Electric car owners now have an oasis in San Bruno.
recently installed an electric vehicle charging station in the parking lot of its store at El Camino Real and Crystal Springs Avenue.
The store is just one of 800 locations across the country where the Deerfield, IL, drugstore company has plans to offer the charging stations.
Los Angeles firm 350 Green is building out the network in the Bay Area and California. Already, it has plans to install more than a dozen charging stations in the Bay Area, including eight on the Peninsula, said John Williams, a spokesman for 350 Green.
While the EV market is still in its nascent stage, Williams said, Walgreens is trying to be ahead of the curve by giving customers something they already get at each store: convenience.
Most of the charging stations so far have only been in people’s homes or in commercial buildings.
But the Walgreens charging stations were strategically placed at stores where EV drivers could easily recharge near home or work—or even while they shop.
“The goal is to put chargers closer to where people live and work, and give people the option to do something while they’re waiting,” Williams said.
The station in San Bruno features a Level 2 charger that is supposed to add up to 25 miles of range per hour of charge.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Walgreens has contracts with shopping mall developers and big box stores nationwide, and has plans to build stations at such locations as Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.
