Cracker Barrel Restaurants and ECOtality Install EV Fast Charger!

Blink DC Fast Charger at Cracker Barrel, Lebanon, TN

Cracker Barrel and ECOtality today unveiled a new Direct Current (DC) Blink Fast Charger at a restaurant location in Lebanon, TN. This is the first of twelve Cracker Barrel restaurants in Tennessee that will connect Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga with an EV charging network as part of the the EV Project partially funded by the Department of Energy.

The Blink DC Fast Charger is able to charge an EV to 80% capacity in under 30 minutes! This is more enough time to sit down for dinner and do some shopping at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores. (or have a seat in a rocking chair on the porch while you charge your Porsche!)

Congratulations to Sandra Cochran, CEO of Cracker Barrel, for being on the leading edge of our new energy infrastructure! If you are near a Cracker Barrel store while you are traveling, make sure you stop there to eat and shop. Tell the manager that you are shopping there because they are supporting America by helping build our new Electric Vehicle infrastructure. Better yet, if you read the press release, there are Public Relations contacts at the bottom of the release. Send them an email and let them know they have done a great thing for our country!

Let's hope that the EV Project is a success and that Cracker Barrel sees a major lift in business and press from their investment in EV charging. If they decide to expand their network to other locations, they could make a huge impact on our EV charging infrastructure. Take a look at the map of Cracker Barrel locations east of the Mississippi!

Cracker Barrel Locations

I hope that other restaurants and other retail businesses follow Cracker Barrel's lead and implement charging stations of their own. I can think of dozens of places where I spend more than thirty minutes: grocery stores, movie theaters, shopping malls, apartment complexes and much more.

I have to tell you that I'm giddy at the thought that the first of these Fast Chargers is almost within driving range from my front door!

Tags:

electrify our nation

EV charging

plug-in electric

The EV Project

Category:

EV Charging Station

Transportation

Comments

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:35

So what motivated this at Cracker Barrel, of all places? Best Buy I could see; maybe REI or Whole Foods ... any idea what motivated this particular company to invest in this at this time? I think it's great - it's just not the first place I expected to see it. :)

ckmapawatt Fri, 11/04/2011 - 08:30

Great point. I know they also have books on tape that you can check out at one store and return to another. My wife and I do it on long trips. The fact they have books on tape draws my wife and I to the store when we're traveling. I think the difference between Cracker Barrel is that they are almost always right off the interstate/highway (not tucked away in a city like a Whole Foods may be); which is very important for electric car charging!

Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/04/2011 - 10:02

Ah, but good point there as well; I see that I had fallen into the trap of thinking of an EV like a novelty tech toy. I forgot that you might want one to actually, you know, get from place to place - maybe even down the highway for a stretch. :) I hadn't though about the location of the restaurants. In that respect it makes much more sense. Thanks! -Eric

Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/10/2011 - 16:53

A forward thinking eatery offering chicken fried steak, old school candy and a charge for your car! It's a win/win! Imagine if McDonalds did this!

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