Ikea keeps electric car spark going with 24 new charging stations

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — Leading home furnishings retailer Ikea has extended its partnership with ECOtality, a clean electric transportation and storage technologies company, and plans to add 24 Blink electric vehicle charging stations across eight more locations in the United States.

The newly designated sites include seven stores in Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Texas, as well as the U.S. corporate office. The retailer anticipates installation to begin this month and expects to complete it by end of summer this year. Installation of these units will bring the total number of Blink charging stations at Ikea locations to 55. Two years ago, Ikea installed a combined 31 units at nine Western U.S. stores in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington.

“We are fortunate to be able to expand this relationship with ECOtality, bringing EV charging stations to more Ikea locations across the U.S. since Ikea stores are typically visible and accessible from key points within a local metropolitan area,” said Ikea U.S. president Mike Ward. “Increasing access to EV charging stations advances our goal of helping coworkers and customers — as well as members of the communities in which we operate — live more sustainable lives.”

“We are pleased to now have Blink charging stations in nearly half of all Ikea locations in the country,” stated H. Ravi Brar, CEO of ECOtality. “Ikea is a household name well-known for their sustainability efforts, and we are proud they have chosen Blink as their EVSE provider of choice.”

The eight locations now scheduled to install EV charging stations are stores in: Atlanta, Ga.; Bolingbrook, Ill.; Conshohocken, Pa.; Frisco, Texas; Houston, Texas; Philadelphia, Pa. and Schaumburg, Ill. Additionally, the Ikea U.S. corporate office in Conshohocken also will have units available.

There are currently more than 340 Ikea stores in 41 countries, including 38 in the U.S.