A new partnership between McDonald’s Italia and Enel X which, by the end of 2021, will see the installation of 200 charging points for electric vehicles inside the 100 McDonald’s car parks across Italy.
Enel X’s know how and cutting-edge technology is combined with the extensiveness of McDonald’s restaurants: an exceptional alliance, which aims to facilitate the transition towards electric mobility and to underline the importance of a green footprint that both businesses have been prioritizing for several years.
Thanks to the new agreement signed by McDonald’s and Enel X, the JuicePole and JuicePump charging stations will be installed inside the car parks of McDonald’s restaurants and will offer a new service to customers, allowing two vehicles to be charged simultaneously with available power of up to 22 kW in AC for the JuicePoles and of at least 50 kW in DC for the JuicePumps. With the latter, an average of about 30 minutes will be sufficient to “charge up” with electrical energy, the equivalent of the average time it takes McDonald’s customers to have a meal inside the restaurant.
This kind of partnership will mean important results can also be achieved in terms of environmental impact: the charging points working at maximum output will lead to a net saving of over 1,800 tons of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, a figure that corresponds to the CO2 absorbed by over 100,000 trees in one year.
The first charging stations installed at the McDonald’s restaurants of Desio, Eboli, Loreto, San Benedetto del Tronto, Ancona and Osimo, of which the last three are already active and visible on the app, like for example JuicePass. The implementation plan will soon involve the new cities of Piombino, Barberino di Mugello, Alessandria, Quartu Sant’Elena and Florence.
“We are the biggest restaurant chain in the world and we feel we should get directly involved in some of today’s more urgent social and environmental challenges,” states Tommaso Valle, Corporate Relations and Sustainability Director at McDonald’s Italia. “Through a new partnership with Enel X, which we are really proud of, we can confirm our daily commitment towards reduced environmental impact, making us the promoters of a culture of sustainability, and making the services and tools that contribute to that goal more and more accessible – to our customers first and foremost.”
The decision to implement this project strengthens McDonald’s commitment towards sustainability, the cornerstone of the entire company strategy and which develops right through the entire supply chain, from the field to the tray.
One such example is the agreement supporting the development of a sustainable Italian beef chain, signed with Coldiretti, Inalca and A.I.A., end the efforts made in packaging: today in Italy, 100% of paper packaging is recyclable, recycled or certified and in 2019 a program was launched to eliminate single-use plastic, which has already involved lids and straws for cold drinks, cutlery and some product packaging.
“The agreement with McDonald’s enables people to easily and consciously approach the world of electric mobility, the only real option for travelling with due regard for the environment,” stated Federico Caleno, Head of e-mobility Italy for Enel X. “The new charging points join the over 10,500 we have already installed nationwide and are part of a broader project that sees us involved in the creation of a European network of infrastructures.”
Electrical mobility is one of the key elements for the growth of sustainability in the world of transport and is an increasingly widespread practice, the sign of a decisive change in direction that is gradually winning over motorists too. On the basis of available figures, the number of electrical vehicles in the world is over 7.7 million, of which over 2.25 million were sold in 2019 alone. In Italy, in the first nine months of 2020 BEV vehicles (100% electric) recorded an increase in registrations of +127.6% and Plug-in hybrids of +210.3%, in a continuous upward trend that reached a monthly record breaking figure in September with almost 7,000 vehicles registered.
However, it is essential that the change is accompanied by the development of infrastructures for citizens which, on the one hand smooth the transition towards electric, and on the other facilitate their use in places of everyday presence.
To date, Enel X has installed over 10,500 charging points in Italy and expects to reach a total of 28,000 by 2022. Thanks to Enel X’s e-Mobility Emission Saving tool it has been calculated that the charging services provided using the connected infrastructures have enabled its customers to travel over 100 million km on electricity and saving the environment over 12 million kg of CO2, equal to the quantity absorbed by about 670,000 trees in one year.
