From naughty to nice: Eco bad boys back electric vehicles

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McDonald's has been a frequent target on this blog, and many others related to health and environmental issues. But mark it on your calendar: This post is in praise of Micky D's, for installing EV charging stations at a new West Virginia location.

Yes, it's just about the strangest place you could pick, given that the Huntington, WV, location is not on a throughway connecting EV early-adopter towns like New York, D.C., or San Francisco. The location clearly has more to do with its proximity to partner American Electric Power's Columbus, Ohio, headquarters — but we'll give kudos where kudos are due. With 58 million people eating at McDonald's everyday, the burger chain isn't a bad spot to enable electric vehicle drivers to charge up.

But now get this, sort-of-fast food chain Cracker Barrel — scorned by progressives for its aggressive anti-gay stance — is outplaying Ronald McDonald at his own game, installing 24 charging stations in the more heavily driven triangle between Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Based in Lebanon, Tenn., Cracker Barrel has fuel in its DNA: The chain originally featured gas with its family fare, and removed the pumps during the Arab Oil embargo. A spokesperson estimated that charging on the high-speed 480-volt chargers would take about 40 minutes — about as long as it takes to eat at Cracker Barrel if there's no wait.

Courtesy Cracker Barrel

Posted By: Cameron Scott (Email, Twitter, Facebook) | December 22 2010 at 12:24 PM

Listed Under: cars and driving, hybrids and EVs