Dealer set to charge, take charge of EVs
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When Tom Moorehead's BMW and Mini dealerships outgrew their buildings, he wanted to make sure his new facilities would reflect the future as well as the present.
That's why the new $22 million service department of BMW of Sterling, in Sterling, Va., features 16 charging stations with electric receptacles able to charge batteries or accept portable chargers for electric cars.
Moorehead says he invested in the charging stations in anticipation of the upcoming introductions of the BMW i3 and i8 electric cars.
"We do not have any electric cars, but we hope to get some at the later part of this year," says Moorehead, whose store services more than 140 BMW and Mini vehicles per day in 108 service and other bays. That is up from 33 bays and about 80 to 90 vehicles per day last year.
"Since that will be a portion of our business, we want to be in a position to address that. Also in the future, if a customer is driving an electric car and their charge is low, they can bring their BMW here and we can charge it for them."
Moorehead opened his new BMW service department in December, across the street from his BMW and Mini stores. He will add his BMW showroom to the building and plans to refurbish part of his old BMW store, where he will expand his Mini dealership.
He says he expects to start work on the BMW showroom this spring and be done by the end of the year. The Mini store is expected to be completed in early 2014.
The new BMW service department also has 43 bays inside for mechanical work and nine bays outside with data lines to reprogram BMW vehicles after they have been repaired.
The service department's spacious car wash area is equipped with data lines for seven programming stations that will be added later.
The Mini store's service department has 26 service bays and seven bays for reprogramming Mini vehicles.
Until those BMW electric vehicles are introduced, the dealership's charging stations will be used to charge the batteries of new and used BMW and Mini vehicles.
You can reach Arlena Sawyers at asawyers@crain.com.
