Electrify America will install ultrafast EV chargers at over 25 IKEA US locations

https://media.electrifyamerica.com/en-us/releases/191

IKEA U.S. and Electrify America announce collaboration for ultra-fast public and fleet charging at over 25 IKEA retail locations



August 11, 2022

IKEA U.S. will quadruple its total number of electric vehicle chargers, a big step toward the IKEA global circular and climate positive goals

Conshohocken, PA – August 11, 2022 – To help reach the IKEA ambition to become a circular and climate positive business by 2030, IKEA U.S. today announced a collaboration with Electrify America and Electrify Commercial to bring ultra-fast public charging stations and delivery fleet electric vehicle (EV) charging to over 25 IKEA retail locations throughout the U.S. This joint effort will enable IKEA U.S. to quadruple its total number of EV chargers, which supports the goal of achieving zero-emission home deliveries by 2025 and halving relative emissions from customer and co-worker travel by 2030.

“At IKEA, we believe that we must work together with our partners to tackle climate change and create solutions for a greener future. This collaboration with Electrify America will not only bring ultra-fast public chargers to our stores for the first time but it will also help us take a big leap as we work towards our targets to become circular and climate positive,” said Javier Quiñones, CEO & Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA U.S. “We look forward to continuing to innovate around new ways we can make our everyday lives more sustainable.”

In total, there will be more than 200 individual ultra-fast chargers offering the fastest charging speeds available today – 150kW to 350kW – at IKEA retail locations in 18 states including in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington. The first locations are expected to open in late 2022 and be completed by the end of 2023.

For its EV delivery fleet, IKEA selected Electrify Commercial, Electrify America’s business unit designed to help deliver turnkey electric vehicle charging solutions, to provide more than 225 individual chargers across the sites. This is the first time Electrify America and Electrify Commercial are installing both public and fleet chargers at the same time for a project.

“We are excited to establish both public and commercial fleet charging stations with IKEA – a brand that shares our goal of a more sustainable future,” said Giovanni Palazzo, president and CEO of Electrify America. “Through this collaboration, Electrify America, Electrify Commercial and IKEA U.S. are leading a path forward for customers and businesses toward zero-emission transportation.”

Since opening its first charging station in May 2018, Electrify America has set a rapid pace for its network expansion, opening an average of nearly four stations per week. Currently, Electrify America has more than 800 stations and 3,500 individual chargers open with plans to expand to 1,800 charging stations comprised of 10,000 individual chargers in the United States and Canada by 2026.

Ikea is a terrible place for the chargers. They would be better suited for restaurants or shopping centers directly off the interstates.

Pioneer74 said:

Ikea is a terrible place for the chargers. They would be better suited for restaurants or shopping centers directly off the interstates.

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Just like the early days of Tesla's supercharger network, I don't really care where they put them because some are better than none.

(The Normal, IL supercharger was on the 3rd floor of the parking garage in the Amtrak station, about as far away from any Interstates as you can get for Bloomington-Normal... but Normal was known as "EVtown" and this was one of the very first, the city hosted it in the garage, along with its ChaDeMo chargers and L2 chargers. Its location kinda sucked, but I couldn't have lived without it in those days.)

Pioneer74 said:

Ikea is a terrible place for the chargers. They would be better suited for restaurants or shopping centers directly off the interstates.

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Huh? It’s not like installing EA chargers at IKEA is suddenly stopping them from being installed in the places you just listed. The more the merrier.

Pioneer74 said:

Ikea is a terrible place for the chargers. They would be better suited for restaurants or shopping centers directly off the interstates.

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Funny you say that. I stopped at 3...

I like IKEA's large parking lots, but finding any IKEA store near the majority of Americans is laughable.

Pioneer74 said:

Ikea is a terrible place for the chargers. They would be better suited for restaurants or shopping centers directly off the interstates.

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I think it's a good location. Most Ikeas are just off the interstate in nicer areas. And they have restaurants!

Downside is that they're not 24/7 and there usually aren't a lot of nearby amenities.

My local Ikea in SoCal (Costa Mesa) is right off the freeway, has tons of parking, and recently just installed a huge solar carport shading tons of spaces. Seems like that checks a lot of boxes.

Grab a kallax, couple packs of Glimma, a hot dog, and 80kW of charge. Boom.

To each their own, I guess. Maybe I'm just disappointed because I don't like their meatballs.

So the key is how many of the chargers will Ikea keep occupied with that fleet they are buying. It sounds good, but if they don't restrict themselves to just a few of the chargers at each location and mainly off hours then the chargers will become difficult to use by the general public and are more self serving to Ikea.

Its no secret I'm a Tesla fan - had 2 in the garage for multiple years. However DFW is flat overrun with Tesla these days and I guess many don't have charging capabilities at home. While our Superchargers have doubled or more in the last 18 months the lines get longer and longer here waiting to charge.

It was just noted a day ago at one of the latest v3 SC's a line with many cars waiting. Come to find out Hertz hasn't added charging capabilities for those they've added to their fleet at DFW and they send quite a few cars at once over to be charged up. If you were a traveler headed through you could easily add 45 min to an hour at a charger that is typically just 80% used.

That may not be an every day occurrence, but just realize it can happen. Here is hoping Ikea will adhere to some rules that allow a good mix at the chargers.

my nearest Ikea is between 50% and 100% away so this is good placement for me, plus it's very close to the Interstate with what is effectively its own exit. so this works for me

GDN said:

So the key is how many of the chargers will Ikea keep occupied with that fleet they are buying. It sounds good, but if they don't restrict themselves to just a few of the chargers at each location and mainly off hours then the chargers will become difficult to use by the general public and are more self serving to Ikea.

Its no secret I'm a Tesla fan - had 2 in the garage for multiple years. However DFW is flat overrun with Tesla these days and I guess many don't have charging capabilities at home. While our Superchargers have doubled or more in the last 18 months the lines get longer and longer here waiting to charge.

It was just noted a day ago at one of the latest v3 SC's a line with many cars waiting. Come to find out Hertz hasn't added charging capabilities for those they've added to their fleet at DFW and they send quite a few cars at once over to be charged up. If you were a traveler headed through you could easily add 45 min to an hour at a charger that is typically just 80% used.

That may not be an every day occurrence, but just realize it can happen. Here is hoping Ikea will adhere to some rules that allow a good mix at the chargers.

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The truck chargers are separate and not public.

hturnerfamily said:

I like IKEA's large parking lots, but finding any IKEA store near the majority of Americans is laughable.

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Really...because a majority of them are located along the Eastern Seaboard where a huge chunk(maybe not quite majority) of Americans live.

Doubt I'll try to use them but if I need them it will help. Looking at the EvGo and Chargepoint stations I've used before I find many are out of service completely.

Bad enough finding stations that won't charge it's even worse when they've been dug up.

Do the Tesla owners just let their company pay for the electric? Does seem odd so many end up at chargers.

jefro said:

Doubt I'll try to use them but if I need them it will help. Looking at the EvGo and Chargepoint stations I've used before I find many are out of service completely.

Bad enough finding stations that won't charge it's even worse when they've been dug up.

Do the Tesla owners just let their company pay for the electric? Does seem odd so many end up at chargers.

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There are just that many Tesla's out there and many are apartment dwellers and just use SC or employee based charging. I never leave the house without seeing multiple Tesla's even for a very short errand.