Ikea installs EV charging stations in San Diego

San Diego -- Ikea has officially plugged in three Blink Pedestal electric vehicle charging stations at its San Diego store as part of its partnership with ECOtality, a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies.



The San Diego project is the third such project for Ikea in the United States. Installation also is planned at six other Ikea stores in the western United States.



To charge an EV at Ikea San Diego, drivers pull into a designated parking spot, swipe their Blink InCard (RFID card), plug the charger into the EV, and then shop and eat at their leisure in the Ikea store while the vehicle is charging.



ECOtality is the project manager of The EV Project, a public-private partnership funded in part by a federal stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Energy made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the deployment of EVs.



Ikea also recently completed the installation of a solar energy system atop the 198,000-sq.-ft. San Diego store, which opened in 2000.