
Lou

 

[dgpcolorado]

...Yes, the cost is several times higher than I pay at home for electricity, but then this isn't intended to be a primary source of charging, but instead on a when-needed basis. I'm happy to pay a little extra for the convenience of having so many EV stations, mostly in really good locations. ...

I agree. If the Walgreens in my area had a charge station my winter range problems would be over. Although kWh pricing would be preferred, even at the flat hourly rate it would be way, way cheaper than driving my ICE car. Instead I am reduced to looking for 240 V plugs and hoping I can obtain permission to charge at a reasonable cost.

 

[johnrhansen]

In Washington it's 49 cents per KWH at the Walgreen's. 5 times what I pay at home. The blink fast charge is 5 bucks now. It's getting expensive charging away from home. I'm now holding my breath wondering if the AV fast chargers are going to start charging now.

 

[IMFineHuRU]

My best response to the cost of charging your EV at Walgreens. I would use the service essentially to top off my car. For instance, my drive to and from work totals 50 miles. If I knpw that I may not be able to charge my car completely at home, before leaving for work the next morning,I would stop at Walgreens and purchase, say 8Kw for $4.00 and then plug it in at home to finish the job--less time at Walgreens--and still equivalent to around 80 mpg. Cheaper would be better, but so would 480 volts and a free lunch