Bridgestone Owner of Firestone Complete Auto Care to Offer Electric Vehicle Services and Charging

[G. David Felt]

Bridgestone Retail Operations, a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas has announced the plans to expand auto services for electric and hybrid vehicles services and vehicle charging at 44 Firestone Auto Care and Wheel Works stores.

To quote:

• Bridgestone-owned Firestone Complete Auto Care and Wheel Works service centers in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, Calif., will now offer advanced electric and hybrid vehicle services to customers.
• The expanded services are part of the company’s initiative to address an increasingly electric car parc and contribute to a more sustainable society.
• In partnership with Blink Charging, Bridgestone will also install a total of 50 level two plug-in electric vehicle charging stations at 25 Firestone Complete Auto Care and Wheel Works stores in select markets beginning early 2022.

According to Marko Ibrahim, president, Bridgestone Retail Operations had the following to say: " We truly believe what's good for society is good for business, which is why we are increasing our investments in plug-in vehicle services in two key markets with plans to expand further in the future. The steps we take now will ensure we are the service provider of choice for new-energy vehicles.

While hybrid and electric vehicle services account for less than 10% of total services at Bridgestone retail operations nationwide, Bridgestone expects significant increase by the end of the decade due to the increase of less than 50 hybrid/bev in 2019 and the expected more than 200 models of BEVs available by 2026 based on IHS Market Sales Based Powertrain Forecast, H1 2021.

The only thing I would question about this is that they are only looking at Level 2 chargers which is slow when we have DC and people are not going to want to wait at an auto service center to charge for 30 minutes or so, but would IMHO rather have a DC charge of a few minutes.

Bridgestone Retail Operations to Offer Expanded Electric Vehicle Services, Add Vehicle Charging in Select Markets (bridgestoneamericas.com)

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[balthazar]

Makes sense; still have to get your electric vehicle's tires rotated, cabin air filter changes, wipers, shocks/struts, bulbs, etc etc... 

[Drew Dowdell]

If they end up rolling this out nationwide it could be a boon for them and the EV driving public. There is a Firestone near my office and it’s in the parking lot of the local Walmart and Grocery chain.  If I absolutely needed a charge to get home after work, I could park there to charge, do my grocery shopping, and have another 30ish miles of range to get home by the time I’m done.