Fast Food & Fast Charging For Electric Cars: The Perfect Com

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Fast Food & Fast Charging For Electric Cars: The Perfect Combination Meal?

[IMG]http://images.thecarconnection.com/lrg/ ... 6745_l.jpg[/IMG]

"McDonald's corporate colors may be red and yellow, but the fast food chain is much greener than you might imagine.

For a start, it runs delivery trucks worldwide on biodiesel made from its own waste oil.

It has also installed over thirty electric car charging points at restaurants around the country--now joined by the company's first fast-charger at a restaurant in Riverside, California.

The Blink DC fast charger allows drivers to charge up to 80 percent capacity in only thirty minutes, but there are benefits for the restaurant too.

Firstly, it's the only fast charger in the county--so it's sure to attract drivers from miles around. The company's research suggests that electric car drivers will also return three times more often than regular customers, thanks to the fast charger, and stay in the restaurant twice as long--presumably buying more burgers as they do so.

For the time being, there's also no fee to use the fast charging station--and using the Level 2 station beside it costs as little as $1 per hour.

Electric car drivers do require membership to use Blink stations, but this is free so there's very little to lose (provided you're a McDonald's fan).

The restaurant, run by Tom and Candace Spiel, isn't the first McDonald's to offer electric car charging. However, it's one of the greenest overall - it holds a 'Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certificate for its environmentally-friendly methods.

These include low-flow plumbing saving 250,000 gallons of water, drought-tolerant plants around the restaurant, permeable pavers to divert rainfall into drainage systems and solar panels to save 13 homes' worth of electricity per month.

Where better to quickly boost your electric car's battery than grabbing some equally-quick food in an equally-green restaurant?"

Em: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/108 ... ation-meal