Coulomb Technologies Unveils first ChargePoint America Electric Vehicle Charging Station in Michigan

Thursday, September 2, 2010
 

DETROIT September 2, 2010 – Coulomb Technologies today announced the installation of its first ChargePoint® networked electric vehicle charging station in Michigan 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 southern Michigan – from Grand Rapids to Ann Arbor to Lansing to Detroit.   Coulomb is working with Ford, General Motors and smart USA, all of whom have announced plans to introduce EVs in Southern Michigan in the coming months. The first ChargePoint America station is now installed at NextEnergy headquarters in downtown Detroit.  Installation of the ChargePoint station was done by Coulomb distributor Shocking Solutions.

The ChargePoint networked charging station will be unveiled at a press conference today at 10:00 am EDT at the NextEnergy headquarters in downtown Detroit (461 Burroughs Detroit, MI).  United States Senator Debbie Stabenow, Coulomb CEO Richard Lowenthal, NextEnergy CEO Ronald J. Gardhouse and Director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth Andy Levin will present.  Also attending the ceremony will be ChargePoint America program vehicle partners Ford, GM and smart USA.

“Thanks to strong private-public partnerships, Michigan companies are creating jobs and leading the country in the development of electric vehicles and the advanced batteries that power them,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow. “Now Coulomb Technologies has unveiled the first of hundreds of ChargePoint America stations across the state here at NextEnergy, which was made possible by the Recovery Act. These stations will make it easier for drivers to charge their electric vehicles as we continue to build these new vehicles here in Michigan.”

“Michigan is the home of US automobile manufacturing including the next generation of transportation, electric vehicles,” said Richard Lowenthal CEO Coulomb Technologies.    “Intelligent networked infrastructure will welcome the introduction of these vehicles.  We are pleased to unveil our first ChargePoint America installation in the heart of downtown Detroit collaborating with NextEnergy.”

“We are pleased to be part of Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint America program and the site of its first installation” said Ronald Gardhouse, NextEnergy CEO. “In partnering with the ChargePoint America program, we will be able to accelerate the validation and acceptance of infrastructure critical to the successful introduction and launch of electric vehicles”.

Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program will provide nearly 5,000 charging stations 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, General Motors and smart USA. Coulomb currently has the largest established base of networked charging stations worldwide with more than 850 units shipped to more than 200 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 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 for a free 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
 
About NextEnergy

NextEnergy is a thought leader in advanced energy technologies. In partnership with industry, government, venture capital, philanthropy, and academia, we accelerate the growth of energy technologies, companies, and industries thru the invention of technologies and systems demonstrating commercial viability, mapping of value chains to connect strategic partners facilitating industry growth, and acting as an honest broker to assess technologies and shape policy. For additional information, please visit www.nextenergy.org

About ChargePoint America

The $37 million ChargePoint America program is made possible by a $15M grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the Department of Energy. ChargePoint America will provide 4,600 public and home ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations by October 2011, adding to the existing ChargePoint Network. Coulomb will work together with its distribution and industry partners to evaluate the demand from the respective geographic regions and allocate charging stations based on this and other factors. The ChargePoint America project will collect data characterizing vehicle use and charging patterns, and Purdue University and Idaho National Labs will analyze the data. For more program information visit www.chargepointamerica.com.

About Coulomb Technologies, Inc.

Coulomb Technologies is the leader in electric vehicle charging systems and application services, with the ChargePoint Network now operating in 14 countries, and Network Operations Centers in the U.S., London, and Hong Kong.  Coulomb provides a vehicle-charging solution with an open system driver network: the ChargePoint Network provides multiple web-based portals for Hosts, Fleet managers, Drivers, and Utilities, and ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations ranging in capability from 120 Volt to 240 Volt AC charging and up to 500 Volt DC charging.  For more information, follow Coulomb on Twitter at twitter.com/coulombevi.  To request a charging station in your area, visit www.mychargepoint.net/request-station.php.  To download the ChargePoint iPhone App, click here.