Sacramento Welcomes First of Hundreds of ChargePoint Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coulomb Technologies today announced the installation of its ChargePoint® networked electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in Sacramento as a part of its $37 million ChargePoint America program. The first Coulomb ChargePoint station is now installed at Harv’s Car Wash (1901 L Street) in Midtown Sacramento. In the greater metro Sacramento area, Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program is now offering hundreds of free EV charging stations for public and home charging to individuals and businesses. Coulomb is working with Ford and Chevrolet, The installation of the ChargePoint station was done by Coulomb distributor Clean Fuel Connection.

“It is only fitting that Sacramento will be a model EV-ready city as major automakers introduce exciting new electric vehicles. I’m proud to add that this is creating new economy jobs and that these products are designed in California, manufactured in California, and installed by Californians.”

The ChargePoint charging station will be unveiled at a media conference today at 11:00 am PST at Harv’s Car Wash, 1901 L St., Sacramento, CA 95811. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Coulomb Technologies CEO Richard Lowenthal, Sacramento City Council Member Steve Cohn, Midtown Business Association Executive Director Rob Kerth, California Energy Commissioner Anthony Eggert, SMUD Board of Director Vice President Renee Taylor and Priority Parking President Aaron Zeff are scheduled to present. The smart USA fortwo electric drive will be on display as well.

“My vision is to make Sacramento the Emerald Valley – the greenest region in the country and the hub of green technology. A networked infrastructure that supports electric vehicles is essential to this vision. Not only will these ChargePoint stations achieve this goal but will provide employment to this region for the installation. I’d like to commend Priority Parking for their commitment to being green, and thank them for helping to bring the ChargePoint America program to Sacramento,” said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

“Electric vehicles enhance the quality of life for our residents and we're pleased to have more charging stations in the downtown area,” said Larry Greene, Executive Director, Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.

“Sacramento is where standards for air quality, transportation and infrastructure are set not only for California, but for the Nation,” said Richard Lowenthal CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “It is only fitting that Sacramento will be a model EV-ready city as major automakers introduce exciting new electric vehicles. I’m proud to add that this is creating new economy jobs and that these products are designed in California, manufactured in California, and installed by Californians.”

“We’re honored that the city’s first Level II EV charging station is housed at our Harv’s Car Wash location in Midtown Sacramento. We have a long-standing commitment to new energy technologies as the owner/operators of California’s first green-certified car wash network,” said Doron Levitan, Harv’s Car Wash and Priority Parking owner.

“We are happy to see Coulomb and Priority Parking installing one of the first publicly accessible charging stations in Sacramento. SMUD is very proud to be supportive of Coulomb’s endeavor as it aligns closely with our core value of environmental stewardship and our goal to reduce carbon. SMUD is a steadfast advocate of alternative fuel transportation in an effort to improve air quality for the region and bolster energy security in reducing our dependency on oil,” said Renee Taylor, SMUD Board of Directors Vice President.

Coulomb’s ChargePoint America program will provide 4,600 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 brands: Ford, Chevrolet 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.

The ChargePoint® Network is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and all manufacturers of plug-in vehicle charging stations. ChargePoint Network’s unique features include:

The ability for a station owner to set fees for use of their stations (including free charging)
The ability for drivers to access stations without a subscription via contactless credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and Discover)
24/7/365 telephone driver support via a toll free number on all charging stations
Smart Grid ready with built in Utility Grade Metering, Time of Use (TOU) pricing and Demand Response (DR) control
Multiple Smart Phone applications (iPhone and Blackberry) to find unoccupied stations and navigate to them
The lowest operating cost possible due to real-time operational monitoring, alerts, diagnosis, and control of millions of stations

ChargePoint America will deploy public and home charging stations to individuals and businesses. Organizations in and around Sacramento 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.

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.