Co-created by BMW Group DesignworksUSA, Garage Juice Bar Provides a Unique Charging Experience that’s Friendly, Accessible, and Easy to Use

October 21, 2010 – Los Angeles, CA. –Earlier this month, Cambridge, MA, and New Haven, CT, became the nation’s first locations to receive Garage Juice Bar electric vehicle charging stations.  Offered through the Green Parking Council, whose member partners currently manage operations at more than 5,000 garages in the United States with fast-growing membership application, Garage Juice Bar’s infrastructure offers free charging to owners of electric vehicles.   Garage Juice Bar is a high-power Level-2 EV charging station with the SAE-approved J-1772 charge point that will work with all OEM EV cars. 

Garage Juice Bar engaged BMW Group DesignworksUSA to create a unique “Charging Experience” that rewards people for their decision to drive electric vehicles.  The challenge was to create an experience that is easy to use, and can provide economy of scale for mass adoption in a competitive field.  BMW Group DesignworksUSA designed the free Juice Bar charging stations using sustainable design practices to ensure that the UL approved Level one and Level two charge points deliver quality and the Garage Juice Bar’s brand promise to change the way people view EV charging.

“Charging electric vehicles is a new paradigm that will become part of the daily ritual for many in the very near future, so to help introduce this new process to consumers DesignworksUSA gave Garage Juice Bar a friendly, welcoming attitude,” says Laurenz Schaffer, President, BMW Group DesignworksUSA.  “Garage Juice Bar’s clean, iconic exterior makes the state-of-the-art technology that lies beneath both simple and a pleasure to operate,” Schaffer continues. 

The Garage Juice Bar philosophy, which is to charge cars, not people, is a socially-beneficial ethos founded on the belief that charging electric vehicle owners for “juice” does not aid in the rapid deployment of electric vehicle charging stations throughout North America.   “Charging a fee for this service is not in the best interest of our planet,” explains John Schmid, President of Garage Juice Bar. “These types of usage fees for charging are simply another obstacle delaying the wide scale use of fully electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles,” Schmid concludes.

In addition to those already live in Massachusetts and Connecticut, Garage Juice Bar is currently installing ten EV charging stations in five San Francisco area garages through a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Transportation Fund for Clean Air.  Further, Garage Juice Bar will be installing ten EV charging stations in Canopy DIA, a 3,500 space off-airport parking facility in Denver which is billed as the greenest parking facility on the planet.  Looking ahead to future potential sites, grant applications were submitted to provide Garage Juice Bar charging stations to the City of Chicago and the City of Vancouver, Canada.

The Green Parking Council is a nonprofit organization that sets standards for sustainable practices within the parking industry and provides guidance for the inclusion of a wide range of cutting edge sustainable technologies to improve “the triple bottom line” (sustainability, cultural responsibility, and profitability) for garage owners and operators.  This portfolio includes EV charging stations to new and existing parking facilities as one instrumental qualifying step to receive a Certified Green Garage rating from the Green Parking Council.  A Garage can receive points for installing an EV charging station with usage fees; but receives additional certification points for installing charging stations that are free of charge to the public.

About BMW Group DesignworksUSA

BMW Group DesignworksUSA provides design strategy, research, design development, sustainability consulting, brand communications, 3D modeling, and color, materials, and finish to many of the world's great brands. In addition to being the creative partner to BMW Group, which includes BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, additional DesignworksUSA clients include Boeing Business Jets, Siemens, John Deere, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and Sony to name a few. President Laurenz Schaffer leads DesignworksUSA, which includes studios in Los Angeles, Munich, and Singapore. With global resources and forward-thinking clients across a wide spectrum of industries, DesignworksUSA has an unparalleled understanding of consumers and the world that surrounds them, both today and years into the future.  In 2010, Fast Company magazine ranked DesignworksUSA as the world’s “#1 Most Innovative Company in Design,” and among the “Most Innovative Companies for 2010.”

About Garage Juice Bar, LLC

Garage Juice Bar, LLC is a leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging station solutions; working with partners in the United States and Canada to provide innovative charging networks across multiple platforms. Garage Juice Bar, whose philosophy is "charge cars not people", is committed to the further development and deployment of EV charging stations throughout North America. The creation of an open-sourced platform for EV charging stations will support the integration of a vehicle-based transportation system that is not entirely dependent upon petroleum as a fuel.

The Juice bar mission is to deploy low-cost, attractive and accessible charging stations to electric vehicle (EV) drivers across the country.  Juice Bars are made in the United States from sustainable materials, are UL-approved and feature efficient LED internal backlighting for high-impact visibility.

About Green Parking Council

The Green Parking Council (GPC) is a nonprofit organization providing leadership and oversight for the green conversion of parking facilities to sustainable, environmentally responsible assets.  GPC is dedicated to expanding green parking practices and environmental services through its Certified Green Garage rating system.  GPC encourages new, alternative parking practices and exceptional industry transformation through creative thought and ingenuity.  By challenging garage owners and managers to collaborate and create open-sourced, sustainable best practices, the parking industry can positively impact the environment.

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Contact:

Jackie Jones

Manager, Marketing & Communications

BMW Group DesignworksUSA

(805) 376-6253 / jackie.jones@designworksusa.com