San Jose, California, is demonstrating how government and industry can partner to ease the transition into cleaner forms of transportation. Herre's a release I received from them today, detailing how they're making it a lot easier to go electric. It's important to note that this initiative was made possible by well targeted government subsidies: About 40 percent of the $37 million spent came from the American Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the Department of Energy.--Editor
Release Follows:
San Jose, Calif., July 29, 2010 – Coulomb Technologies today announced the installation of its first Networked Charging Station for electric vehicles in San Jose, California from its $37 million ChargePoint America program. ChargePoint America will offer hundreds of free stations for public and home charging to individuals and businesses throughout the Bay Area including San Jose for use by individual vehicle owners and by fleets. Coulomb is working with Ford, Chevrolet and smart USA, all of whom have announced plans to introduce EVs in the Bay Area in the coming months. The first two ChargePoint America stations are now installed at the McEnery Convention Center Parking Center.
“The installation of San Jose ’s first ChargePoint America station is an important step forward in our efforts to make the Bay Area the Electric Vehicle Capital of America,” said Mayor Chuck Reed. “Our partnership with Coulomb Technologies is the perfect example of how Silicon Valley can lead the world in clean tech innovation and create new green jobs in our community.”
“Coulomb’s first customer was the City of San Jose and we’re pleased to be back, both to welcome the electric vehicle transformation to Silicon Valley and also to bring jobs to install and maintain electric vehicle infrastructure,” said Richard Lowenthal CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “Thanks to our $37 Million ChargePoint America program, San Jose will be one of the first cities in the nation to enable its residents to buy vehicles that don’t pollute and don’t depend on oil.”
Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program will provide nearly 5,000 charging stations to program participants in nine regions in the United States: Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Bellevue/Redmond, Wash., and Washington DC and is a strategic partnership between Coulomb and three leading automobile makers: Ford, Chevrolet and Smart USA. Coulomb currently has the largest established base of networked charging stations worldwide with more than 700 units shipped to more than 130 customers. Installation of the ChargePoint charging stations is underway now in all nine regions.
ChargePoint America will offer both public and home charging stations to individuals and businesses. Businesses in and around the Bay Area interested in receiving free public charging stations should visit the ChargePoint America web site www.chargepointamerica.com and sign up by completing the application form. Individuals interested in purchasing an EV should sign up to receive more information about qualifying to receive a home charging station. Additionally, the ChargePoint America web site provides a way for drivers to suggest public locations for charging stations.
Coulomb’s ChargePoint® Network is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and provides authentication, management and real-time control for the networked electric vehicle charging stations. ChargePoint Network’s unique features include:
• Charging status by SMS text or email notification
• Location of unoccupied charging stations via smart phones
• A ChargePoint iPhone App
• Authenticated access to eliminate energy theft
• Authorized energizing for safety
• A billing system for those station owners who want drivers to pay for charging
• Smart Grid integration for utility load management with future V2G capabilities