Sunshine Restaurant Corp, the Central Florida developer of Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants/sports bars joined Progress Energy Florida and NovaCharge Thursday to introduce Florida’s first restaurant-based electric vehicle charging station and to emphasize Central Florida’s commitment to support electric vehicles. Immediately following the announcement, the group hosted the region’s first electric vehicle showcase, bringing an unprecedented number of electric vehicles together for a free public event.

Buffalo Wild Wings also unveiled plans to install additional ChargePoint® charging stations at its new restaurant located in Daytona Beach and all future Central Florida locations. Guests of the restaurant looking for a charge can find the station locations, check availability and get directions by using the ChargePoint® Network Find Stations live map.

“While electric vehicles are great for environmental reasons, we believe there is a strong business case for providing charging stations for our customers,” says Andrew L. Gross, president/CEO of Sunshine Restaurant Corp. “As the number of electric vehicles grows over the coming years, we know customers will choose Buffalo Wild Wings over our competitors because of the ability to charge their vehicle for free while enjoying their favorite sporting event.”

The showcase included displays and test drives from most of the electric vehicles currently or soon to be available in the United States. Attendees test-drove the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan LEAF, the Tesla Roadster and more.

During the event, Progress Energy Florida – which is supporting vehicle electrification through several automotive industry partnerships – emphasized the importance of ensuring the infrastructure to support electric vehicles is in place.

“As the ways our customers use electricity evolve, it’s important that we, as a utility, adapt to their changing energy needs,” says David Maxon, regional vice president of Progress Energy Florida. “We’re taking steps to support the adoption of this exciting, environmentally friendly technology today while determining how we can best support electric vehicles in the long term.”

“It was exciting to see how quickly Andrew and the Buffalo Wild Wings team embraced the electric vehicle market,” says Helda Rodriguez, president of NovaCharge. “They were able to show why businesses should be embracing charging stations as part of their business plan.”