Are they going to charge money for people who use it?

Do they expect people to spend hours at McDonald's?

Well when you have several heart conditions you tend to move slow.

well, if they use the same battery that will be in the lightning gt, a few minutes could lead to 30-50% charge. not bad in my book

I'm surprise that Wal-Mart haven't thought of this? Because people do spend at least an hour shopping.

Apparently, they have found an alternate use for the defibrillator.

Mc Donald's Good for the environment, Bad for your health.

Too bad the electricity for it probably isn't from a green source, when they do that I'll be impressed otherwise it's just McDonalds trying to make themselves look better

I would imagine that the electricity would get to be a tad expensive for what is essentially the lowest priced fast food chain. Cary is an uber-wealthy, ritzy city, though, I'm sure they'll have a very high per-capita rate of electric car ownership, that's where all the big pharma executives have their 10 million dollar houses.

Despite the flack it's getting, this is the first major steps forward to making an electric car a feasible option. One of the biggest disadvantages of an all electric car is the lack of remote recharging stations. It's only good for commuting - not traveling. Knowing that McDonald's (that are everywhere) will supply a recharging method, you can now take a vacation most anywhere within the US, find a motel/hotel close to a McDonalds, let it charge up...

It's a step forward, even if it's not the complete solution.

I hoped people made better decision instead of spending hours @ mcdonalds everyday. Why not just invent universal wireless-power charged vehicles? isn't that a bit faster and every car on the road won't run out of electric?

where do you think this electricity comes from? burning coal? nuclear? ... you might as well just buy a prius, oh wait those do more harm in their manufacturing process than the good they do for their 100,000 mile lifetime... the closest answer is hydrogen in my opinion. this battery stuff is not a truly feasible option.

Can I get that with a combo deal?

... then there would be lightning bolts shooting through the air at every car on the road. I don't think its the battery manufacturers stopping this one, I think thats a bit less than feasible.

Park your fat.fucking.ass right here and save the planet... and develop heart disease/hypertension/diabetes/congestive heart failure/DVT/pleural effusion...

but the lightning bolts would be invisible, wouldn't it?

I find it interesting that they chose Cary, NC for this pilot project. I am not aware of any programs that encourage electric cars in NC nor am I aware of large enough numbers of electric cars in the state. I know there are several states that offer incentives but I am not aware of any in NC (beyond the Federal tax credit that Tesla is using to get the Model S below $50k.

You do have to start somewhere with charging stations. Even if you only stay 20 minutes you can still get a significant charge. 20 minutes is an easy to hit timeframe. You plug in, walk in, wash your hands, line up, place your order, wait for the order, sit down to eat and then walk back out to the car.

For those who are saying you will have to stay for hours you are thinking of the max charge time. Yes if you pull into this restaurant with little or no charge left and try to get back to a full charge you will need a lot more time. However if you pull in with half a charge a 20-30 minute stop will be enough to bring you up to at least 60% (consider that the Roadster on a 240V/70A charging circuit should need 3.5 hours to go from 0-100%).

If the charging stations become commonplace then everywhere you stop you'll be able to get yourself at least a 10 minute charge. Suddenly electric vehicles with "short" ranges could take you through a full day of errands around town. Each of the charging stations would give you that extra little boost to keep the car going all day and then you simply top it up at night.

As for the source of the power - yes green sources are better, but even a dirty coal plant and transmission losses offer better efficiency and lower pollution than using thousands of gasoline powered engines as small generators.

+1

At least MDs is putting one step forward. This is the exact response needed to fuel interest in placing recharge stations. After all: monkey see, monkey do.

Sure, hydrogen cars are better for the environment. However, I'd rather not have an accident in one! Also: electricity doesnt have to come from "dirty" coal plants and nuclear facilities. It can also come from wind farms, tidal stations and solar generation plants. Also keep in mind that coal based stations, although old, are having retrofits to reduce their emmissions by 95%+/-.

Thats exactly why they're doing this, they're going to have MORE customers coming, if only mainly to recharge, and they're going to be staying there longer (so they can buy desserts or another round of burgers) I wonder how much it will cost to charge at mcd's...?

And the best part of charging your electric car at McDonald's will be the complementary ethanol milkshake!

WTF is this?!?!?!
they are the most polluted fast food chain in the world. they destroy amazonia to plant soya and now they come with this stupid marketing?!?!??????
are people stupid enough to believe they are the good ones?

this means about 16 800 VA (let's say watts and consider the result a maximum value)

for 3.5 houres, it would cost less than 7$ here... !!? what? 7$ vs 40$ to fill my gaz car?

where's the catch? And a 70A line, this is freaking dangerous.

You need electricity to split hydrogene from H20. So it is the same problem in the end.

We can produce "green electricity" thought, with Hydroelectricity.

The new commercials...

Come to Mc'pukes... we give you two types of gas!


I think it is a good idea, eventually everyone might adopt the idea and you could get a plug in everywhere... Gotta start somewhere.

not everywhere. Here we can (province of quebec) and there's plenty for everyone and even more.

And even then, not everybody's happy (like in everything). Some complain that it destroys nature and raises mercury level in the created "lake" blablabla...

hell you know what? I've seen groups complain against wind mills! because THEY KILL BIRDS!

There are projects for wind mills near where I live and some people are complaining about the VISUAL POLLUTION they might get.

And this goes on and on. I bet your ass there would be complains about 100% free and perpetual energy.

and that complaint would be the loss of revenue

enough electricity to power a car would turn your ass to ash if it hit you, and would be a little hard to hide. it is true that 'any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic' (I forget who said that), but usable, wireless energy is pretty firmly in the realm of magic at this time. Although, since you got me thinking about it, I guess solar power would qualify, but thats got a long way to go still.

That's because they expect us to bag our own groceries, people still use checks, and people like to argue pricing at the checkout because they can't look for a price tag.

That definitely made me LOL.

When the "Super Size Me" movie came out, the spokesperson for McDonald's said the movie was foolish and they only recommend you eat McDonald's once per week and that it was perfectly healthy to do so. Going there every day would obviously lead you to become increasingly unhealthy.

And here we are in 2009. Either they no longer believe it to be unhealthy or they think you'll enjoy charging your car there once per week. If you can make it through the other 6 days of the week, chances are you won't be basing your lunch decision on a car recharge bonus.

Well, it is a good idea, i mean if you have an electic car and you are low on charge you can charge at mcdonalds and get food, plus Mcdonalds are everywhere like gas stations so you wont be screwed, also if they plan on charging you for the power make it like a parking meter style.

but we are far from having a lot of electric vehicles on the road...

I remember an article in a Weekly Ready when I was in elementary school that told about a car that would run on water; that was in the mid 80's. Where is that technology today? Last I checked water was in abundance with the world being covered in 2/3 of the stuff.