Starbucks and Volvo Cars are installing 60 DC electric vehicle chargers at up to 15 Starbucks locations spanning the drive from Seattle to Denver.
The companies on Tuesday announced which cities will receive charging stations. In Washington, they’ll be installed in Seattle, Issaquah and Yakima. Oregon locations are Hermiston and La Grande. The full list can be found here.
The plan is to install the chargers roughly every 100 miles along the route stretching 1,350 miles. The project should be completed by the end of the year.
The stations will be powered by ChargePoint. According to Volvo, it will take about 40 minutes for one its EVs with a battery at 20% to reach a 90% charge.
Unlike Tesla charging stations that only work with Tesla vehicles, the chargers at Starbucks will work with any EV equipped with a standard CCS1 or CHAdeMO receptacle. Non-Volvo drivers will pay a fee for use, while Volvo EVs will get to recharge for free or a discounted rate.
“Public EV charging should be as easy as getting a great cup of coffee — and now, it can be,” said Michael Kobori, Starbucks chief sustainability officer, in a statement announcing the locations of the stations.
Starbucks first announced the initiative in March as a demonstration of its commitment to sustainability. The Seattle-based coffee powerhouse has pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030.
EV adoption is on the rise and Washington state ranks fourth nationally in electric vehicle ownership. But as GeekWire recently reported, long-distance road trips in non-Tesla EVs can be a fraught experience through stretches of West Coast highway that are short on chargers.
There are federal and state efforts to fix the problem. This summer, Washington state finalized its blueprint for installing EV charging stations along highways. The state plans to invest roughly $71 million over five years, plus nearly $18 million of non-federal matching funds, to install the chargers. President Biden has pledged $5 billion to “eliminate America’s EV charging deserts.”
