Why is Starbucks NOT offering FREE petrol for its loyal customers?
News just in that popular coffee chain Starbucks is offering FREE electric car battery charging for its customers at 17 drive in locations around Malaysia. What about petrol powered car drivers who are loyal coffee customers? No FREE petrol for them (RM5 or so?)
Now, this is not a new initiative for Starbucks. In March this year in America, Starbucks and Volvo Cars partnered on a pilot program to offer this service at 15 of their locations in the state of Denver with 60 Volvo-branded ChargePoint DC fast chargers.
Meanwhile, for this Malaysian EV charging initiative, Starbucks (BStarbucks), has partnered with Yinson Holdings Bhd’s green technologies business unit Yinson GreenTech to offer the electric vehicle charging points (electric vehicle charger) at its stores, becoming the first retail coffee chain in Malaysia offering the facility.
The first location is at the Starbucks outlet in Eco Grandeur. The target of 26 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at 17 Starbucks stores in Klang Valley, Penang, Malacca and Johor has been put into action.
Interestingly, it does not stop here because the plan is to have more EV charging stations, comprising of both DC fast chargers and also AC charging points over the coming three years at Starbucks vast network of drive-thru stores in Malaysia.
The FREE battery charging offer is just for one month.
Datuk Sydney who is the BFood group CEO and managing director (Starbucks Malaysia & Brunei) said the inclusion of EV chargers in its stores represents a milestone in its sustainability efforts as a company.
“The company has always been passionate about protecting the planet and driving innovation to enhance the Starbucks experience for our customers. We hope to lead the retail industry towards a de-carbonised future for Malaysia,” he said.
The group said the current lack of adequate charging infrastructure remains a significant deterrent for many to purchase one. The addition of Starbucks stores to the charging network would help Malaysians to adopting zero-emission cars.
However, are the Starbucks EV charging stations power source also zero-emission? We at www.dsf.my believe that to be ‘true’ to the slogan of ‘zero-emissions’ the EV charging stations should be powered by ‘SOLAR POWER’ and not “COAL POWER’.
Only with solar power will there be a true reduction in a corporation’s ‘CARBON FOOTPRINT’. Yes?
Meanwhile, YGT senior vice president of electromobility Ruslin Tamsir said it is committed to rolling out more EV charging points over the next few years.
“The chargEV team welcomes other like-minded businesses to engage with us to find out about our integrated EV solutions and how they, too, can participate in Malaysia’s EV transition,” he added.
